Working with skilled local craftspeople is both a duty and an opportunity for Indian designers, says Prateek Jain of lighting design company Klove, in the third and final movie from BE OPEN’s Made In… India Samskara exhibition in New Delhi.
“It’s the biggest job of a designer to make sure that they work with handicrafts people,” says Prateek Jain, co-founder of Klove. “Whether it’s a fashion designer who works with an embroiderer or whether it’s us working with wood carvers or stone cutters.”
Installation by Klove
Both sides benefit when designers work with traditional craft producers, says Jain, and can help bring craftsmen’s work to new markets. “It’s very important to apply a more contemporary design aesthetic to these handicraft [skills]” he says.
Jain’s chosen medium is glass, thanks to an encounter he had with craftsmen in Ambala, a town in northern India. When he saw local glass-blowers creating intricate glassware for laboratories, he knew he had spotted an opportunity.
One of Klove’s lampshades being shaped
“We saw that they were doing these beautiful, flawless bowls of silica glass,” he says. “The blowers had been making beakers, flasks and test tubes for generations. We realised that [we could use] this skill set to explore home decor.”
A glass blower working on one of Klove’s lampshades
Together with his partner Gautam Seth he took these techniques used for creating lab-ware into unexpected contexts: creating luxury lighting installations for an international client base.
One of Klove’s chandeliers
Klove now creates large, ornate custom-made lighting installations working in a palette of blown glass, brass, steel and copper.
For the show Klove used blown glass and beaten metal to create a large lighting installation in the shape of a peacock, India’s national bird.
“We knew that [the curators] wanted to represent India in a modern way. Instantly the idea of a peacock came into our head because it’s the national bird,” says Jain. “We wanted to represent the peacock in a contemporary manner but at the same time have a strong Indian aesthetic to it”.
The feathers that make up the peacock’s fanned tail are represented by 48 slender glass stems, similar in form to elongated laboratory flasks.
Hand-blown light shades by Klove
“The great part about being in this country is that you have great access to a great resource of talent. You have craftsmen who have been doing this work for many centuries” says Jain.
Detail of hand-blown light shades by Klove
Samskara, which ran from 10 to 28 February at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi, launched BE OPEN’s Made In… programme, a two-year-long project focussing on the future of craft in design.
The music featured in the movie is a track called Bonjour by Kartick & Gotam on Indian record label EarthSync.
Architect Anupama Kundoo discusses the power of craft and working with traditional stone masons, in the second of our series of movies from BE OPEN’s Made In… India Samskara exhibition in New Delhi.
Architect Anupama Kundoo, who designed the exhibition
For architect Anupama Kundoo, being surrounded by work made using hand-crafted techniques is a reminder that there is an alternative to the “standardised industrial products”, people have become used to.
“We are all different, we are all unique, and it’s very strange that we have to be adjusting ourselves continually to standard products.” she says. “We have just accepted and surrendered ourselves to this future: it doesn’t have to be like that.”
The granite slabs rise up from the floor to create plinths to support the exhibits
She describes her installation as an undulating landscape, made from three principle elements: ferrocement slabs, pools of water and modular slabs of hand-levelled granite. This landscape hosts the homeware, lighting, clothes and furniture on display.
The granite slabs were hand-levelled in Tamil Nadu
Kundoo teamed up with stone-cutters from Tamil Nadu in the south of India to produce the slabs that dip and rise throughout the space. These long granite strips make up both the floor of the space and the surfaces for displaying the exhibits.
Detail of the granite slabs, here supporting a terracotta speaker
“These heavy slabs flow through the space like ribbons,” says Kundoo. “They frame the space and the undulations come out [of] the function: to raise the slab to the level required to display a particular object.”
Exhibits raised on plinths above one of the pools in the exhibition
“The actual elements are modular. The pieces rest on a sand bed and they can be reassembled in a wide range of ways and it can all be directly reused,” she says.
View of the entrance to the exhibition, showing the granite floor in the foreground, the ferrocement to the rear of the image
It took the masons six week to level the granite used in the exhibition, through a painstaking process of hand-levelling, a technique normally used to make stones for grinding masala paste, says Kundoo.
The exhibition contained two pools of water
Seeing the exhibition design, with these familiar techniques used in unexpected ways, had a dramatic effect on the craftsmen, said Kundoo.
“They’ve been making stone slabs for generations. But when they see [them], in this kind of composition, they realise that that they can make anything.” she says.
Three pieces by designer Gunjan Gupta on a ferrocement plinth
Kundoo works between Spain and India. In 2012 she exhibited her Wall House project at the Venice Architecture Biennale. This project also used the skills of Indian craftsmen — she brought a team to Italy to construct a full-size replica of a house inside the Arsenale.
Samskara, which ran from 10 to 28 February at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi, launched BE OPEN’s Made In… programme, a two-year-long project focussing on the future of craft in design.
The music featured in the movie is a track called Bonjour by Kartick & Gotam on Indian record label EarthSync.
In the first of a series of movies from BE OPEN’s Made In… India Samskara exhibition in New Delhi, exhibiting designers and co-curator Sunil Sethi discuss the importance of Indian craft and its significance in the modern world.
Fashion Design Council of India president Sunil Sethi, who curated the exhibition with creative think tank BE OPEN, explains that the aim of the show was to highlight the quality of products that are both designed and produced in India.
“BE OPEN has given a very nice platform to the Indian designer, in different disciplines, to be able to show their best,” he says. “Traditional craftsmen – when they team up with an Indian designer – the product can be truly of an international quality.”
Sunil Sethi
Sethi believes there is a demand for high-quality, hand-made products, which, with its rich craft tradition, India needs to take advantage of.
“I feel that, in the international market, the customer wants to take home something special,” he says. “India needs to cash in on its handicrafts. That is the key thing to take from this exhibition.”
Eat Stack thaali set by Gunjan Gupta
Products on show at the exhibition included homeware, lighting, clothes and textiles, as well as contemporary furniture, all made using traditional techniques.
Gunjan Gupta
Delhi-based designer Gunjan Gupta presented a range of chairs made from everyday Indian objects, including laundry sacks and traditional Indian masand cushions.
Gunjan Gupta chair
“I’m bringing craft back into the design vocabulary,” she claims.”It’s important for us as a rapidly modernising culture [not to lose traditional craft skills]. It’s also something that has extremely unique artisanal value around the world.”
Rahul Mishra
Fashion designer Rahul Mishra, who had a range of intricately-embroidered dresses on show, says that using traditional craft techniques is a way of boosting the economy in India’s countryside at a time when more and more people are flocking to overcrowded cities.
Rahul Mishra embroidered dress
“The beauty of craft is that it allows a rural Indian – who has never been to a city, who has never been outside of his village – it gives him power to execute his artistry,” he says. “I am here to create jobs in villages. Rather than just designing a product, if you can create a nice system, I think that is a job well done.”
Prateek Jain of Klove
Prateek Jain of design studio Klove presented a peacock-shaped lighting installation made from glass produced by glass-blowers who usually make laboratory equipment.
Glass peacock by Klove
“We use skilled blowers to make our products who make scientific equipment for labs,” he explains. “It’s a new way of applying a skill set that has been available to us for many years.”
Samskara, which ran from 10 to 28 February at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi, launched BE OPEN’s Made In… programme, a two-year-long project focussing on the future of craft in design.
The music featured in the movie is a track called Bonjour by Kartick & Gotam on Indian record label EarthSync.
BE OPEN Made In… India: here are some photographs of the handcrafted products on display at the BE OPEN Made In… India Samskara exhibition in New Delhi.
Creative think tank BE OPEN organised the exhibition to launch its Made In… programme, a two-year-long project focussing on the future of craft in design.
Products on display at the Samskara exhibition include contemporary furniture, homeware and garments made using traditional techniques.
Made in… India launches in Delhi, with a challenge for handicrafts to design the future
BE OPEN, the global philanthropic foundation, launched its worldwide project “Made in…” in Delhi last week, the beginning of a two-year journey to the ‘four corners’ of the earth to research the handmade and how to ensure its survival in the future.
Nowadays we tend to consider bespoke items as the ultimate form of luxury, since they stand above the homogenised mass market, offering the consumer a unique mode of self-expression. As a result, despite having been neglected for a considerable amount of time, crafts are now re-acquiring a leading place in the production chain, with their potential to offer this much desired exclusive and uniqueness. “Made in…” is BE OPEN’s way of investigating how craft can adapt itself to these new opportunities, getting up to speed to face the associated challenges of delivering in a highly demanding, global marketplace. “Made in…” looks at how work by small-scale producers can adapt and survive without losing its integrity and local flavour; how makers can collaborate with designers and companies to exploit new networks; and, crucially, what the future holds for these independent, skilled makers.
Terracotta speakers by Thukral&Tagra at the BE OPEN Made In… India Samskara exhibition
BE OPEN chosen India as a starting point because it is home to the strong dual influences of tradition and modernity, with all of the innate contradictions and endless mutations that this combination provokes. Is Indian craft still what is used to be? Is it ready to evolve and encompass new approaches to change its output?
Made in… India is an intensive program that includes an exhibition, Samskara, a discussion panel, featuring worldwide experts on craft and luxury market and two competitions, challenging Indian students and the global users of social networks to offer their visions of the country, both through proposals for new products and through images representing India’s past, present and future.
Over 600 guests from the worlds of design and fashion, together with politicians, high-profile, international figures from the creative industries, business and academia, gathered at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi to see the opening of the Made in… India showcase, Samskara.
Object by Sahil & Sarthak at the BE OPEN Made In… India Samskara exhibition
The director of BE OPEN, Gennady Terebkov, welcomed guests on behalf of the founder Yelena Baturina, announcing that India is the starting point for a series of exhibitive platforms that will take place across the world to raise the profile of local makers and designers, whose work relies on traditional materials and techniques. Mrs Baturina is emphatic about craft’s significance as the “embryo of design” and India’s renown as a birthplace of handicraft practice. “We’re very excited to be here at the beginning of our global adventure, bringing together practitioners, academics, industry and business experts who can explore how best to support handicrafts and develop strategies to ensure that it flourishes in today’s highly competitive, global marketplace,” Mr Terebkov said.
The event was officially inaugurated by the Honourable Minister of Textiles, Kavuri Sambasiva Rao, and Honourable Minister of Culture, Chandresh Kumari Katoch, showing their support for BE OPEN’s mission to sustain national heritage and keep it alive by refreshing and reinvigorating it.
Material detail at the BE OPEN Made In… India Samskara exhibition
Samskara aims to refine and re-position craft practice, showcasing furniture and tableware, textiles and jewels that reveal an imaginative reinterpretation of traditional craft skills by contemporary Indian designers.
This is done through a display that suggests how an ideal Indian brand would use traditional crafts and production methods to meet the demands of a worldwide luxury market. Such an innovative approach to the subject was made possible by the very essence of BE OPEN: an international foundation whose scope is to investigate, to share thoughts and ideas to improve our perception of the world.
Over 350 objects by 24 Indian designers are on display, selected by BE OPEN with creative advisor of Made in… India, Sunil Sethi, President of the Fashion Council of India. He commented that BE OPEN’s Made in… India is a ground-breaking project for Indian design: “It is the first time that Indian designers in the fields of fashion, textiles, decorative objects, floor coverings and furniture have all been brought together in one exhibition. The result is a fascinating overview not only of where Indian design is today, but of where it is going.”
Material detail at the BE OPEN Made In… India Samskara exhibition
The installation for the exhibition, created by celebrated Indian architect Anupama Kundoo, is an integral part of the Samskara experience, designed to suggest how a contemporary, conceptual brand might present its products to a sophisticated international audience. Sparkling tableware, sumptuous homewares and ravishing clothing were dramatically displayed against the sober palate of the hand-stippled, rippling granite flooring, while furniture pieces were ingeniously “floated” in four, large, rectangular pools of water that intersected the granite, creating a variety of hard and soft surfaces to delight and intrigue the eye.
Samskara’s aim is not to replicate a traditional gallery style overview of contemporary craft, but rather to show how the presentation of product with a holistic branding concept – from everything including the shopping bag, labels, music compilation created for the show and brochure – can contribute to the effect of visiting a luxury store, rather than an exhibition space, repositioning the way we “consume” craft.
Material detail at the BE OPEN Made In… India Samskara exhibition
A Talk, held as part of the launch day at the Indira Gandhi Centre, entitled The Future of Making in a Globalised World, was moderated by Luxury Briefing expert and creative consultant from New York, Jeffrey Miller. The panel shared thoughts about “acting local, thinking global” (Angelika Taschen, publisher); the increasing profile of the handmade in luxury output and how small-scale production has to be acknowledged by the big brands (Raymond Simpson, the Dominion Diamond Corporation); and, with particular reference to India, how craftsmanship could drive employment and generate prosperity, but it has to shed a legacy of decades of stagnation (Amy Kazmin, the Financial Times). The importance of teamwork in the craft process was also discussed in relationship to its territory – how we can exploit our natural resources – was another key topic (Armando Branchini, Altagamma). Kundoo spoke for everyone when she said that she would like a future where humans are more intelligent and enabled than machines, so continuing to work with our hands and perpetuating skills is vital.
Speakers at a talk during the BE OPEN Made In… India Samskara exhibition
BE OPEN’s Director Gennady Terebkov also announced the educational element of BE OPEN’s activity in India. Two competitions will act as a call for ideas and promoted through a web and social media campaign. The first “Create the ultimate Indian object for our future” invites Indian design students to submit concepts across five home and fashion categories, awarding 1500 USD to each category winner. The prize money will ensure that the winning student is able to cover material costs in the interim between educational and professional practice, a concept which was enthusiastically acknowledged by Mr Prem Kumar Gera, Dean of NIFT, India’s National Institute of Fashion Technology, whose institute is participating in the competition and who voiced his support as part of the announcement. The second, “India Through My Eyes” is a global call for responses to the image we have of India today. Winners will be invited on an all expenses paid trip to the next international BE OPEN event.
Audience at a talk during the BE OPEN Made In… India Samskara exhibition
Made in… India is not only about making a strong statement for Indian craft; it has global application, which highlights the important relationship and exchange between micro and macro economies. BE OPEN’s mission for this project will be to encourage makers around the world to explore alternative ways of using traditional skills and keeping them alive.
Once again, BE OPEN demonstrated its determination to promote growth and progress through creativity, and design in particular. As Yelena Baturina says: “creativity should not be consumed by the future; creativity should design the future!”
Made in… India continues at The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts until 28 February 2014. The “Made in…” project will then travel to its next international destination.
BE OPEN Made In… India: Indian handicrafts and contemporary design will be displayed in a space built by local stonecutters (pictured) at an exhibition organised by creative think tank BE OPEN, which opens in New Delhi on 10 February.
BE OPEN’s Made In… programme, a global search for handmade goods and ideas to ensure the survival of handicraft, is launching in India with the Samskara exhibition.
To create the installation, Kundoo worked with stonecutters at a granite quarry in Tamil Nadu who carve and finish each piece of stone by hand (pictured in these photos by Vimal Bhoraj).
Curated by BE OPEN and Sunil Sethi, the exhibition will include a range of furniture, products, textiles and lighting, handmade using traditional crafts and reinterpreted for the contemporary market by local designers.
It kicks off on 10 February with an invitation-only talks programme focussed on “The future of making in a globalised world”.
Six guest speakers will present their ideas and case studies illustrating successful brand-building in the worlds of design and craftsmanship, followed by a discussion with journalists and commentators.
BE OPEN is also running two competitions that tie into the themes of the exhibition. “Create the ultimate Indian object for our future” invites Indian students to design contemporary objects using traditional skills and “India Through My Eyes” calls for global entries responding to perceptions of India today.
Students at Auroville’s Mitra hostel, who helped design the exhibition
Samskara then opens to the public 11-28 February daily from 10:30am to 7:30pm and entrance is free. Dezeen will be filming a series of movies at the event, so keep an eye out for these on the site.
Here’s the information sent to us by the organisers:
Made in… India BE OPEN’s search for the future of creativity starts in India, with a focus on making
10 February official opening, by invitation only
BE OPEN, the global philanthropic foundation, announced its intention last month to launch a worldwide project that looks at the handmade and how to ensure its survival in the future.
Each year BE OPEN announces a theme that guides their research. 2012 focused on design and the senses, while the theme for the year ahead is North/South – East/West. Travelling to the four corners of the world, the foundation will involve a new generation of makers and designers, as well as students, academics and retail industry professionals, to develop the subject, exploring where and how our diverse cultures can meet and how to take traditional skills into the future, through innovation and technology.
Sidhartha Das notebooks to be displayed at Samskara
The journey of discovery begins in India, where, from the time of the Mughals through the Rajput, to the present day, Indian craftsmen have been commissioned to carve and inlay marble, wood and stone, to weave in silk and to mould in clay. Made in… India’s exhibition will showcase furniture and tableware, textiles and jewels that reveal an imaginative reinterpretation of traditional craft skills by contemporary Indian designers.
SSDA bath set to be displayed at Samskara
A range of pieces by twenty-three designers will be installed in the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi, in a bespoke space created by architect Anupama Kundoo. A dedicated graphic has been designed to create a unified way of presenting the conceptual Made in… India international brand, Samskara. Samskara refers to the idea of refining, which is what the project aims to do by re-positioning locally made, handcrafted goods to give them global appeal, rather than purely displaying the latest in contemporary Indian craft.
Atmosphere Potpourri box by Vibhor Sogani to be displayed at Samskara
Founder of BE OPEN, Yelena Baturina, says: “Business is in my DNA, so I can’t help but bring a business focus to this project as well. We feel that the future of the handmade is about keeping it out of the moribund museum space and instead making it live and breathe by becoming part of the market economy. Working with local experts, BE OPEN has been looking at today’s most promising Indian designers, encouraging them to think beyond their usual market and giving them the opportunity to present their work from a completely new perspective, so that it appeals to a much wider, international audience. Made in… is launching in India, not least because its culture reveals such a fascinating and stark dichotomy between tradition and modernity. This means that there is a tremendous legacy of skilled work and a willingness to take it forward into the future.”
Homeware by Abraham & Thakore to be displayed at Samskara
BE OPEN is working with eminent design consultant, President of India’s Fashion Design Council, Sunil Sethi for this project. Sethi has been a pioneer in terms of changing perceptions of India abroad, through events such as Bollywood at London’s Selfridges (2002), and installations at Conran shops internationally (2007), amongst others. He says: “We have chosen designers to represent all of the craft skills for which India is best known, yet will be showing them in a light that will dramatically change the way that people might think about the tagline Made in India. For many, Indian goods are associated with poor quality and cheap labour. The BE OPEN project will prove that there is vast potential to reverse that perception.”
Bowl Set by Vibhor Sogani to be displayed at Samskara
Voicing her support for the exhibition, Smt, Chandresh Kumari Katoch Honourable Union Minister of Culture, Government of India, says: “I am extremely happy to know that BE OPEN project is being launched in India, which is home to such a rich variety of handicrafts. The BE OPEN Foundation has adopted a novel and innovative approach of applying the business model as a way of working with the Indian crafts industry. It is a difficult task to keep the ancient traditions of handicraft alive in our country and the only way of doing it is by linking it to markets thereby making it self-sustaining. Therefore, I am delighted with this initiative of the BEOPEN Foundation and hope that it will mark the beginning of a new way to promote and preserve our cultural legacy for the future.”
Pieces in the exhibition include: fashion by Aneeth Arora’s Pero brand, Abraham and Thakore, Samant Chauhan, Ashish Soni, Gaurav Gupta, Rahul Mishra, Pankaj and Nidhi Ahuja; textiles by Gita Chopra’s “Disha” brand, Ezma and Rasa; furniture by Bombay Atelier, Ayush Kasliwal, PortsideCafé and Sameer Wheaton; products by Sunil Sethi Design Alliance, Thukral and Tagra, Gunjan Gupta, Sahil & Sarthak and Siddhartha Das; lighting design by Klove and Vibhor Sogani; and metalware by Devi Design and Episode.
Peacock Mural by Klove to be displayed at Samskara
Nothing will be for sale, but the work will be presented as though part of a new brand, with logo, labels and tags, shopping bags and display all reflecting contemporary design: dynamic, beautifully crafted goods, grounded in tradition, yet reinterpreted for today. Items from the exhibition will be auctioned during BE OPEN’s events at Milan World Expo 2015. The proceeds from the auction will be plowed back into the Young Talent Award fund, creating a virtuous circle of support for emerging designers.
In addition to the product installation, a discussion panel will see prominent international design and fashion professionals sharing experiences and discussing their approach to the future of making in a globalised world. Confirmed participants include: Amy Kazmin, Financial Times South Asia Correspondent (UK); publishers Angelika Taschen (Germany) and Yaffa Assouline (France); Armando Branchini, Vice Chairman of Fondazione Altagamma (Italy); Raymond Simpson, Executive Vice President of Dominion Diamond Corporation (USA); and architect and architectural educator Anupama Kundoo (India).
Portrait of Indian designer Aneeth Arora
BE OPEN’s activity in India will be supported by two calls for ideas through a web and social media campaign. The first “Create the ultimate Indian object for our future”, will invite Indian design students to submit concepts across five home and fashion categories, awarding 1500USD to each category winner. The second, “India Through My Eyes” is a global call for responses to the image we have of India today. Winners will be invited on an all expenses paid trip to the next international BE OPEN event.
Made in… India is not only about making a strong statement for Indian craft; it has global application. BE OPEN’s mission for this project will be to encourage makers around the world to explore alternative ways of using traditional skills and keeping them alive.
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