India Design & Innovation 2 & Food Typograghy

For the second part of what I hope is a series of updates, I found the sign painter at work on a wood board sign. After having drawn the guide-lines and a rough sketch of the letters, he painted them in with utmost diligence and very good precision. The board by itself looks beautiful, with the wooden texture and grains as background for the pure white type.

(please turn the volume on the video to mute unless you enjoy listening to bombay traffic)



On the very same day, a passionate typographer & devanagari typophile, Girish Dalvi dropped in at the office. "He teaches Typography and Cyberculture. Since 2006 he is pursuing his doctoral research at the Industrial Design Centre in IIT Bombay. His areas of focus in research include the history of Devanāgarī typography and Classification Theories. Currently he is working towards the development a conceptual model for the structural analysis of Devanāgarī typefaces."

Girish had just delivered a lecture at Sir. J.J.School of Art & Architecture, and the students had gifted him a box full of - devanagari letter shaped savouries.

Of course we demolished it immediately after these snaps were taken.

Bombay: Rainy Night

walking alone, the footsteps behind are raindrops
a splash of trickle, running down the back,
grip the ground, slip not...

Blog Header Design: rough type sketch

preliminary sketches...which led to the blog header

Bombay: Around Town

Bombay Rains

twilight at 5 in the evening.
great big cloud sitting on the sky-line.
transformed city.
transformed city-folks.
love along the 'queens necklace'.
bhutta (corn).
chai.
useless umbrellas.
respite from may.
look up, crinkle up your eyes and smile at god!

India Design & Innovation 1

As it says on the Design Observer article The Subtle Technology of Indian Artisanship by Ken Botnick and Ira Raja: "From saris to hand-painted signs, design thinking is an unacknowledged force in Indian craft."

My plan is to document the various instances of design innovation or just plain visual quirkiness that happen to come across my path here in Bombay and also hopefully anywhere else in India if and when I travel.

I choose not to offer any kind of prejudiced views or analysis on the content simply because I cannot claim to have either the expertise or the experience to have an informed or enlightened point of view on the material.

Here is a video of a signage maker who works across the road from my current office.



The very dangerous yet comfortable 'Seat-Belt' adjustor which is a simple clip:



There is also the often observed but hardly documented art found on the local transport service vehicles.





Besides ofcourse the very intentional 'art-smart' like the following found in the Horniman Circle Garden.

200!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DOUBLE is here!!! SACHIN SACHIN SACHIN!!! :D awesomeness!!! jump jump...thump the table...sing the tune !!!

SACHIN aaala re aaala!!!

2 bloddy hundred...and jumping in the office! superrrr

this ones for all the sachin fanatics!

and HE scored it exactly 22 years from the day he and kambli scored the record 664 runs!
:D

Celtic Knot

retroTAXI TAXI TAXI: fiat padmini

pencil & ink

Tiger Tiger Burning Bright!

The Tiger Hotel and its patrons slept peacefully. It was the 1st of January 2010. The peace was testimony to the fact that the entire city of Udaipur had spent it's energy celebrating and ushering in the new year only the previous night.

The Thursday night saw everybody in the City of Lakes stay awake till early morning. Gangaur ghat was a potent cocktail of music and revelry. Every terrace, window and house that overlooked the lake and the ethereal Lake Palace was lit with thousands of strings of light. The cold only helped to increase capacity for food, wine and laughter.

As the eye travelled across the ghat, one admired the dazzle and shimmer of the new dress that the city had draped. Beyond the ghats, the Lake Palace stood as a reminder of a time that had managed to seep into the 21st Century. It sent forth it's emissary to make sure the guests and the citizens are greeted on time and with love.

The white open boat glided across the mirror surface breaking it into ripples of dancing light. It was a royal time call. The hour struck and the night sky which had waited with unconcealed eagerness burst forth with light. Millions of man-made stars twinkled for a fleeting instance and faded away leaving a wispy cottonball of smoke, only to be immediately followed by a million others.

A warm hug from a dear friend was the reminder that a new beginning had commenced in every personal life. An opportunity to accomplish goals, a ticket to a beautiful life, a chance to right previous wrongs. A new year indeed! And because of the immenseness of hope and discovery, a happy one too!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!











sorry for the low-res shots...taken with a vgs camera on my old 1st gen camera phone