Scrap Design Innovation - at NID

Imagine a child loving his wardrobe and always keeping it neat and clean. Not leaving clothes around but keeping them in order. Imagine a vibrant and playful piece of furniture which is also utilitarian. You don’t need to imagine anymore but just head to NID for the Scrap design exhibition.

NID has been known to be a pioneer for innovation in design for the past five decades. It has consistently maintained this and keeps enthralling us with innovative concepts and designs which make our lives easy and interesting.

This can be said to be the theme of a new exhibition which is currently going on in the Aquarium in the NID Ahmedabad campus. The exhibition called “SCRAP Design Innovation” has been organised by the Industrial Design department and showcases the work of 16, 2nd-year Bachelors students of the Bachelors in Design. It looks at scrap as another material and not waste to be thrown away. The exhibition was inaugurated by Manjeeta Vanzara, Assistant Commissioner of Police on the 4^th of April and continues till the 10^th of April.

The exhibition showcases the work of Furniture Design Students and all the pieces have been made from waste. The exhibition focuses on alternative furniture, toys and lighting. It shows the inventive ways that junk can be made into something useful and have a positive impact. The exhibition is a product of a 3-week workshop where they were given the task of coming up with innovative design solutions using waste.

The exhibition is the brainchild of Pravinsinh Solanki, Programme Co-ordinator of Furniture and Interior Design. Along with the students Mr. Solanki has also designed some of the pieces. Mr. Solanki has been working on design innovations using scrap for a while now and has even taken his works to places like Berlin and Milan. He is also the Coordinator of the centre for Bamboo Initiatives, which seeks to come up with innovative and interesting ways to incorporate bamboo in our daily utilities.

The creation of the exhibition is a great exercise for students as this helped them in developing skills required in all stages of a products life starting from design and drawing to prototyping to software and graphics to catalogue and finally display and exhibition. This kind of exhibition not only showcases the work they have done but also prepares them for the situations they may face once they are out in the world.

Some of the works on display are: ’Ellips’- a wardrobe storage system for kids between the age of 7-12. It is a fun way to store and sort clothes and takes up little d space and is made using old bicycle tyres and chain and is based on the principle of a pulley. Its vibrancy and movement would make any child want it for themselves. ’Bugxy’- a ladybird inspired storage/seating for children in vibrant colours. ‘Popo’- a fun and movable storage/seating unit for little girls, inspired by the Hippo. ‘Forever Young’ -A rocking horse designed to look like a bike.

There were many more interesting pieces made using scrap from cars, washing machines, pipes etc. A majority of the pieces were for children but along with than there were some very interesting lighting options and seating choices at the exhibition. As Mr Solanki says children want to move around, play and have variety and not stagnate and these pieces give them an opportunity to do just that.

One cannot wait to see some of the designs in production and to get the opportunity to acquire them for one’s own home.

The furniture design studio in the campus is a hive of activity and ideas and students can be seen hard at work coming with new creations and bringing them to life. The student’s work has been much appreciated over the years and their work has been showcased in prestigious publications and events. The most recent being Architectural Digest March- April 2016 which showcases some the pieces designed by the students. In fact quite a few interesting pieces created by past and present batches can be seen in the studio.

If you find yourself with some time over this weekend do head over to NID to see the interesting things happening there.

Photographs: Ravi Panchal