Mushrooms in Mumbai | Dharavi Slums

During the Indian Civil War, the Dharavi slums of Mumbai were flooded with refugees looking to escape the conflict. The Mumbai authorities, distracted by defence of the city and facing an already over-populated and poverty stricken slum could do little to maintain a semblance of civilised life in the area. Sometime later a cache of biological samples appeared through the criminal networks of Mumbai, in the vain hope that it might provide new marketable narcotic opportunities. The collective drive and expertise of the refugees managed to turn theses genetically-engineered fungal samples into a new type of infrastructure Ð providing heat, light and building material for the refugees. Dharavi rapidly evolved itÕs own micro-economy based around the mushrooms. This documentary tells the story of some of the characters involved from Mumbai and the rest of the world and how Dharavi came to be such a unique place.

VOGUE INDIA

Film Noir from Conde Nast (India) on Vimeo.

POOL | Indie Indi Design Magazine

POOL is India's monthly design magazine which aims to inspire via innovative approaches in never-seen-before Design/Innovation/Creative features.

Get access to Pool's first Anniversary Issue here!

Hand Painted Type | Indian Typography Project

Painter Kureshi from hanif kureshi on Vimeo.

HandpaintedType is a project that is dedicated to preserving the typographic practice of street painters around India. These painters, with the advent of local DTP (Desktop Publishers) shops, are rapidly going out of business with many of them switching to the quicker, cheaper but uglier vinyls. Many painters have given up their practice altogether.

The project involves documenting the typefaces of road side painters across India and digitizing it so that it serves as a resource for present and future generations.

HandpaintedType is a collaborative project. If you’d like to contribute or collaborate, please get in touch.

Unbox Festival | Feb 24-27, 2011, Delhi

Conference + Fellowship +Public Events + Partner Festivals
UnBox creates a space for practitioners to learn from one another and spark new forms of social and cultural innovation. The festival blends work and play across contexts and mediums, bringing attendees together for lectures, panels, workshops, debates, brainstorms, and travel. The festival experience is designed to be completed and inspired by access to four parallel cultural festivals in the evenings and nights from 24-27 February 2011.

Prior to the festival, selected UnBox Fellows will participate in an immersive, intense, and multi-disciplinary field trip. We seek fellows for sessions on design thinking and entrepreneurship in India, organic food in India, Old Delhi through new media, and livelihoods in Kumaon.

More info on - http://unboxfestival.com/home/

Bombay | by Play Clan

Play Clan had first entered the markets by launching their stores in the capital (Dilli) which finally made it to Dilliwallah's Dil (heart)... after a year or so they have now managed to enter Bombay-wallah's Bazaar! Play Clan (Bombay) was recently launched in the artsy neighbourhood of Bandra in a tiny hole in the wall space.

Play Clan's team have specially designed their merchandise such as bags, stationary, home decor, accessories etc keeping the Bombay as their theme. MASI recently got the opportunity to checkout the Bombay store and pick up some cool postcards over Diwali. The postcards which we picked were inspired by the city of Benaras where you could find the intricate details of our peaceful sadhu's trying to find the peace within the piece? -- Get it?

Concept note by Play Clan for Bombay:

What once came to King Charles II as dowry for marrying his Portuguese beloved and later leased by him to the east india company for the price of peanuts now belongs to everyone and no one in particular. Plant yourself at Cafe Leopold with a pint, watch life go by at Colaba (Shantaram style). See Pandu Hawaldaar perform his stick stunts to stun the localites and the globalites while the Mumbhai (local don) roams around scot-free. Watch the shopkeepers selling Gucc(h)i without pangs of guilt. Head towards the dock to catch bombil - bombay's speciality fish , do a koli jig as you shout out " o la la le e yo" to King of Good times- Vijay Malaya's super yacht Indian Empress. People with sleep disorders can then hit Insomnia- the 'chic'-est nightclub at Tata's Taj and then exit from the Gateway of India!

Shop on -- http://www.theplayclan.com/

Typeshop | Delhi

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E S H O P - Delhi based visual artist & graphic designer, Ishan Khosla has started a workshop for anyone who loves TYPE/FONTS. Details below.

Tote Club at the Turf Club | Design Review

If you are in mood to relax in a sophisticated environment & ultra modern space, you should stop by at South Bombay Turf Club's new addition -- Tote Club.

Just last night I was invited by few friends of mine who are members of the elite Turf Club for a private party and I managed to sneak to the Tote Club which is located on the other side of the racecourse.

Tote is designed by Kapil Gupta, a renowned Indian architect and also the principal of serie.co.uk architect firm in London. The split level bar with its high ceilings and imposing central staircase, is peppered with a few people over weekdays. Its Bombay's first fine true bar menu that has rich character & made for people with high taste. This is one such place which is defining urban contemporary India.

M.I.A in 2010 | Maya Arulpragasam

Direct from M.I.A. H.Q. at a recording studio in sunny Los Angeles comes this brand new YouTube video that pushes the boundaries of the MacBook screen-mounted camera. Lo-fi and beautiful at the same time, the new video gives us a taste of what's to come from M.I.A.'s new album dropping Summer 2010. Can't wait!

McSweeney's | Panorama

Issue 33 of McSweeney’s Quarterly will be a one-time only, Sunday-edition-sized newspaper—the San Francisco Panorama. It'll have news and sports and arts coverage, and comics (sixteen pages of glorious, full-color comics, from Chris Ware and Dan Clowes and Art Spiegelman and many others besides) and a magazine and a weekend guide, and will basically be an attempt to demonstrate all the great things print journalism can (still) do, with as much first-rate writing and reportage and design (and posters and games and on-location Antarctic travelogues) as we can get in there. Expect journalism from Andrew Sean Greer, fiction from George Saunders and Roddy Doyle, dispatches from Afghanistan, and much, much more.

Check out some more images from the Panorama here, and a San FranciscoChronicle piece about it here.

DO CO MO | Design

TATA's DO CO MO, a new GSM phone service in India, launches its creative design for its brand identity & t.v. commercial. These GEOMETRIC design for an Indian company truly has a unique Indian touch to it! DOCOMO comes in a colorful identity package designed by Wolff Olins.


Brand Identity:




T.V. Commercial:

Bombay Cabs | Kaali Peeli (black & yellow)

With this piece of graphic art (above), creative agency Design Stack has tapped into an emerging zeitgeist by paying colorful tribute to Mumbai's vehicular lifeline, the kaali peeli (black and yellow) Mumbai cabs.

The iconic cabs were actually based on an Italian model, the Fiat 1100D. The Premier Padmini, as the car came to be known, debuted in 1964. The cars were manufactured by Premier, one of the first Indian companies to start making indigenous automobiles.

The design, robust utility and economy of the Premier Padmini Mumbai cabs have ensured their popularity, even after Premier discontinued the line in 2000. An event which took this often accursed vehicle beyond retro and straight into the cool hall of fame.

Last year when the Mumbai High Court ruled taxis over 25 years of age off the roads, the drivers petitioned and won one more year's grace.

There are some 55,000 kaali peeli Mumbai cabs on the asphalt today and they rattle on, as many other things here do. Who knows how they have survived with long-dead suspension (our streets have potholes the size of refrigerators) and exposure to monsoon rains that lash down for hours on the non-air-conditioned cabs.

In other words, for us passengers it's suffocate or be drenched. The interiors are an assault on the senses. Think neon blue disco lights, polyester seats, burning incense and whatever else the owner can find to express himself in this, his rolling office.

Still, in spite its ramshackle appearance, the kaali peeli Mumbai cabs are an everlasting city motif, a feat of classic India-via-Italy auto design that helps keep our financial capital rolling.

Next time you complain about one, think of the coming day when they'll all be gone. And in the meantime, start studying our Beginner's Guide to Mumbai Cabs for ways of getting around without having to reach destinations with a backache and a damp backside.

Source: CNNgo.com

House of Waris

House of Waris

Tag along for the ride as actor, jewelry designer, and Style.com avatar Waris Ahluwalia travels to the Indian factory where his Love Conquers All collection is made.

Note: Best Viewed on Firefox.

Handcrafted Indian Jewelry Designer

Varanasi. Kashi. Banaras.

The old, oldest, the legendary city, the eternal city at the banks of the mighty Ganga River, the carotid of India’s vast northern plains. For ages this place has been radiating a powerful image both within India as in the west, marveled at for its never-resting life around Mother Ganga, Religion melting into Magic as well as for local products like the traditional Banarasi Hand-woven Silks.

This Collection aims at bringing to you along with a small piece of this precious material, designed and hand-made in the city also a small piece of the age-old magic of this holy and worldly place, a genuine piece of Varanasi.

Source: Sanchali

Indian Design Edge Book

Breaking the glass ceiling of existing perceptions and mindset about Indian design, Dr Darlie Koshy, an internationally acclaimed design management expert, in Indian Design Edge, attempts to trace and touch upon the evolution and growth of Indian design which makes it possible for design to add and realize value and to create brands in the new age economy.

This book is a step towards creating a vision for India to assume leadership in the world of design. Indian Design Edge has a ‘hands on, minds on’ approach emanating from years of experience as an academic leader, researcher, top manager, consultant and, above all, an innovative thinker.

There are illustrative design case studies, historical milestones, policy perspectives, industry insights and scenario analyses inspiring the reader to explore, discover and unleash the power of Indian design for success and growth.

Foreword by Ratan Tata.

A Simple Guide To Hindu Gods

Source: Gheehappy