Studio ABD, founded by designer Abhijit Bansod, one of the leading creative voices in the Indian design context is built around the credo, “Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.” For Abhijit and wife and co-designer Amrita Kaushal-Bansod, products are not just consumables but animated anecdotes, living stories that connect the past with the present, narratives that speak a global language but have an Indian core, a throbbing sense of self that without compromising itself, can be at home anywhere in the world. Like Abhijit says,”Studio ABD designs from heart. Emotion underlines the products, giving them poetic and inspired meaning. By telling vivid stories, by overlaying the familiar with the new and surprising, the products connect deeply with the user. Studio ABD believes in celebrating creativity that combines fragments of Indian tradition with cutting-edge technology, and fuses cultural motifs with new age thinking. This conjures up sophisticated products that resonate with India’s rich past. Propelled by humor, craft, rituals, people, situations and Indian heritage, stories are created which have profound meaning and understanding of our universe, world, society and personalities.”
No wonder then that Studio ABD’s work has swept many national and international design awards like Young Creative Entrepreneur 2011 ( Design) by British Council, Red dot Design award 2010, Designer of the year 2008 and many more. As a designer, Abhijit describes himself thus, “I am a quirky designer and like to think not just out of the box, but out of the whole carton. I like whimsical wit and emotion so that they can reach beyond mere functionality to interact with their users, heighten creativity and imagination. In my studio, the story is scripted before the designs are born.”‘
Amrita compliments him beautifully as a product designer who is passionate about the the wealth of detail that products with a historic perspective must have. She is committed to form, function, warmth, harmony, uniqueness and poetic connection whether she is designing watches, sunglasses, furniture, trophies, lifestyle products or even doodling caricatures. One of her most definitive roles has been to redefine the brand Titan RAGA by melding Indian opulence with contemporary appeal. This work won her the BW NID Design Excellence award.
One of Studio ABD’s signature collections is Life Things…a collection of lifestyle accessories that says Abhijit, “have a unique identity of their own, inspired, naturally, by life. That talks to us, not just about us. That short of getting up and shaking our hands can do everything else in the communications business. Take us into the past (memory), work in the present (functionality) and illuminate the future (imagination). Life things is an attempt to locate a space where there is fusion of Indian handicrafts, recycled and reused materials and high precision industrial production processes. Inspired by people, nature and everyday situations, Life Things invokes memory and interprets contemporary culture in an inimitable and rather eccentric way.”
Another collection called, Mubhi, uses Indian mythology as a reference point because, “Indian Mythology is one of the richest elements of Indian culture and through generations, different stories in Indian mythology have been passed from generation to generation either by word-of-mouth or through carefully stored scriptures. Be it the subtly educative tales of Panchatantra or Bhagvad-Gita, Ramayana and Mahabharata or the daily Indian soaps,they have infused themselves into our contemporary lives and culture, into the products we use, the people we are, the ways we play, and worship and work. This collection is about an earthy twist, an upside-down gaze, a cartwheel of perspective that creates beautiful and functional products and services which bring the old stories we yearn for, to life in exciting new ways. “
While Amrita acquired a degree in accessory designing from NIFT, Abhijit learnt design at NID and at both places, education was a different experience. Says Abhijit,”At NIFT, it was more about surrendering to beauty and NID was more about deep conceptualisation, the social relevance of design in Indian society. Amrita likes to sketch and leans towards contemporary opulence which has come a long way from the time when opulence meant only zardozi and jewellery and wedding finery that was and is an entire industry in itself. There was a time when product designing was an unfamiliar idea to us as a nation and we just wanted to look like western brands. However, it is only in recent years that Indian design even if it is geared towards an international audience has become keenly interested in Indian stories.”
When Amrita and Abhijit got together, their sensibilities fused, technology acquired a soul, products became not just about precision and processes but also about narratives as is visible in the range of watches they have designed for Titan. What is an essentially a time-keeping instrument became a snatch of timeless memory and preservation of legacy. A unique design vocabulary that was inward looking and also connected to the future, evolved. “What we learnt,” says Abhijit, “is that because of this fusion, the Indian story is now profitable and what was once a 30 crore company (Titan) has today turned into a 200 crore company. We know now without doubt that every global citizen wants to own a story and not just a product.”
This is Indian design’s unstoppable journey towards global triumph but with its heart intact. Says Abhijit, “Our modernity has its sense of history.” And the world is nodding in approval.
More here…https://www.facebook.com/pages/Studio-ABD/144767607732?ref=ts&fref=ts
This story was earlier carried in http://surfaceasiamag.com/
Reema Moudgil has been writing for magazines and newspapers on art, cinema, issues, architecture and more since 1994, is an RJ, hosts a daily Ghazal show, runs unboxed writers, is the editor of Chicken Soup for The Indian Woman’s soul, the author of Perfect Eight (http://www.flipkart.com/perfect-eight-9380032870/p/itmdf87fpkhszfkb?pid=9789380032870&_l=A0vO9n9FWsBsMJKAKw47rw–&_r=dyRavyz2qKxOF7Yuc ) and an artist.