March will be an exciting month for India as New Delhi hosts the country's very first international design event, the India Deign Forum. The nine day event will begin with Design Week, an instructive week of workshops, screenings and exhibitions around the city (March 2-8) and will culminate in a Design Forum, two intense days of design talks (March 9-10) with some big international names making the list ( a few speakers featured above). It's being described as Christian Louboutin meets Subodh Gupta meets Rem Koolhaas - all on home turf. It's great to see India taking the stage for the first time as the host of an international design event, it's sure to lead to good things. See the website for more details on speakers and events.

(above) Mann Singh with his 'phul' chair. Image courtesy of designboom

Mann Singh's Indian culture is thoroughly embedded in his designs. By using traditional Indian craft methods in his practice, his design pieces are an amalgamation of his contemporary design aesthetic, the physical properties of materials and the methods and experience of the craftspeople he works with. The Italian company Driade recognised Mann Singh's talent for "showing us a different world of non-globalized design" and commissioned a series of bowls as part of their collection. To create the bowls, Singh has used decoration as a structural element, which is a recurring theme in his work, to create "silvered baskets like interwoven branches, bowls made of stiffened leaves to be raised in the palms of one’s hands in sacred gestures and tree-like candleholders" (ref:driade). Mann Singh recently shared with us some thoughts on design from his studio in India. Enjoy our interview below.

(above) Chitai bowl for Driade

What is it that you enjoy most about design?
What I enjoy most about design is the experimentation and the learning. Most of my work is based on making trials and working with material. Material and the processes of working with them are really fascinating. In that sense one works from within taking into account the characteristics of the material one is involved with and the logic of the process. In experimentation one finds certain notions to push forward. Also exciting are the ups and downs of the design process i.e the elation of solving the difficulties one encounters when developing something new. One has to find a way, hence the ups and downs of elation and dejection. When one finally achieves the result which feels right, its the best feeling in the world. To design only on paper and have someone else figure out the making would be just too boring. It's great fun to learn from the people I work with and it's fun when there are joint discoveries.

(above) Kachnar I bowl for Driade

A lot of your pieces reference traditional Indian decorative elements and techniques. How has India’s culture of decoration and craftsmanship become embedded in your work?
More than referencing traditional Indian design elements I think my work is more about using traditional craft methods. I think the process of working with craftspeople influences the final outcome of the products. My work is not about the imposition of my will but of assimilation of practices, so its complex considering its very difficult to pin down tradition. Its a slippery slope. The products are the children of the successes and failures one encounters along the way. The final outcomes are not entirely predetermined. I am very interested in the idea of developing products based on praxis. It's only by studying what we do and how we do them can we develop products which are appropriate. It also keeps the designs contextual and in some cases can influence how we do things. Take the practice of drinking water. Many people drink out of a glass and many people prefer not to let the vessel touch their lips. So practices and experiences- or rather the creation of an experience guide the development of products. As regards decoration, I regard it as a natural human tendency and not something specifically Indian. What I try and do is use decoration as a structural element. In my chair for instance the leaves form the seat and back of the chair and are not applied to another surface. Without the decoration there would be no chair. The influences and references are myriad.

(above) Kachnar II bowl for Driade

Can you tell us a little about the contemporary design scene in India?
The contemporary design scene in India is still at a nascent stage and the trajectories which individual designers are following are quite different from each other. There is not enough discussion happening about the practice and industry still largely thinks of design as something used to "sex things up". There are a few individuals doing some exceptional work and I do not consider myself amongst them. Design is one of the most abused terms being bandied about. India has a huge population and faces a lot of challenges as does the world with the environment and the wellbeing of the people. But for any success to be achieved effective models of design practice have to be developed. The models seen in the developed world aren't going to work and we need to wise up.

(above) Kachnar III bowl for Driade

What inspires you?
Seeing people do things that I'm afraid of is really inspiring.

Who has influenced you?
I was very heavily influenced by my teachers MP Ranjan, Gajanan Upadhayaya and Aditi Ranjan and peers and at some point I revolted. I think the doing of the work creates its own influences. One is very often influenced by the work one has done and by extension the people one has worked with. The small influences all add up. There are a lot of designers whose work I really admire but since I never met them I don't know if they influenced me. When we were studying my entire class of 4 students was in thrall of one of our own classmates Longri Temjen Namo.

(above) Muqarna bowl for Driade

What have been your most rewarding achievements?
My work developing bamboo furniture as a student has been my most rewarding experience. That particular project is when it all came together for me.

(above) Shamadan for Driade

What’s next?
That's whats most exciting. I don't really know whats next. Good opportunities show up unexpected and the surprise is super good. I look forward to whats next.

(above) 'Phul' chair and detail. Image courtesy of designboom

How do you want your work to be remembered?
I have never thought about it. I don't know about work but I definitely want to be remembered in a happy way.

Mann Made is Singh's blog, where is you learn more about his work and design process.
You can also see coverage of his work as exhibited at the 2010 Asia Now exhibition courtesy of designboom.

Posted by Lauren Evans

Sandeep Sangaru is the founder of Sangaru Design Studio, established in 2004. The studio has a particular focus on the craft sector, working with local materials and artisans to produce contemporary design products. In 2009 their "Truss Me" bamboo furniture system (below) won a red dot design award, voted "bets of the best". With "Truss Me" Sangaru has taken the humblest of materials, bamboo and used its inherent property of high tensile strength to create a sophisticated series of furniture based on the triangular bamboo 'truss'. Last year Sandeep set up Sangaru Design Objects to produce and manufacture their designs and was awarded a gold prize at the Design for Asia Awards in the Homewares section. We caught up with Sandeep who shared with us some of his thoughts about design and some fabulous new images of the "Truss Me" pieces he's now manufacturing.

What led you to pursue a career in design?
Subconsciously my journey as a designer started as kid, looking back for where I am today. I was always a hands-on person tinkering with every day objects.

Pre-internet era accesses to information were limited, I was only aware of Architecture and Fashion design, the popular ones. One of those days I fumbled across some architecture and interior magazine, which talked about the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad a multi-disciplinary design school and then decided I have to be here and subsequently got selected to pursue Furniture Design.

Describe a typical day at the office.
Typical day? My work schedule is very organic in nature I tend work from anywhere and everywhere home, studio, traveling. Travel takes me to different parts of India on various projects working with local crafts, documenting diverse traditions and cultures through photography and films also teach at various design and craft schools.

As a multi-disciplinary designer, how would you describe your design philosophy?
Being in a multi-disciplinary environment for almost 3 years as a student and 2 more years as a teacher, allowed me to experiment and explore all possible ventures I could lay my hands on. And when I started my design studio I wanted put all these experience.

If I have to describe my design philosophy it would be something like this:
To design is to come up with a better solution for a circumstance within a context. There is always a complex set of factors acting upon each other with in this context.Being multi-disciplinary I tend observe and record from different perspective at the same time. Which, allows me to simplify the outcome, it is much easier to a deduct and cancel out factors than add new ones and this for me some how holds good, be it working on developing new ways to design with traditional methods using craft or using sophisticated tools when working with the industry, Teaching design or guiding an artisan to understand design methods, documenting or making films.

Could you tell us a little about contemporary design culture in India?
Design is very young in India it’s been only 50 years since the first Design School was established which is NID. India consists of a very small design community and its culture is also as diverse as India’s culture and it’s society. Designers over the years have worked and contributed in the areas of social issues, education, crafts & traditional practices other than the mainstream commercial design.

Design in India has been active all these years in their respective areas, but now they are all surfacing in various sectors and the world is noticing them. I hope to see it grow, find its place and make a definite impact on the world in a positive way.

What inspires you?
“The stillness encompassing the chaos inspires me”

Who has influenced you?
Everything and Everyone I have come across has influenced to think and act in certain way, good or bad.

What have been your most rewarding achievements?
The first one would be getting selected for NID to study design. Second is ‘Truss Me’ the bamboo story.

Your ‘Truss Me’ Bamboo furniture system won a red dot design award in 2009, voted ‘best of the best’. How has this impacted upon your career?
I do not know how much impact red dot did on my career; I’m still doing the same things as I was doing before. People started see my work and did put me on the world map of design somewhere.  And maybe I started seeing the potential of my work and pushed more for the world to see them.

Are the "Truss Me" pieces in production?
Yes, I established a new company last year in 2010 ‘Sangaru Design Objects’ to manufacture our designs. The launch collection for the company is ‘Truss Me’ range of bamboo furniture.

I’m also happy to share with you; the first year of establishing, Sangaru Design Objects were voted winners for the ‘Grand award’ at the Hong Kong Design Centre Awards –Design For Asia awards 2011 along with‘Gold award’ for ‘Product and Industrial –Homeware’ for ‘Truss Me’.

Tell us about your role as a design educator? What do you enjoy about teaching and does it inform your studio work?
It happened by chance and I took the opportunity to be a full time design teacher at NID between 2002-04. Since then along with my work I have been teaching at various design schools in India as a visiting faculty.

What I enjoy about teaching is the process of designing module, an assignment and intuitively evolving over the course of it. Trying to improvise and accommodate individuals and dynamics within a group in a class. Enjoy, choreographing a group to accomplish an objective, where every individual is like a different instrument.

At the end one comes out rejuvenated.

What’s next? Anything you’re excited about?
My new business is what I’m occupied with now. Excited about being my own client and multitasking!

Right now I’m giving some finishing touches to the ‘Truss Me’ collection with some additional products for Kids. Simultaneously developing a straightforward and very simple range of bamboo furniture ‘Bamboo Basics’ hope people would like them too. Got a few ideas in my mind for the ‘next’, which I’m exited about.

How do you want your work to be remembered?
I would be very happy if my work is remembered and remembered in a good way.

Visit Sangaru Design Studio to learn more.

Posted by Lauren Evans