Last month, a sleek white box, with the words The Holi Kit printed on it, popped up on many a timeline. Inside were colours, balloons, a T-shirt, and even a booklet detailing the story behind the festival — all with straightforward instructions like ‘throw’, ‘duck’ and ‘play’. The minimalist design was in contrast to the chaos and colour we normally associate with Holi, and that’s just how ad men-designers-curators Parixit Bhattacharya (38) and Ankur Rander (28) wanted it.
Having lived in Sweden, Japan and Singapore (between the two of them), the duo realised that, while India has a rich history of handicrafts, hardly anything makes it into the international design communities. “If someone makes something good in Japan, in an hour people in the US would know about it. But the same doesn’t happen in India. We have great handicrafts, but to attract the millennial or hipster from places like Scandinavia, we need to rethink along the lines of minimalism,” begins Rander, CEO of Bombay Design Centre. This common desire — to narrate stories with cultural significance and a modern aesthetic — laid the foundation of Modern History, the new Mumbai-based design cell.
The Dhokra plan
Coming from an advertising background, this was a natural segue, believes Bhattacharya, who is also TBWA’s chief creative officer. “There are three aspects of design: form, function and feeling. A lot of products lack feeling and experience. We felt we have the space to do this, to create a network of products through which people can participate with our culture.” While the Holi Kit set the ball rolling, in the days to come you can expect three more launches (one every quarter).
“We are looking at the Dhokra handicrafts of Bastar. The ancient wax casting technique is dying and no one has come up with any tech to save it,” says Bhattacharya, explaining that they are thinking along the lines of creating a product that will connect two people through a shared experience (facilitated through the push of a button, perhaps). They are also looking at ‘reinventing’ Kutch’s roghan painting.
Mirror, mirror on the wall
One of the most interesting ideas they are working on revolves around the humble barber’s mirror. “With tech, we want to reimagine it for today’s world; take the mirror and turn it into a screen maybe, so that a kid sitting in a village can change his hairstyles before even getting a haircut,” says Rander, the ideas rolling out fast.
And since it’s a passion project, the duo, with a team of five (and a growing network of international collaborators), sleep little! “Just with the Holi kit, we are receiving collaborating opportunities every day. And they are bringing their own ideas. When we have established a self-sustaining network, I’m sure many other things will start turning,” concludes Bhattacharya. ₹3,500, on modernhistory.in
