ajshree Pathy digs deep into her handbag and finds what she’s been looking for with a triumphant smile. It’s a sachet of herbs meant to alleviate symptoms of a raging cold and cough, and turns out to be a source of great relief to this writer. She chuckles, while saying, “I have all kinds of medicines here.” That Pathy is a raging multi-tasker is evident from her seamless ability to switch from ministering medicine to talking about her various passions.
Founder of the India Design Forum, the third edition of which will be part of the Make in India week, Pathy wears multiple work hats. For starters, she heads Rajshree Sugars and Chemicals. She’s also chairperson of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-South. And in 2012, Pathy launched the India Design Forum (IDF), an independent platform, the culmination of years of pursuing design in almost every sphere of her life.
For Pathy, design dictates everything. And it especially means thinking outside of traditionally held ideas while still respecting them. Take for instance, the story behind her favourite design project: “my own sugar factory.” Years ago, when Pathy took over her family’s sugar business, she made trade traditionalists sit up and pay attention to the radically changed design of her workspaces. “Sugar factories are conventionally planned in a linear fashion, with lorries bearing sugarcane coming in on one end, and sugar coming out from the other.” All of which required more supervision and manpower.
Pathy’s design change, a square structure, meant more visibility, less monitoring and of course, increased output. The change was only made after visiting 12 factories and minutely studying the details. Pathy connects her ability to multi-task with her sugar business. “From one stick of sugarcane, I can produce sugar, power, alcohol, ethanol, bio-fertilizer and bio-resin. I can also create schools and empower women. Which other business allows me this creativity?”
IDF aims to create awareness
She says, “What the IDF aims to do is to create awareness for the value of design in the manufacturing processes and design thinking. So, we get global thought leaders on design to speak on the same.” The theme for IDF 2016 is ‘Empowering through Design’. She explains, “This year, because IDF is part of the Make in India week, we’ve focused on industrial design as a large component of the programming. It’s got product design elements in it as well, and architecture, which is what we do every edition.”
About curating the IDF 2016 programme, Pathy says, “It’s something that I am really keen on because it’s about giving the audience an idea of what India is capable of doing: all in a one-day capsule.” This year’s line-up for IDF 2016 will be inaugurated with Isha Foundation’s Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, who will talk about ‘Design of Life’ while discussing, through a slide show, the Dhyanalinga Meditative Space (at Isha Foundation’s Coimbatore campus) and its design. “The centre’s elliptical Dhynalinga dome is the largest built in the last 100 years.” Pathy is also thrilled at getting Shobu Yarlagadda, producer of Baahubali to talk about how thousands of people worked on the film to get its details right. “We’ve also got Matalie Crasset, an industrial designer from France.” Crasset, who worked with Philippe Starck, and then started her own design studio, is very interested in designing schools for underprivileged children in third world countries. Pathy says, “She is very interested in looking at schools in India and how using local material can create a healthy and inspiring place for kids.” Other highlights include Polish designers Tomek and Gosia Rygalik and Marie Lundstrom from Ikea India.
For Pathy, one of her aims through IDF is the need to steer Indian audiences down a more creative path.
She explains, “Post-independent India has removed the legacy of creativity from Indian society. We needed engineers, doctors and scientists to build an independent India. And now, almost 70 years later, you have a generation of people who are good at what they do but cannot think out of the box. We may have all the great IT companies but will we ever produce a Steve Jobs?”
To address this concern, Pathy is planning to set up a design school museum. But that’s a long-term project and one that will take place after the dust settles on IDF2016.
We have a generation of people who are good at what they do but cannot think out of the box
Rajshree Pathy
