The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Designing interiors for a cause

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Monday, Jun 09, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Designing interiors for a cause

— Photo: K. Ananthan

Interior designing in the country is growing not just in terms of awareness and demand but also as a sector, matching international levels. Nitin Killawala, president of Institute of Indian Interior Designers, talks to M. Soundariya Preetha on interior designing and its scope.

With 17 chapters and 3,000 members, the institute has construction professionals, students and representatives of trade. It has a strong presence in South India with chapters in Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore and Kerala. “Interior design is directly linked to construction. In every building constructed, there is scope for interior design. When there is designing, it needs execution. So it needs a team,” he says.

With growing awareness, interior designing in the country now has material, technology and expertise. “However, we are now serving only five to six per cent of the population. Hence, we need to spread out and the scope is huge.” Designing has aesthetic and functional value and hence it can be done in public places such as railway stations and subways too.

The institute members had designed a subway in Mumbai and though the estimated project cost was Rs. 12 crore, they were able to save about Rs. 70 lakh. Such projects help reach out to the common man. A product of good design can also be cost effective.

“When the environment is good, people take care of it too.”

In countries such as Mexico, even while walking on the road, we are able to identify the design sense and see it even in dustbins on the pavements. Not that it is not possible in India.

Those in private sector are doing it. Those in the corporates travel and are good at planning. So they recognise the need for design.

Mr. Killawala says that in countries such as Japan, modernity goes hand-in-hand with tradition. Even if a restaurant is modern, it has a Japanese touch. In India too such standards of designing are coming in.

The institute has collaborated with Godrej and promoted the design of office furniture last year. This year, it plans to focus on education furniture. Customer demand changes regularly and hence training is essential in interior designing though it is based more on individual skill. Hence, the institute has proposed several education programmes.

“We knit to unite.” When we work together we can carry these concepts to more people, he says.

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