The 12th edition of India Design ID last week was all about looking inward — at the country’s heritage skills. Local participants raised the bar to match global standards with their ideas and creativity. I was pleasantly surprised at the new India Modern that I saw, with craft, design and quality evident in the many showcases.
This was also obvious in the way the fair at New Delhi’s NSIC Grounds demarcated the various sections, be it the Collectible Pavilion — a curation of contemporary design discoveries — and the design section, with its collaborative efforts between craft and design. The idea for the latter was originally born in the 80s when cultural activist Pupul Jayakar spearheaded festivals to highlight the legacy of Indian handmade traditions to the world. The first of these was The Golden Eye, a collab between international designers and Indian artisans curated by designer Rajiv Sethi, at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York. It was way ahead of its time.
At ID, several exhibits caught the eye, be it the conceptual display at Asian Paints’ ColourNext Trends pavilion or the Gond paintings ornamenting Kohler’s bathtubs. The former explored ideas of earth and water; it was like walking through a Richard Serra sculpture, feeling the rough village walls and experiential fabric installations of blue waters.
