Shivers in London; where is the winter?
Why are so called 'mature design' economies are shivering in the imminent winter of 'Indian Design'. Will the Indians gobble-up the already sluggish design markets by offering every service at 1/3rd the price? Will Indians do in Design, what China has done in Manufacturing?
...several such discussion dotted my trip to London this time for Insight Indian 2006. The British are just too scared of Indian Design...though they may not even know what stage Indian Design actually is....my constant counter question to these queires was- "Do you, after 30-40 years of design in the country, really worry that a Indian company can do renderings at a cheaper price?".."Does it really matter if Indian design company produces three alternative concepts for a salt & pepper dispenser at 1/5th the price British would charge? Is there so much of suffocation up there?
I think that entire design profession is undergoing evolution still...the need to notch-up higher in the corporate decision laddder is one of the bigger challenges that mature design economies should lead the way to. The thought leadership angle is still missing of present ina very weak format out there. Even as Prakash tells me, after his visit to all the top design companies in London, that the kind of work and energy that one sees in the these design companies, no way reflect that they are around for 30-40 years.....They should have created a new paradigm by now....they seem to stuck in a time-warp. One of the persons who is reponsible for Promotion of British Design got so flabbergasted after she saw the Onio brochure (which discusses the Design Research and Trends etc.) that she could no help saying "you guys have even reached here..then where is the place for us?" A pitiable viewpoint...I thought.
'
...several such discussion dotted my trip to London this time for Insight Indian 2006. The British are just too scared of Indian Design...though they may not even know what stage Indian Design actually is....my constant counter question to these queires was- "Do you, after 30-40 years of design in the country, really worry that a Indian company can do renderings at a cheaper price?".."Does it really matter if Indian design company produces three alternative concepts for a salt & pepper dispenser at 1/5th the price British would charge? Is there so much of suffocation up there?
I think that entire design profession is undergoing evolution still...the need to notch-up higher in the corporate decision laddder is one of the bigger challenges that mature design economies should lead the way to. The thought leadership angle is still missing of present ina very weak format out there. Even as Prakash tells me, after his visit to all the top design companies in London, that the kind of work and energy that one sees in the these design companies, no way reflect that they are around for 30-40 years.....They should have created a new paradigm by now....they seem to stuck in a time-warp. One of the persons who is reponsible for Promotion of British Design got so flabbergasted after she saw the Onio brochure (which discusses the Design Research and Trends etc.) that she could no help saying "you guys have even reached here..then where is the place for us?" A pitiable viewpoint...I thought.
'
Posts
Leave a Comment