MANN MADE

Jest, I say!

2011-10-24T21:46:00.000+05:30

Got repousse and chasing done on a blank I had laying about. No good reason. But I guess thats the point; isn't it

Pamposh

2011-07-18T09:36:00.000+05:30

proto for Nilou

2011-03-10T15:08:00.000+05:30

Finally got started on getting Nilou's bed done. I am going to oil finish this one. Wanted a retro 50's feel.

Phul patti strikes again

2010-07-12T08:54:00.002+05:30

The problem with pictures is that things are not always the way they appear. This chair ( which I rather unimaginatively dubbed phul ( should it have even more unimaginatively been called patti??)) appears at first sight to be supremely uncomfortable and somewhat delicate. The first reaction people have is "I dont think Im sitting in that for love or money." Which makes their reaction to sitting in it all that more fun. I dont know whether its the fact that its comfortable enough to sit in or the relativity of their expectations and experience (im expecting a certain "anonymous" to rap my knuckles for language), but the expressions are fun to watch!
The chair is made in stainless steel, assembled from individually cast elements, which means no two chairs are identical. The chairs stack!!

Not all pretty pictures

2010-04-02T01:02:00.000+05:30

In case anyone thinks that design is all pretty things and sexed up pictures, I would like to remind them that design has much deeper capabilities. This paper was written by me when I was still a student at the NID, it was my colloquium paper. It was written when I returned after spending some days in the village of Nani Chirai in January-February 2001 (the Kutch earthquake). This paper is a draft proposal for a national disaster response. Yeah heavy stuff. Lets see if anyone can plod through it. I tried sexing it up with pictures. Is putting up 9 year old work justified?

Chinar

2010-02-11T15:57:00.003+05:30

Aslam has a small workshop near the 'shah-i-hamdan' shrine in Srinagar. Its called Van Posh. I have worked with him to develop some products in copper. Here we are making the copper chinar (plane tree) leaves which will be assembled into a lamp. They are later patinated in the hues of autumn

Open elective- NID- 2009

2010-02-11T13:06:00.004+05:30

We had quite an exciting "open elective" at NID. The students from various disciplines got an introduction to Bamboo and learned the basics of how to use it. Splitting, bending, weaving etc. Considering the short duration (2 weeks), they were quick to learn and then apply their skills. The outcomes ranged from tensegrity structures to ornithopters (and despite my discouragement- a pipe)

Porcospino

2009-03-20T10:44:00.000+05:30

This has most people going eww!

basketry hyperplane continued

2008-12-16T08:42:00.000+05:30

basketry hyper plane

2008-12-16T08:39:00.000+05:30

Bamboo Craftsmen from Assam at NID

2008-08-31T14:11:00.002+05:30

The one that got away

2008-08-28T19:30:00.000+05:30

bamboo lamp

2008-05-28T00:15:00.001+05:30

From the Shalemar collection for Driade

2008-05-12T01:43:00.006+05:30

pictures are courtesy Driade and designboom.com

Donna Moderna | Casa | Salone2008 | Video intervista da Driade

2008-05-06T12:49:00.001+05:30

Its in Italian so I dont know what I said. Hows that for a disclaimer कौन मैं?

Ugly Duckling

2008-04-07T23:40:00.003+05:30

NRI

2008-04-07T23:34:00.000+05:30

Hand raised stainless steel

2008-02-16T02:25:00.003+05:30

Stainless steel is more commonly used with industrial processes, but in this case I had Jainarain raise 22 gauge SS sheet by hand.Usually with brass sheet the सलवट's which you get along the edges are smoothened down with the mallet and the hammer, but I liked the texture of these pleats. In a way what happens often is that one tries to leave things a little unfinished to distinguish hand made from machine made. I dont know whether this is a very good idea. there are better ways of distinguishing the 2 processes. hmmm! What I do like though is the colour and texture the steel acquires, satin. much nicer than the shiny stuff

2007-12-03T11:19:00.000+05:30

Found a picture of Longri and me, winter of 2000-01. Here I'm helping him put his chair together.
His birthday would have been on the 27th november.

rapidly prototyped

2007-08-31T03:24:00.000+05:30

Siddhartha and me made this lamp...Lets hear some critique

and then there was the model

2007-08-31T03:15:00.000+05:30

So this is what the finished model looked like

2nd stage of the kalpavriksha

2007-08-29T09:00:00.000+05:30

I had posted the rhino model earlier. We had subsequently built a 1:20 model of the "kalpavriksha", our entry for the "notions of a nation" contest. because of the time constraint this model has only 5 stages of branches as opposed to the 7 in our design. Will post images of the completed model later today when i get them from chatterjee.
This model was made from copper tubing brazed together; and though it looks pretty organic it is completely calculated and to be made with standard size tubes.

For the Taj in London

2007-08-27T02:42:00.000+05:30

I had "designed" these silver plated thalis for the bombay brasserie in London, and they are a fairly generic design- hence the quotes. The price didn't work out eventually, so I think they have made alternative arrangements. The food there rocks

Mera Desk

2007-08-22T00:31:00.000+05:30

These are just random images shot one day at my desk.

Spirals

2007-08-22T00:22:00.000+05:30

Felted woolen rugs

2007-08-21T13:10:00.000+05:30

Jigisha's rugs are felted in layers and use the natural colour of the wool. She is going to be a part of the Conran Shop's Rangoli promotion.

bael leaf bowls

2007-08-16T11:20:00.001+05:30

Video of the Champa lamp

2007-08-12T14:10:00.000+05:30

bamboo Initiatives at Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen

2007-08-12T13:40:00.000+05:30

the IFA (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) has organised an exhibition in stuttgart and the National Institute of Design was invited to show bamboo furniture.
The rocking horse was designed by MP Ranjan. He was also my guide for the bamboo chair shown beside it. I am told its been a good show in stuttgart with 3000 visitors already and then it moves to Berlin. Lotus design where Arun Kullu is a partner are also participating. And I almost forgot, my chair has also been put on display

champa bowls

2007-07-30T01:43:00.000+05:30

Cast brass flowers are individually brazed together to form the bowl, a somewhat labour intensive job. They have proved to be quite popular.

Pinjrakari- islamic latticework from kashmir

2007-07-30T01:38:00.000+05:30

Pinjrakari is the version of the traditional islamic wooden lattice work, as it is known in Kashmir. There is a lone practitioner of this craft left in the valley -Mr Mohammed Ashraf. We worked with him as part of a project on kashmiri furniture. Pinjrakari is made by creating a lattice by assembling strips of deodar (white cedar) cedarus deodara. It is used traditionally in windows and can be found in all the beautiful shrines in Srinagar and the vale of kashmir. more info can be had from CDI

scherks's revenge

2007-07-07T01:43:00.001+05:30

Scherk's second surface can be written parametrically as

for , and .

well thats the technical mumbo jumbo behind the design of these 2 trivets

2007-07-07T01:36:00.000+05:30

Design for a monument "Notions of a Nation", along with Madhav and Siddhartha Chatterjee . Its a competition and the results are awaited.

2007-05-15T17:01:00.000+05:30

I wanted to see how the technique of laminating and then turning stone worked. Idea was to be able to use smaller blocks of stone (waste and fallout) to achieve decorative patterns. Also tried turning small cylinders of stone which were then inserted into bores in a larger block and then the whole piece was turned.

bamboo bag

2007-02-04T19:53:00.001+05:30

The Peacock trivet

2006-11-13T16:56:00.000+05:30

These trivets unfold to use. Its a very simple and basic mechanism and the form is derieved from the tail of a peacock.

Assorted brass products

2006-10-30T20:10:00.000+05:30

2006-10-30T19:20:00.000+05:30

Some of my work was shot by Henry Wilson! Thanks Henry!

Chitai

2006-10-10T00:14:00.000+05:30

Hand beaten bowls with open work.

stoneware bowl made at palam potteries

2006-10-08T10:12:00.000+05:30

Trying my hand at ceramics

Some more lamps

2006-10-08T10:02:00.000+05:30

Here are some more lamps I made. They are all in cast brass

Chaise lounge in progress

2006-09-30T17:55:00.000+05:30

Making a bentwood chaise lounge. Its going to be adjustable like Poul Kjaerholm's chaise..still trying to figure the structure of the base. Its made of strips which have an identical profile but arent arranged parallel to each other, thereby giving it a curved cross section. Will finish the chair and post pictures.

Plywood rocking chair

2006-09-21T09:11:00.000+05:30

This rocking chair was made entirely from 1/2" (12.7mm) plywood

Iqbal Ahmed --amazing craftsmanship

2006-09-20T01:21:00.000+05:30

Iqbal Ahmed—India's Model Engineer It is amazing how Designers in India have no idea of such craftsmanship in our country

Felt

2006-09-16T10:49:00.000+05:30

Jigisha designed a bunch of felt rugs one of which is being by sold habitat under her name. I got on the felt bandwagon and made these lamps in felt

a small diya (votive) with brass twigs

2006-08-27T15:07:00.000+05:30

Ive been playing with these little twigs I had cast and one thing which i made was a small diya or votive( I think that's what its called)

2006-08-15T21:10:00.000+05:30

A model of the Longri chair shot at pondi's. Pondi does graphic design and I shall post his bone china plates in a cpl of days.

barahmasi and champa lamps

2006-08-04T09:53:00.000+05:30

The miniatures finally

2006-07-26T20:33:00.000+05:30

These pieces of miniature furniture are made by my friend Yusuf Mannan Finally got the pictures uploaded...blogger was giving trouble

sheepish

2006-07-21T00:45:00.000+05:30

newspaper sheep juniour and senior

Wire mesh diya

2006-07-01T15:36:00.000+05:30

small votives made very simply from steel wiremesh

2006-05-19T18:35:00.000+05:30

been lazy with my posts

Very light chair

2006-04-14T02:48:00.000+05:30

I made this chair 2 weeks ago.A modification on an earlier design which I had made in bamboo. The legs are split, a common technique in metal which I first saw used in wood by Salim Bhatri. ie my first bamboo chair had 2 piece legs which i modified after seeing salim's technique

2006-04-12T21:45:00.000+05:30

This is a wooden version of the bamboo chair. It is called Long's chair in memory of my friend Longri Temjen. We had worked on the design together while he was struggling with cancer.

2006-04-12T21:35:00.000+05:30

A windsor chair in bamboo (dendrocalamus strictus or d.strictus). Strictus is very widely available across central and west India. It is very often solid and not very thick. The back/arm rest is b.affinis from Tripura

2006-04-12T21:24:00.000+05:30

I finally get a blog-and eat humble pie. I had first heard of blogs 7 years ago when attending a workshop organised by "doors of perception" and my reaction then was- "whatever would I want to blog for?"