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The Hindu
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Flavour of crafts from Eastern India at this year's Independence Day ‘At Home'
For those invited by President Droupadi Murmu for her customary evening reception or 'At Home' this, the 79th Independence Day, the invitation sent out in her name will be showcasing the skill of craftspersons from Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal, a nod to eastern India after this year's Republic Day bid a similar nod to southern India. The invitations will be made by contributions of artisans from these four states and curated by the National Institute of Design. Most of the artisans, many of them women worked alongside NID team, out of these nine artists from Madhubani in Bihar and 15 bamboo artisans from Jharkhand worked out of the Bengaluru campus of NID, with the rest . According Ashok Kumar Biswas, a Padma Shri awardee in 2024, and the man entrusted with producing the nearly 750 pieces of Tikuli art work from Bihar to be added to the invitation, the instructions from NID, that coordinated the effort with Rashtrapati Bhawan was clear. 'They wanted a lightweight example of Tikuli painting which is usually based on scenes of rural life in Bihar, or cultural and religious motifs, festivals etc. They asked for three types samples, of the traditional Tikuli base of MDA (dark brown in colour) with enamel paint, then on handmaid paper, and also little pieces of cardboard and plywood. I prepared a fourth sample, on paper, made to look like the dark brown Tikuli painting base, and sent it off. They approved the fourth sample and asked that 750 pieces be sent in 15 which we did at the Tikuli training centre that I run,' he said. 'It is a matter of great pride for me to be asked to do this by the President of India's office, for an occassion like indendence day, its a good initiative that places India's folk art at the centre of the Republic,' he said. The invitation will be encased in a Sikki Grass Box, made by artisans from Raiyam village in Madhubani district of Bihar, with 30 artists engaged in it. Woven delicately from Sikki grass, the box would contain a frame with the invitation itself, made of Bamboo with painting on the borders, with artists from Dumka in Jharkhand. This foldable frame can be reused as a photo frame after the event. Apart from the box and the frame, small artifacts, like a bookmark with Madhubani painting etched on it, plus a tussar stole with, again Madhubani painting with traditional block printing of symbols like Matsya (fish), Kamal (lotus) and Basant (spring) Tala Patachitra paintings by artisans from Raghurajpur in Puri, Bengali Patachitra postcard size painting by artists from Pingla village in Midnapore in West Bengal, Paitkar painting from East Singhbum in Jharkhand and Tikuli art postcard size painting from Patna in Bihar are also included in the invitation box.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
If you are young and this movie made you cry, ask yourself this question
A nomad interested in twisting the kaleidoscope of science and looking for new patterns I am not a movie buff, and hence it takes a lot for a movie to catch my attention. So, Saiyaara is clearly a phenomenon, more so because everyone who saw had the same experience. It appears that Saiyaara is the romantic anthem of recent times, but with a difference. It is making young people CRY. This is what has forced me to dare engage with the most pragmatic and wise people that ever walked the planet, i.e., people who are under 35 today. As I have interacted with them on various platforms, ranging from students of IIM or NID and even state universities, the first thing I have noticed that in any class that I walked in, my students were wiser than me about the ways of the world. I have noticed that my students always knew why they were in the class room. They were there to get a degree and go out to make money. Nothing more, nothing less. If I asked about their dreams, the answer was always the same. They were very clear. They will make money. They will retire. They will travel the world. This may sound completely normal to you if you are young. But, for me, a man from Gen-past, this was a huge surprise because all we could dream of when we were young was to get the girl/guy we were madly in love with. We were clear too. We wanted to our love interest to speak the three magical words of 'I love you'. And that was it. Our colleges led to as much education as heart breaks or moments of bliss when the other person also said, 'I love you'. Reality that money is the prime mover of the world did hit us, but it was a thereafter-realisation that arrived once we had passed the test of love. Due to this (misplaced?) priority for love that we suffered from, we were prone to crying in the romantic movies. So crying in the movies was not an exception but a norm, for our generation. What we know for sure is that your generation is not like us. Even if we try to think otherwise, your generation that doesn't believe in mincing words always makes it clear to us. So, What doesn't make sense is that you are crying!!! And if you are crying, I suggest that you need to introspect and find out why. As I am from a generation where people fell in love without the pragmatism that your generation has, I have a humble proposition for you to consider, especially because we have experienced the power of love. Look within. You could be crying because you too must have loved just like every other generation. The problem is that your realism must have led you to question that feeling using logic. So, while your heart must have gone down head over heels, your cynicism would have made you rationalise it as a stupid waste of time. You would have put your biological love to the test of financial and worldly realities and it would have fared poorly, making you bury it. While you must have forgotten about it and got busy with work and career, knowing love, let me tell you something that I know. The world may have moved on (as per you), but love is a very stubborn and ancient force that never believes in following the world. Love has a job to do which is considered to be of paramount importance by the mother-system called Life-on-Earth. You may want to make marketing presentations and climb the corporate ladder or build a start up and sell it for a billion dollars, but love doesn't care wee bit. All it wants is that you go through the inconvenience of going forth and multiplying just as your ancestors have done continuously for almost four billion years. You may have managed to forget it by being a realist (to your imaginary reality), love will never forget or forgive (as it responds to the actual and the only reality in which you exist as a body). You may or may not have realised it, but what made you cry is the love that you thought you have buried and moved on. But as love never believes in giving up, on itself or you, it is the culprit that would have made you cry. I know that love is tough but you think you are tougher. You may have momentarily lowered your guards, allowing love to surface but now you would be back to your desk calculating Mutual Fund gain of the day. The movie and the emotions you felt would get crushed under your wisdom about how materialistic is the world, but I have a request. Every generation before you has succumbed to love, and you too are here because someone loved. So, what you are trifling with or ignoring is something bigger than everything that humans do while existing on this planet. Love may seem like an inconvenience now, but as you age, you will realise that burying something so potent is a very dangerous idea. Burying it is not going to work. It has not worked for the entire history of humanity and it is, hence, unlikely to work just because you think you are rational. Today it was a temporary angst caused by the movie, tomorrow it will be deep regret as love is the only binding force human brain can have. If you don't bind using love, all that you will end up with is loneliness. This loneliness would by like an abyss that no amount of wealth or travelling will be able to fill. If you do manage your dream of an early retirement, all you would end up will be more lonely time. If you have cried, I see a ray of hope. Love within you is buried but still is alive as an emotion. If you have cried, you have a chance to reclaim it. Think about it. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Hindustan Times
Add to cart: A Wknd chat with award-winning product designer A Balasubramaniam
In the sheen of a flashlight's reflective rim. In the distance between two steps in a staircase. In the way a newspaper folds so readily to fit into the hand. 'And yet there are no fixed rules,' Balasubramaniam says, smiling. 'One doesn't have to work with pre-established choices. In fact, design, especially product design, compels one to reimagine the status quo.' Over five decades, Balasubramaniam, founding director of the Institute of Design at JK Lakshmipat University (JKLU) in Jaipur, has helped shape hundreds of products: torches, trucks, hospital trolleys, pedestal fans for outdoor venues, headphones, refrigerators, table lamps. He has worked with companies such as Hero, Eveready, Usha, Singer and Eicher, as well as with state crafts councils, handicraft enterprises and the NGO Oxfam. A graduate of the National Institute of Design (NID), he has also taught at NID and the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). Earlier this month, Balasubramaniam became the first Indian to win the Hills Millennium Award. Presented annually by the UK-based Institute of Engineering Designers, past winners have included a car designer for Ford, Ferrari and McLaren, and the creative director of Ikea Retail. Balasubramaniam has won for his tireless campaign to get India to focus more on how form influences function. He has been pushing for a Ministry of Design, which he believes would help superlative but languishing sectors such as the handicrafts industries fare better in the 21st century. He has been arguing for greater emphasis on design in a changing world of increasingly scarce resources. Simple questions like 'Can this cistern save more water' can have a deep impact, he says. How does he feel about the award? He sees it not just as a personal win but as a nod to an early batch of product designers in the '70s and '80s, he says, who laid the groundwork in what was then barely recognised as a profession. 'We were hopeful and driven,' he adds. 'We believed that design could make a difference in the world.' Still, the award came as a big surprise, Balasubramaniam says, laughing. 'I first thought perhaps it was a hoax. I still can't quite believe it. But I do think it is also recognition of the design practices emerging out of India, and how these ancient and modern ideas are influencing the world.' Excerpts from an interview. * How did you end up studying industrial product design at NID? I was 16 and had just finished school. I was considering studying architecture, when I came across an advertisement for NID's design courses in the newspaper. A few days later, I read that the institute had won a few awards, so I went back to that advertisement. The application fee was just ₹2, so I decided to just apply, on my own. The application process itself drew me in. The form encouraged applicants to think of design in new ways. There were questions like: 'Who is closest to a designer — a potter, tailor or textile weaver?' The exam involved hands-on activities such as sorting multiple grains into various kinds of packaging. At the interview too, I was asked questions such as 'How would you improve the chair you're sitting on?' and 'What colour would you paint a chimney?' What intrigued me was that there really weren't any pre-set choices or right or wrong answers. Till today, it thrills me that design compels you to question what you can see, challenge the status-quo. My parents were thankfully supportive, although none of us really had any idea about the course. I was 16 when I stepped into NID for a five-year course. I feel like I grew up there, as a person and a professional. That place taught me that confusion is a good thing. It means that you are thinking. * What was it like entering the industry as a fresher, in the mid-1980s? This was a new profession in India. Not a lot of companies understood the specialisation. For instance, my first job was with a Bhopal-based company that manufactured TV screens. They were only willing to hire me as a management trainee. I convinced them to let me work and be paid as a full-time industrial designer, helping them make, improve and market their products. Thankfully, they took me in. That taught me to ask and fight for what I wanted and deserved. When that company shut down, I landed a freelance gig in Delhi, as a product design consultant with Fedders Lloyd. At the time, freelancing wasn't a popular option. But, together with a few of my peers and seniors, we managed to establish freelance consulting as a viable way to approach companies, conduct audits of their products and pitch ideas on how they could be improved. Across the country, we were a tight-knit group, looking out for each other. And we avoided treading onto each other's portfolios. You don't see that so much now. * You've said that there was a sense of idealism attached to the profession... Yes. We truly believed that what we did could make a difference in the world. We believed that excellence in this field mattered. Our professors, people like my gurus Mohan Bhandari and MP Ranjan of NID, taught us to chase problems, think of solutions, work on them, market that design, and then just drop the whole approach and think about how else it could be done. How it could be done better. * The Eveready flashlight you drew up is still talked about. Can you tell us about it? Well, it was a product meant for rural India in 1989-90, so it had to be durable and affordable. But the company didn't want it to look cheap. It was also meant for a place and time when a power cut or even just nighttime could mean complete darkness. One had to be able to spot the torch in the dark. So, I designed the rim of the flashlight so that it would glow. The switch also had a zinc-and-sulphur-based coating that glowed. It was available in different colours, cost the company only ₹7 to make, and sold for ₹35. Lakhs of the flashlights sold over 15 years. If only I had asked for royalty! * Do you think it's strange that a culture as ancient as ours doesn't really have a modern design philosophy? One of the reasons we rarely acknowledge good design or the lack of it around us in modern India is that, as a people, we are constantly adjusting. A corner seat made for two on the metro will inevitably be taken up by three, if not four. But India has an underlying design philosophy, and it is a beautiful one: functional, frugal, aesthetic but also circular. A sari or a bedsheet turns into a razai or quilt, which then turns into a mop or a hand-towel. We are seeing a resurgence of these ideas in certain areas, and this is what the world is drawing inspiration from too, in certain cases. Part of the problem in India and around the world, of course, is corporate greed shaping the smallest of things. We can't even register a complaint on a call with a customer helpline anymore. Apps are designed in a way where we are just passed on to a bot and have to wait days for any response. * That certainly isn't great design, from the customer's point of view. What do you think makes a good designer? Empathy, creativity and ethics. That last one is perhaps most crucial in today's world, because designers do have a lot of power, and should know how to use it responsibly. A good designer also needs the ability to think critically, so that their solution doesn't end up creating a problem for someone else. Product designers today are contributing significantly to the climate crisis. We aren't stopping to think about what impact a slightly different version of the same product could have. The future hinges on sustainable design. I think the younger generation is more mindful of this. Hopefully, they will build a more human-centric and planet-centric design philosophy for our world. * Is that the kind of legacy you aim to leave behind too? While pitching myself as a consultant to companies, even in the early years, I realised I was educating them. Education became an extension of my love for design. I like to think that I created products, and product designers. I would like to leave behind a legacy of good designers who will make this world a better place.
Mint
18-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Morii Design: How a Gandhinagar-based studio is sewing up a stitch library
Under the shade of a tree, a group of Kachhi Rabari women are huddled together. With their black lehngas tucked between their legs and their veils draped across their foreheads, their eyes follow the slender needles darting between their fingers. The women giggle and trade stories with each other, as they embroider the fabrics with their generational knowledge of Rabari bharath (or embroidery). Leading them is Brinda Dudhat, a product of National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, who in 2019 co-founded Morii Design, a Gandhinagar-based textile design studio that crafts riveting textile tapestries using the erudite wisdom of over 180 artisans across 12 villages in India. The studio reimagines folk patchwork and motifs, embroidery techniques and block printing with modern flair. With the onset of machines that could master and replicate even the most complex handmade techniques, regional and rural thread-works unknowingly began to recede into oblivion. Dudhat noticed the change at the source: the women in pastoral and seminomadic communities, who once took hours embroidering their trousseaus for personal pleasure, were now assembling their clothing using machine-aided decorations. 'It was really surprising," says Dudhat, 30. 'There are some very complex stitches in Rabari embroidery alone. Now, however, there are machine-made ribbons available that replicate those stitches. So, the women stack these ribbons on to their dresses and just stitch them. Instead of traditional mirror embroidery, they use reflective acrylic or plastic discs. So, their wedding attires, which were once entirely hand-embroidered by them, now feature machine-made imitations," where only the smaller areas are filled in by their own creativity. Dudhat wanted to breathe a new life into these folk textile crafts—rekindling both pride and interest among the artisans, while monetarily empowering them as well. 'Craft has a PR problem," says Kabir, 33, Dudhat's partner and the other half of Morii Design. An NID graduate, he manages marketing. Together, the pair realised they needed to create a 'stitch library"; not only did they need to catalogue various Indian embroidery techniques but also create a comprehensive repository of new stitch combinations . 'At the moment, we are working with four different communities: the Jat community from Kutch, sujani artisans from Bihar, kantha craftspeople from West Bengal, and the Rabari community from Kutch," says Kabir. 'We have developed almost 40 new functional combinations in the Rabari embroidery itself, and are still in the process of creating many more." Morii Design is also working closely with Bela block printing's last known custodian Mansukhbhai Pitambar Khatri, while documenting the motifs of this age-old art form. At the forefront of the studio, though, are the women artisans. Back in 2019, when Dudhat had first considered working with them, she faced resistance. On the advice of a friend who mentioned a particular community whose handiwork had remained largely unexplored by modern designers, Dudhat rode pillion for two hours to a village 35km from Bhuj, to meet a Garasia Jat cluster. The pastoral Muslim community's personal clothing showcases their detailed geometric designs and intricate cross-stitch embroidery called Jat bharath. The womenfolk waved her off: 'Nahi hoga—not possible". Undeterred, the ambitious and optimistic 24-year-old at the time, continued to return to the village the following months, gradually earning the women's trust. The women hadn't worked with designers before, but the promise of consistent work and a stable income was deeply reassuring. 'Today, the Garasia Jats are the longest collaborating cluster," Kabir declares. In Japanese, mori translates to 'forest"—one that's lush and deeply alive. After spending a semester at Tama Art University in Tokyo, Japan (2015-2016), Dudhat found herself drawn to the 'Mori Girl" aesthetic, a Japanese fashion subculture that romanticises a life that's in harmony with nature. The palette is inspired by the woods: muddy browns, moss greens, soft whites and calming pastels. The style felt like a natural extension of her own sensibilities. That quiet, forest-like elegance now runs through the visual identity of Morii Design. 'So, much of our work is about reconnecting with nature, and reminding people of the importance of trees, forests and the ecosystems we so easily take for granted," Dudhat says. Each tapestry or wall art is distinct with striking colours and abstractions. The process begins at Dudhat's studio, where she designs a prototype. First, she assembles a base: a patchwork of fabrics sourced from weavers across India. 'Just by looking at them, ideas begin to take shape, where different colours come together almost instinctively. The patchwork is created first, and then I draw on top of it, imagining the textures with embroidery threads. It's a very intuitive process." Dudhat then takes these prototypes to the artisan cluster. The craftswomen are invited to choose the design they feel most drawn to. 'Some of the older Rabari women are more inclined to do mirror embroidery, for instance, while many sujani craftswomen opt for larger pieces," says Kabir. 'Bigger is better for them, not only monetarily but when they hold the finished work and stretch out their arms, they experience immense pride in seeing the full scale of what they've created." The process of letting craftswomen choose what resonates with them offers them creative freedom. But with a wide variety of embroidery methods and intricacies, it was clear that a uniform percentage model wouldn't be practical—'Especially since many of our pieces overlap multiple crafts," Kabir explains. 'So we sat with the artisans and co-created a wage system from scratch, beginning with a base rate that they felt was fair, and moved forward from there." In the spirit of contemporising, Morii Design brings together diverse folk handiwork traditions. A single piece might begin in one region adorned with colourful motifs printed using 200-year-old Bela blocks, then travel to a cluster in West Bengal to be kantha-stitched, or Bihar for sujani embroidery, and finally get bedazzled with tiny mirrors by Rabari women. The ultimate production is one that has passed many hands, and carries with it the emotions and stories of multiple lives. 'That said, it's also important for us to maintain the geographical integrity of the technique," says Dudhat. For example, a running kantha stitch could be easily replicated by other clusters and communities. 'But we ensure that a technique that specifically belongs to a certain region is executed there itself, since it has evolved in that place over generations." At the moment, the focus is on digitising the stitch library, which remains private for now, with the new combinations intended to help train the artisans. As Morii Design stitches tradition and contemporary storytelling together, their work stands as a quiet but powerful act of preservation. Radhika Iyengar is the author of Fire on the Ganges: Life Among the Dead in Banaras, and an independent arts and culture journalist. She posts @radhika_iy
Time of India
15-07-2025
- General
- Time of India
Twinning by design: TN brothers get into NID with top grades
Ahmedabad: The naked eye can barely tell them apart, but Kartik and Vignesh Rajan, both 19, try hard to be different. One is left-handed and sports round glasses, while the other is right-handed and prefers rectangular frames. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now But the differences stop there — the twins are among India's top scorers in the Design Aptitude Test (DAT) of the National Institute of Design (NID) and have secured admission to the Bachelor of Design (BDes) programme at the same campus. "All through our academic life, we have scored identically. This frustrated school authorities to the extent that in several exams, we were made to sit in different exam halls. But our scores remained similar, if not identical," says Kartik. Vignesh says that they have spent their entire school life together, and much to their delight they will be spending four years of college together too. Sons of a computer engineer father who works in the e-learning segment, and homemaker mother, the Chennai twins did not have design on their minds till Class 11. Both chose to pursue science after scoring well in Class 10. Vignesh says he wished to pursue MBBS and become a neurosurgeon. "But medicine did not pique Kartik's interest. Once I realised that, we decided design may be a better choice as I was good at sketches and drawings," he at that time, was eyeing a UG programme in architecture and was preparing for the National Aptitude Test in Architecture. "While watching Vignesh prepare, I realised that the courses were similar. I thus decided to give it a go," he adds. The parents were supportive and wholeheartedly embraced their change in career plans. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now After preparing for the Design Aptitude Test for a year, the two cracked the exam with top grades and fulfilled their mother's dream. "The result delighted us. We both selected NID Ahmedabad," says Kartik. While Vignesh wishes to specialise in product design or graphic design, Kartik wants to explore photography. "Science has remained our passion, and we would love to do something that is at the intersection of design and science or technology, possibly in the medical field," he adds. For Kartik, it is important to remain in India and work for India as he believes design is an important force for change. NID Ahmedabad officials said that Kartik and Vignesh are among the few twin siblings to secure admission to the institution. "Often, twins do not share the same interest or do not clear the exams at the same time. So, we have rare instances of twins getting admission for the same course," said a senior official. Meanwhile, the brothers also share a passion for the arts. They are both accomplished Bharatanatyam dancers and musicians in their own right. Vignesh says that right before the entrance exam, they were preparing for their arangetram performance (graduation ceremony) under the guidance of their guru KM Jayakrishnan. While Vignesh plays flute and saxophone, Kartik is a prolific guitarist. Is being an identical twin challenging? The brothers say that it is both good and bad —while there is always your brother to have your back, it does not encourage many to approach them individually. "But NID is a different place. We have so many classmates, and we consciously try to move in different circles," says Vignesh, adding that they are slowly settling in at the Ahmedabad campus.
