Rivers and Tides – Andy Goldsworthy

Andy has been working on an entirely new kind of sculpture experience, where he plays with different materials found in the nature itself. He puts leaves, stones, twigs, flowers together in a beautiful unusual manner such that it doesn’t hinder natures usual patterns. Like an installation, it adapts itself to the surroundings. Some remain as forms that start breeding life on it, and some get washed away by the natural course. The destruction of such sculptures , doesn’t take anything away from the nature, since they were built with the collectibles from the nature, and add tremendously to the beauty of nature in an unperturbed manner.

He’s fascinated by the river and its meandering nature and this resonates in all his sculptures, Ice structure, and Algae placement on the tree routes. Every art requires a form to play with. He chooses his forms as well from the nature itself.

Things are always lying around us. One only needs to familiarize themselves and become conscious of the fact that they’ve been blind to it so far. Nature has its own beautiful ways to blend in with us human beings, so should we.

Crafts in India

‘If you remove crafts, you remove India.’

Craft sector is the 2nd largest industry in India and it is not just one sector but a group of many sub-sectors. It constitutes India’s design heritage and thus it is very much required to give a careful consideration to this sector.

NID has been playing a very great role in strengthening the craft sector. At the time NID was debating the relevance of design and looking at crafts in terms of challenges of development: The transitions taking place, the potential and complexity of this sector.

Jawaja was one such project which tried to integrate many aspects of craft like culture, economy, design heritage, social structure and design inheritance. It is because of the constant efforts put in by Mr. Ashoke Chatterjee and Late Mr. Ravi Mathai for more than 35 years in Jawaja project that saved this 300 year old leather craft. In a critical area like Jawaja block, craft and design together created a sustainable environment. It is after so many years of perpetual efforts by NID that now, when these artisans walk into a Crafts Council meeting, they are respected and looked upon as wise.

Jawaja is one such example and there are many more but there still are so many sectors as well as aspects of those sectors including Jawaja where we can work and make this sector more organized. One such aspect is to work for the minorities and women which constituents the highest number of artisans but ironically do not get the right place and reward for the work they do.

In a nutshell, Craft sector is where our ability to create comes from and it is our responsibility to save this for the future generations.

Marsyas - Anish kapoor

A non-generalized sculptor who does not create sculptures to sell or attract a potential consumer but rather awaits a viewer to feel odd by the presence of this mammoth structure ,its size, its awkwardness.

‘You may love it, you may hate it, but you surely cannot ignore it! ’

This is how he wants to be talked about!

He personifies the structure as Marsyas made of stripes of PVC like layers of skin on a man. His sensitivity towards materials is really appreciable, since its key for a sculptor to admire the look and feel of the medium they would use to translate their ideas.

Bahaus

The never dying spirit of the Bauhaus way of learning is really fascinating. It began way back in early 1900s and managed to survive through the First World War. Although it did succumb to the Second World War, the alumni of the college carried the entire concept along with them to formulate a new school in US.

Definitely there was a strong hold in this way of learning with its lesser emphasis on theoretical studies and more focus on workshop based training where the apprentice could experiment with different material to create things. It started with the idea of reviving the craftsmen ship and ended up turning into a design revolution of its own kind. 

Simplistic, cold and functional forms were introduced in Furniture, Products, Architecture and Art as well. Bauhaus movement set everyone at the same pedestal, since the need of the consumer was the same. Therefore this eventually led to Industrial revolution – mass production.

Our very own college NID is based on the principles of the Bauhaus School of Art. Since the spirit of this way of learning is so raw and varied, it will live up till eternity.  

Planet Mechanics

This documentary illustrates the efforts of a young entrepreneurial venture in Europe called ‘Planet Mechanics’. Both the enterprising individuals demonstrate how science mixed with a little common sense can help us save the environment from the hazards of burning the fuel.

First project as shown was creating a bike that could run on compressed air and therefore had no fuel emission. The distance it could run when the tank was full and the maximum speed the pressure could offer, would limit the vehicle for use in the city only.

The second experiment was tapping the wind energy in the farm fields to feed the cattle with water drawn from a deep well.  Huge wind mill was created using scrap Aluminum from spare barrels used to stock fodder. The pulley and levers defined the mechanical system that enabled conversion of the wind energy into the mechanical energy.

Last, but not the end of their explorative journey was devising an adjustable solar arc, which would reflect direct rays from the sunlight all through the day at different light and merge it into a single strong beam of light that could then be used for cooking.

As designers of today, we need to sensitize ourselves to our environment and adapt to methodologies that lead to the least exploitation of available resources and thus, contribute to the cause of a Green Globe.

Objectified, we are !

Is ‘Design’ anymore meant for consumption by human beings or instead are they being consumed by it?

That’s the lingering question on my mind. 

The goal of Industrial design has been standardization of products for mass consumption. A huge risk of being thoughtless while designing is involved over here. Everyday millions of objects are introduced into the market. And if these are not directed towards the consumer needs and are not designed to solve a purpose, they would lead to a critical situation of resource scarcity and dumping related issues.

A good design should be innovative, useful, have aesthetics, understandable, honest, long lived, unobtrusive, environment friendly, consistent in details and simplistic. The designer’s key role here is to design the object so much into the future that it stands the test of time.

Another challenge faced is to cost a good design at a low price. But instead, it’s being marketed as more expensive since it has been "designed". That’s the irony. The fact is that a design can be expensive or cheap and good or bad. It’s subjective to people’s preferences. In that case,  a phrase like “democratization of design” (Representing or appealing to or adapted for the benefit of the people at large) should not even exist.

Most leading design oriented product brands are focusing on creating novel experiences for the consumer, an experience which is so addictive that the consumer is constantly on a lookout for new or the next generation intervention and indulgences. The challenge faced over here is that it leads to a consumer who’s always unsatisfied. And I ask myself, do I want to be subjected to this never ending race? The answer is No, I’d rather live in today and enjoy the things that we already have than become “OBJECTIFIED”.

There is a huge responsibility with the designers of today- create sustainability within products. We need to put our foot down and not only design objects but help people understand the consequence of their choices as well.