This initiative is inspired by the discussions on the online forum
The author is Director of the Kranzberg Book Studio at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri. His concentration is in publication design, having had his own press which publishes limited edition books for over 25 years. His work is found in collections at the Getty Center, Los Angeles, New York Public Library, The Bodleian Library, Oxford, Yale University Arts of the Book Collection, and the Newberry Library in Chicago, among others. He has recently published a newly commissioned translation by Andrew Schelling of selections from the Gitagovinda of Jayadeva.
Botnick worked for 5 years as head of design and production of art books at Yale University Press, and frequently designs exhibition and museum catalogues. The Fulbright Fellowship allowed his family the opportunity to fall in love with India too, and Ken is looking forward to returning to India this July with his daughter Molly on an exciting new project for Washington University taking place in the village of Kaleeda, Andhra Pradesh.
Today, almost 30 years later, design is increasingly seen globally as a basic human activity and it is moving away from being seen only as a profession for a few able and skillful individuals and it can indeed become a way of life for most of our society if it is promoted and adopted more widely by the nation through an appropriate rendition of the National Design Policy.
Uday Dandavate.on the larger context for Design with India, in an interview with Asia Source
The world has entered the post-industrial age. People’s aspirations are no longer constrained by the limits of their environment or their geography. Exchange of information over the web, as well as the ease of travel, is blending world cultures and producing lifestyles, especially urban lifestyles. India has much to offer as a stimulus for creative minds looking to draw upon traditional skills, materials, and aesthetics to develop new platforms for inter-cultural experience.
source: nitibhan.com
On Eames' words to India
In light of the fact that the Government of India has recently ratified the National Design Policy, I feel encouraged to add my two annas worth to the national debate, heated I'm sure plus fueled with scalding hot, sweet tea and many cigarettes, just like the entire design industry in India used to do back in design school.
An Extract from a posting on Design India Forum
Many designers often talk only of the Cultural and Craft value that they create – but without economic value being created they will always be dependent someone supporting them. You only have to look at the demand for State support through grants and other forms of subsidy in many European countries. I am not arguing against the cultural aspect – only that it is not the full story. And it is important to remember that in India there is almost not State support for design – they are self-supporting and challenging business people!
Extracts:
Everyone is trying hard to remember that the bulk of our population is still uneducated and living in villages, and our growth models need to look hard at this and there is no one we can copy from, we have to lead the way on this..
...here is a huge dearth of hard core production based activities, value added activities emerging in decentralised scenarios. I personally feel in the near run such models can only come from the private sector, not from the ngo sector or govt. The exact act of making stuff and selling it, economic activities, even of ideas, is not the forte of ngos and govts. This is the land of business acumen, vision and entrepreneurship. Businesses have to be sold the win win there is for everyone to embrace alternate wealth creation routes....
....What I would like to look into and study more deeply is the
transition and connections between Indian Art&Crafts and the current state of our Design. How it influences our thought processes and how big a role does it play in our overall creativity?...
transition and connections between Indian Art&Crafts and the current state of our Design. How it influences our thought processes and how big a role does it play in our overall creativity?...
This conference has been called Design with India and not Design in India. This is not by accident, but intentional. Design is a powerful process that needs to be understood as a way of seeing, doing and bringing quality to action. India is a complex country by any standards with a diversity of culture, practices, people, language and everything else. So this conference is a conversation between the two. Between Design and India.
The world is now looking to design to provide answers to complex problems and sustainability issues - as resources become increasingly scarce - and I think that Indian designers can lead the way in the search for answers. I believe that as designers, we are comfortable with ambiguity and have learnt to make order out of chaos. And as Indians, we are comfortable straddling the disparity of urban and rural markets, understanding that products and services need to withstand a wide variance in infrastructure and environment, the diversity of our multicultural, multilingual nation and finally, the daily understanding that there are millions among us who are overlooked, underserved, and often have very little or nothing at all.
There is an upsurge of interest amongst future focused organizations worldwide to fathom the implications of the emergence of India and China as important players in the world economy. As the two emerging economies shed their past and develop greater confidence, competence, and infrastructure, they are bound to influence the style and substance of international trade, manufacturing, and marketing.
Is there a single change in strategy that will put Indian companies firmly on the road to success in the coming years? The Strategist asked some of the world's leading management thinkers to identify what they think is the most important change required in their areas of expertise. Excerpts from rediff.com:
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