A design heads-up

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW

At a recently held parley between leading interior designers and heads of design magazines, architect Pinakin Patel played moderator and instigator to two groups attempting to chart a map for the progression of Indian residential furniture and product design. It became clear early on that a common agenda was lacking.

Magazine editors were distinctly uneasy with the suggestion that they weren't doing enough curatorial work and assessment to shape the Indian aesthetic. Interior designers argued over emerging trends. "We're losing credibility in the face of well designed but cheap foreign imports," was the carp.

A week later, sitting in his breathtaking home in the rural setting of Chondi (a boat ride across from the Gateway of India), Patel, vexed but far from dejected, still believes more such dialogue is the way forward.

"I have spent 30 years waiting for a consumer boom for residential design. Today's middle-class are serious consumers who believe living well has a tremendous feel-good factor; they buy furniture like they buy lipstick or a dress. Retailers have been caught by surprise," says Patel.

It's evident from any furniture mall you visit that retailers are rushing off to the Milan, Frankfurt and even China design fairs to source mass-produced, good looking furniture.

"The world media is abuzz with the emergence of Thai, Malaysian and even Chinese residential design. Where's India in all this? I have approached manufacturers of furniture, bathroom fittings, even switch boards, to offer my services gratis and said, 'Let's make products to meet Indian needs but of superior design quality,' and was told India is not ready for design. Manufacturers were sleeping when they should've invested time in R&D; today factories lie idle while they build up their portfolio with imports," laments Patel. "Name a single Indian residential furniture brand," he asks. It's hard.

Patel has foreign publications visit him often in their search for drivers of contemporary Indian design. "Le Figaro (a French daily) was here, they want me to name 10 hot avant-garde designers, five design-student innovators; the West can have these classifications after decades of commercial growth in design, here it's still a grope in the dark," says Patel.

The popular young design authority Wallpaper magazine has a pavilion at the annual Milan design fair, and they're trying to locate 10 Indian designers to showcase there, with a little help from Patel.

"Today, unfortunately, 50 per cent of design perceived as Indian is Bollywood mix, and the other 50 is nostalgia driven. Or else the modern comes from Western notions and the India bit is about stock imagery like paisleys and thoughtless bright colours." (White plays primary colour in Patel's purist designs at home.)

He says, "Our aesthetics were so intuitional "" everything was both functional and aesthetic. Each province designed for itself "" body shapes, proportions, lifestyles, were all taken into account. Today, we don't design for Indians anymore. The village belle doesn't look half as graceful with her plastic pots because they're now designed for weightlessness but the proportions and balance have gone wrong."

Patel stops and wonders aloud if he's sounding pessimistic. He maintains that a common strategy between industry, buyers, designers and educationists can help retain the economic advantage within the country. Dare he play forecaster? "Furniture seems to be following fashion in that everything is cool "" the customer is saying 'I am not ready to be confined to a narrow dictate'."

It seems ironic that customers seek identity and self-expression through their homes, but so much of what they buy is mass made.

"Even in the West, design started as functional, then it was about styling, now it's all about attitude. Once products get stereotypical, design will go back to being specialised, and then India could be huge, with our labour pool that can scale up economically without being an assembly line..." Patel trails off.