Jest, I say!

Got repousse and chasing done on a blank I had laying about. No good reason. But I guess thats the point; isn't it

Pamposh

proto for Nilou

Finally got started on getting Nilou's bed done. I am going to oil finish this one. Wanted a retro 50's feel.

Phul patti strikes again

The problem with pictures is that things are not always the way they appear. This chair ( which I rather unimaginatively dubbed phul ( should it have even more unimaginatively been called patti??)) appears at first sight to be supremely uncomfortable and somewhat delicate. The first reaction people have is "I dont think Im sitting in that for love or money." Which makes their reaction to sitting in it all that more fun. I dont know whether its the fact that its comfortable enough to sit in or the relativity of their expectations and experience (im expecting a certain "anonymous" to rap my knuckles for language), but the expressions are fun to watch!
The chair is made in stainless steel, assembled from individually cast elements, which means no two chairs are identical. The chairs stack!!

Not all pretty pictures

In case anyone thinks that design is all pretty things and sexed up pictures, I would like to remind them that design has much deeper capabilities. This paper was written by me when I was still a student at the NID, it was my colloquium paper. It was written when I returned after spending some days in the village of Nani Chirai in January-February 2001 (the Kutch earthquake). This paper is a draft proposal for a national disaster response. Yeah heavy stuff. Lets see if anyone can plod through it. I tried sexing it up with pictures. Is putting up 9 year old work justified?

Chinar

Aslam has a small workshop near the 'shah-i-hamdan' shrine in Srinagar. Its called Van Posh. I have worked with him to develop some products in copper. Here we are making the copper chinar (plane tree) leaves which will be assembled into a lamp. They are later patinated in the hues of autumn

Open elective- NID- 2009

We had quite an exciting "open elective" at NID. The students from various disciplines got an introduction to Bamboo and learned the basics of how to use it. Splitting, bending, weaving etc. Considering the short duration (2 weeks), they were quick to learn and then apply their skills. The outcomes ranged from tensegrity structures to ornithopters (and despite my discouragement- a pipe)

Porcospino

This has most people going eww!

basketry hyperplane continued

basketry hyper plane

Bamboo Craftsmen from Assam at NID

The one that got away

bamboo lamp

Designed by me during a workshop I was conducting with craftsmen from Assam. 100% bamboo

From the Shalemar collection for Driade

pictures are courtesy Driade and designboom.com

Donna Moderna | Casa | Salone2008 | Video intervista da Driade

Its in Italian so I dont know what I said. Hows that for a disclaimer कौन मैं?

Ugly Duckling

NRI

Hand raised stainless steel

Stainless steel is more commonly used with industrial processes, but in this case I had Jainarain raise 22 gauge SS sheet by hand.Usually with brass sheet the सलवट's which you get along the edges are smoothened down with the mallet and the hammer, but I liked the texture of these pleats. In a way what happens often is that one tries to leave things a little unfinished to distinguish hand made from machine made. I dont know whether this is a very good idea. there are better ways of distinguishing the 2 processes. hmmm! What I do like though is the colour and texture the steel acquires, satin. much nicer than the shiny stuff

Found a picture of Longri and me, winter of 2000-01. Here I'm helping him put his chair together.
His birthday would have been on the 27th november.

rapidly prototyped

Siddhartha and me made this lamp...Lets hear some critique

and then there was the model

So this is what the finished model looked like