NID students showcase pocket-friendly DIY furniture concepts

11 students of National Institute of Design use PVC pipes, as part of a 3 week course under the mentorship of Associate Sr. Faculty Pravinsinh Solanki, to create beautiful and durable do-it-yourself furniture design,  to help lower income groups take benefit of affordable design ideas. 

To break the myth that only privileged individuals can hire designers and get customised furniture for themselves, the 11 students of the Bdes Furniture and Interior Design department at National Institute of Design Paldi Campus curated the Pied Pipes exhibition. The one of a kind furniture show that consists ‘Do It Yourself’ furniture prototypes made of PVC Pipes emerged when the aspirants went through a 3-week long course under the mentorship of associate senior professor Pravinsinh Solanki. The display went on between March 26 to 31, 2019.

While explaining the aim of the show, the mentor at NID said “the whole idea of Pied Pipes is to create an environment where affordable design ideas can reach maximum people. The students are using glass reinforced PVC Pipes from Bangalore based company Steer and a sheet material provided by Reliance, but people who are looking to make a piece of furniture for themselves at a nominal cost can easily get pipes, t-junctions and bends from flea markets and use the thick thread of a Charpai instead of sheet materials.”

The prototypes of chairs and stools created by students can easily be recreated with minimum skill requirements and they look great too. These could be ideal for usage at small enterprises and domestic premises. The waterproof, termite and borer proof furniture design, which is economic, cost-effective and has a customisable material choice is a sustainable furniture solution which hardly costs Rs 500.00 a piece for making.

The students have created their own designs taking inspiration from master designers across the globe. While Manali Nama’s funky lounge sitting, ‘Hathi Chair’ with a massive expanse is inspired by the aesthetics of Spanish designer Lucas Munoz, Shravan Sreejith’s stool cum chair design called ‘Pliant’ is a modified idea taken from Nathan George’s BETA chair.

The ‘Amplo’ designed by Deepak C of NID is inspired from the 20th century design pioneer Gaetano Pesce’s celebrated Broadway chair. Sangeetha Nandakumar’ bodacious pink coloured Qubos stool, which is an inspiration from 20th-century German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s designs, can also be used as a lightweight coffee table.

The exhibition was held at the Aquarium in NID, Paldi Campus. We wish more and more such design initiatives that have a larger impact on the aesthetically constrained segments of furniture users in our society.