Introducing DesignDay

We have attended the first DesignDay with Kshitiz today, at the Microsoft Research Lab (Lavelle Road, one kilometer South from MG Road). It is a very new concept, aiming to monthly gather good thinking minds to make some awesome stuff. It is not about finding a job or showing off his own work, but rather opening his mind and acting as a community to build something bigger. The participation is the key, everybody is required to present his work, make a lecture or whatever. By the way, the project is ran by only three people, and they recruit volunteers to help them, if there is someone interested. Another value is the consistency prevailing over glamour. Meaning that you don’t need any specific knowledge to talk about space design or user experience, as long as you have an analytic mind, able to think relevantly. On the contrary, DesignDay aims to be multidisciplinary, so gathering designers from every possible horizon will lead to a great cross-learning.

The program was pretty simple: A first lecture about user-experience, it was about an application which helps measuring our mood of the current moment, and then proposes poems, music, and other features fitting that mood. A second lecture about biomimicry, which is the great idea of reusing nature’s logic to design, by introducing biologists to design teams. Last one about generative systems, or the way of using algorithms to create unique visuals, using merely one program. Last but not least, the event finished with a JAM session, where we worked in teams about an application to get healthy using smartphones & social networking. This moment was a great opportunity to work with professionals and see actually what is their methodology. Needless to say that we all had our own.

So guys, if you’re interested in meeting, experiencing, working with, discovering indian designers and this emerging community around Bangalore, do attend the next DesignDay ;).

http://www.designday.co/
http://www.khamdesign.com/
http://www.genekogan.com/

Anganwadi workers: a help to build a better education

While talking to Arvind from Akshara Foundation he told us about Anganwadi workers, saying that we could think about them in our work. So we did, and it seems that we now have discovered a new stakeholder involved into the education's world.

Anganwadi means “courtyard shelter” in Hindi. These workers belong to a government-initiated program, part of a larger one aiming to reduce child hunger, malnutrition, disease, and death rate. They are a kind of nurses, who take care about the child and his mother from the time she is pregnant until the kid is about 5 years old. Their job covers wide areas such as feeding, regularly checking-up health and taking care of vaccines. They do that for the child as well as the mother. Finally, they also provide pre-school education for children between 3-5 years old.

An interesting point is that they work in their own village: they grew up in it. They are not strangers who come into you house to take care of your weak pregnant wife, that worker is your neighbour, your friend, a member of your family. As a consequence it is easier for everybody to trust them and allow them to come into one’s home and join that intimate bubble. It is said that they usually have better social skills that well-educated doctor and nurses, because of that.

Government train them for only four months in very various fields,before sending them to work. It is so little, compared with the numerous and various fields they have to be skilled in. There is no way they can be competent enough, but I guess experience helps to fill in the blank, at on point.

Since they follow every child in the village, from their first footsteps and even before, and so know the parents, their problems and aspirations, they have a great power. They do have the ability to convince them to send their child to school, or at least make parents aware of opportunities provided by education.

Our challenge, if we choose to focus on them, would be to extend their role of pre-school teachers. We could make them educate parents on the importance of sending their child to school. Or we could use them to take the place of regular teachers, so that they could come to school and make class. Or at least support them, to make up when teachers drop out. But first of all we have to get to know them, and figure out their knowledge level. They work in rural areas, meaning that we have no clue about their english level, but also about their job skills.

To talk a little about news, a group of them demonstrated on October, 13th to demand the government an increase of their minimum wage of Rs 10,000 per month (now it is about Rs 3,000) ; maternity and retirement benefits, meeting allowance, and so on.

A very good article summing up who Anganwadi workers are, and what their job is:
The Anganwadi Workers of India – Connecting for Health at the Grassroots

If you missed the beginning of the story, go there for updates about my internship with Kshitiz.

Belur Temple part 1/2

I am doing a training at Swarnmandir Jewellers. As it is said, it is a company which make jewelry and have an integrated design office. It is located in Tumkur, a little town 1h30 away from Bangalore. They also have a design office for special requests. Most of the time, it is temples which gives assignment to the company to make metal “dressing” for statues of their god. My internship mentor, Namrata had to go to see some temples they were working with. She asked me to go with her and I was really anticipating it.

Je suis actuellement en stage chez Swarnmandir Jewellers, c’est une entreprise avec un bureau de design intégré qui fabrique des bijoux. Cette entreprise est située à Tumkur, petite ville à 1h30 de Bangalore. En plus de la fabrication de bijoux ils ont un bureau consacré à des demandes spéciales. Ce sont la plupart du temps des commandes de temples qui souhaitent changer les décorations en métal des statues de leur dieu. Ma maître de stage, Namrata devait aller voir justement certains de ces temples qui ont passé des commandes. Comble du bonheur elle m’a justement proposé de venir avec elle.

We left last Tuesday in the morning, with another designer/craftsman who was assigned to this work and a car and driver please ! ;) First step: The Chennakesava temple in Belur, 3h away from Tumkur and 4h30 from Bangalore. This temple is registered at UNESCO, it is for the Hindu god Vishnu and it is 800 years old. Swarnmandir got the chance to have an assignment for them to do the dressing of the most important statue of the temple.

Nous sommes donc parties Mardi dernier, en milieu de matinée, avec un autre designer/artisan chargé de ce travail et avec voiture et chauffeur s’il vous plait.  ;)  Direction le temple Chennakesava de Bélur, à 3h de route de Tumkur et 4h30 de Bangalore. Classé au patrimoine mondial de L’UNESCO, il est dédié au dieu Hindou Vishnu et à plus de 800 ans. Swarnmandir a eu la chance de recevoir une demande pour refaire « l’habillement » de la statue principale du Temple.

Belur Temple

On the road I have seen trees, mountains, beautiful landscapes, some cute towns and…Eoliennes Fields! (Between that there was also an indian girl who’ve stepped on the road when she saw us and started dancing…We didn’t understand her point…)

Sur la route des arbres, des montagnes, de magnifiques paysages, quelques villes assez mignonnes et …des champs d’éoliennes ! (entre temps il y a aussi une indienne qui s’est planté au milieu de la route quand elle nous a vus arrivé et nous a fait une petite dance…On n’a pas trop compris…)

After a little pause at the middle of the trip and a tea, we finally arrived. First surprise: I had to let my shoes in the car, this day was really hot and the ground was burning my feet!

Après une petite pause à la moitié du chemin et une dégustation de thé, nous sommes finalement arrivés. Première surprise ; j’ai dû laisser mes chaussures dans la voiture, il faisait un vrai cagnard et le sol pavé de grosses pierres plates était brûlant !

Inside Belur Temple

After the beautiful sculpted entry, we were in a big place with a lot of black stones buildings. The temple at the center was the one for Vishnu. Our precious package in the hands we entered in the temple.

Passer l’entré superbement sculpté et surmonté d’or, on arrive en fait dans une très grande cour avec plusieurs constructions et plusieurs temples en pierres noires, le temple central étant celui de Vishnu. Direction celui-ci, avec notre précieux colis dans les bras.

But before that, not forgetting of touching the ground at the entry of the temple with the right hand and then touching your heart. And here we are in the temple, much blacker than the exterior. No light apart from daylight. We walked fast directly to the back of the temple where we stopped in front of curtains with at each side the two parts of an open door full of metal pikes.

A l’entrée on n’oublie pas de toucher le sol de la main droite et de la porter à son cœur, et hop ! Nous voilà rentré dans le temple qui est encore plus noir qu’à l’extérieur, aucune lumière à part celle de dehors. J’ai vite fait le temps de voir qu’il y a des sculptures partout et on fonce directe au fond du temple ou nous nous arrêtons devant un grand rideau avec de chaque côtés les battants d’une porte impressionnante bardée de pics en fer.

The back of the Temple

A priest came and they started to talk in Kannada, Namrata explained him I was a traineein design  from France, she showed them the prototype which must be tried on the statue and a lot of curious people began to surround us. Namrata told me the statue wasn’t accessible to visitors and that maybe the priest won’t let us see it since there is a lot of people. Still, finally we passed the curtains and we could take a photo of the statue. But no right to approach! The priests had to try the proto on it themselves.

Après un petit temps d’attente, un prêtre arrive. S’ensuit discussions en Kannada, présentation de moi-même comme leur stagiaire française en design, présentation du prototype à faire essayer à la statue, et évidemment attroupement des curieux. Namrata m’explique alors que la statue en question n’est pas accessible au public et que les prêtres ne nous ferons peut être pas rentré pour prendre en photo la statue. Que ni nie, 10 minutes après nous passons le rideau pour prendre la statue en photo, mais pas question de faire un pas de plus ! Il faudra que les prêtres essaient eux-mêmes le prototype.  

The kind of work Swarnmandir is working on

Vinshu Statue, not accessible to visitors actually

Tiffanie Javourez

Belur Temple part 2/2

Once it was done, me and Namrata caught a guide who was already showing the temple to some Indian tourists. He was talking Kannada but hopefully my internship mentor translated it for me. 3 other Spanish tourists had less luck, after pretending to listen to the guide they left and started photographing random things in the temple again, on their sockets…

Le travail étant fait, moi et Namrata rattrapons un guide qui avait déjà commencé la visite. Malheureusement il parlait Kannada, mais ma maître de stage m’a fait la traduction. Moins de chance pour les 3 touristes espagnols (les premiers étrangers que je vois en 2 semaines), après avoir fait semblant d’écouter ce que disait le guide elles sont reparties mitrailler au hasard le temple, en chaussettes…

The mural on Vishnu stories

It took 106 years to build the temple and it is carved in Soapstone, an easy stone to work with. The temple is composed of 88 pillars each different. In the center of the temple there is a mural describing the stories of Vishnu avatars’s.

Il a fallu 106 ans pour construire le temple et il sculpté dans une pierre nommée la Stéatite. Aussi appelé Pierre à Savon, elle est très facile à travailler. Le temple est composé de 88 piliers tous différents. Au centre du temple une fresque circulaire au plafond décrit l’histoire des avatars de Vishnu.

The outside of the temple is entirely sculpted and is about a lot of various issues. For example, it shows the different hair styles of the period, the steps before the wedding of a princess, and the story of women who were feed with poison since their birth so they will become human weapon during wars.

A l’extérieur le temple est entièrement sculpté et traite de sujets divers et variés, de l’inventaire des différentes coiffures de l’époques aux étapes de préparation d’une princesse pour son mariage en passant par l’histoire plutôt original de femmes-scorpions utilisées pendant les guerres. Depuis leur naissance on leur donne du poison dilué avec leur lait, les y habituant au fur et à mesure au point qu’elles sont devenues de véritables armes.

But we had other temple to see and it was time to eat. We went to the shelter of the temple, where we can eat for cheap. It was a big room with four rows of tables and stools aligned. The cookers were passing between the rows to give food. At the Menu: A weird sweet yellowish liquid, rice, spicy sauce and curd. When it was the time for the curd the cooker took a BIG quantity and splashed it in my plate…She must have tough I didn’t like spicies…

Mais la visite doit s’arrêter là, nous avons encore d’autres temples à voir, et il est temps d’aller manger. Direction le réfectoire du temple où, moyennant un prix raisonnable nous pouvons manger pour le midi. Dans une très grande salle 4 rangé de table avec tabouret sont alignées. Les cuisinières passent avec de grands chariots et leur louche pour remplir les assiettes à la chaîne. Au menu : Un liquide jaunâtre étrange et sucrée dont je n’ai pas retenu le nom, du riz, du choux, de la sauce épicé et du curd. Au moment de servir le curd la cuisinière prend une GRANDE louche et envoie le tout dans mon assiette, m’éclaboussant au passage…Elle a du se douter que je supportai mal les épices…

The shelter

Finally we left for two hours of road. We went to Shivamogga, more in the north, where we had to visit two temples. The first one was a Jaïn temple, Namrata’s religion. I learned a lot on this religion but I will do another article to explain what happened during this part of the journey. After taking measurement of the crown of the statue, we went to the second one which was just a room with a tiny statue. Then we went to Namrata’s relative place and had diner. I tasted the beetroot Chapattis of Namrata’s mother. It wasn’t spicy and it was really delicious.

Finalement il est temps de partir pour cette fois 2 heures de route. Nous partons pour la ville de Shivamogga, un peu plus au nord, où deux temples requièrent notre assistance. Le premier est un temple Jaïn, la religion de ma maître de stage. A cette occasion j’ai beaucoup appris sur cette religion mais je ferais un autre article dessus, en étayant cette partie de ma visite. Après s’être occupé de prendre les mesures de la couronne de la statue nous sommes allés dans le second qui était en fait juste une pièce avec une statuette de quelques centimètres. Cela fait nous nous sommes ensuite arrêté chez une parente de Namrata où nous avons dîné. J’ai pu gouter les délicieux Chappattis à la Betterave de la mère de Namrata, absolument pas épicé ! (il faudra que je lui demande la recette).

At 19h30, we left to go back home. On the road we stopped at the last temple and we were still 4 hours away from Tumkur. The road to come back was really long… When I arrived at the PG at 23h30 I just put my bag on the ground, removed my shoes and slept. But it was a great day, I learned a lot of things and I could take a lot of photo, even ones tourists can’t take because it was for work…

Finalement il est 19h30 quand nous repartons. En chemin nous nous arrêtons dans un dernier temple en construction (fait avec des pierres blanches à paillettes cette fois ci) et nous reprenons la route pour 4h dans le noir…Un vrai calvaire…^^’ Après cette longue journée la route m’a achevée. Quand je suis rentré à 23h30 j’ai posé mon sac, enlevé mes tong et dormi… Mais c’était vraiment génial, j’ai appris plein de chose et j’ai pu mitrailler avec mon appareil tout et n’importe quoi même ce que les touristes n’ont pas le droit de prendre en photo, tout en faisant passer ça pour une affaire de travail.

Two other temples on the road

Me ?! A tourist ?!! No no, not at all ! It is for work. I am a French trainee in jewelry design. Work I told you! ;)

Moi ?! Une touriste ?!! Non non pas du tout ! C’est pour le travail. Je suis une stagiaire française en design de bijoux. Le travail vous dis-je ! ;)

Tiffanie Javourez

KR Market by night

It has been hard for me to fall asleep today. And I had to wake up very early because I had planned to go to KR Market as suggested by Kshitiz, to experience what people overthere do as Non Intentional Design. At 3:30AM I gave up, and decided to shortcut my alarm clock. I rode my bike for about 45 minutes, almost alone in the streets. I have therefore noticed quite a few people already working, preparing food of cleaning stuffs. A city like Bangalore never sleeps, that is for sure. Lucky me I haven’t got lost, although I thought I was. I went down a narrow street little by little and suddenly there were more and more people. Hey, I’m arrived! I was hoping to arrive before the beginning of the sales, to make some photographs of the empty place, why not sit down somewhere, listen to music and just look at people living their lives. For what I have seen, it probably begins around 4:00AM, which means that people come at 3:30, which means they have a crazy life cycle to wake up everyday at this hour.

I have been truly surprised at first sight, to discover how wonderful flowers can cohabit in such a dirty place. Outside the market there is absolutely no clean place. Every square meter is covered by a thin layer of undefined mixture. Unsold are left on the side, and there are women who regularly sweep flowers on the ground. The inside market is much cleaner than the outside, which makes me think it is for wealthy merchants or something like that.

Another surprising thing. I had the impression that there were so many sellers, for only a few buyers. In fact, sellers are everywhere. Inside the market itself, within conventional stores ; but also outside the market and in the streets around. In that case they often summarily display their merchandise on the ground, using a mere and almost clean piece of fabric to protect the flowers. Last kind of sellers, the moving ones. They only have a few flowers in their hands and try to catch clients directly on their way. Among that huge amount of people, I wonder how much buyers there were. My opinion about this is that I came too early to see “normal” people coming to buy flowers, while this hour was the professionals hour.

I will try to come back again later, at another hour. Maybe earlier, to see the really beginning. And also experience other things, like interacting with sellers and buyers.

A view of the inner KR Market

Design For Change

A first perception of a space is widely influenced by the way we reached it. My guide must know that as he wants me to pay attention to the road while the rickshaw is taking us to the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. Thus, at the end of one of the two straight main roads I finally get my first look at the NID. Only few steps after crossing the main gate, we can yet see the Design For change panels along the way – Fell, Imagine, Do, Share. The topic is settled. Let’s go deeper and see how we can put these words in practice.

Before starting the workshop, a quick look at the place itself, so that my first NID experience is as complete as possible. As we walk around we meet few people that my guide introduces me to, including this huge tree in the patio right in front of the office. “The tree was this high when I first came here..” says the professor, his hand 1 meter above the ground. A metaphorical representation of an incredible design career, or of all the students taking their roots at NID and then growing by themselves as designers.. My lyricism stops here as time for lunch has arrived. We take part to what seems more like a ballet choreography than a straight queue. Teachers, student and children mix together, smiles everywhere and happy photographs : the positive and creative atmosphere is tangible while the screen diffuses the Design For Change projects pictures taken all over the world.

A bit more ice cream and it is now time to start the workshop. Children take place around the tables as we provide them some pens and paper sheets. As an introduction, everyone is asked to present him/herself once they received the ball thrown by the previous child. Not only they tell their names and where they come from, but they have the hypothetical power to infect the whole world with positive diseases. If only those virus of happiness and smiling bacteria could expend as fast as the real bad ones. Thus the afternoon begins with a strong feeling of hope.

Then, so as to experience for real the four design precepts written everywhere (Feel, Imagine, Do, Share), the professor brings the idea of visualization : make visible what is in your mind. To do so, we start with a very simple example ; every student is asked to represent their path from home to school. If your mates around the table can understand your way, then the design is good enough. If not, add some landmarks on the road, draw the actual street, add details like the name of some places. At that point, students realize how important it is to have  a clear vision in their own mind so as to be able to share it with others.

The next step is about identifying at least one design problem on the way to school, express it clearly, and then think of possible solutions. All are now very happy to share their ideas with energy. Some of them are running out of paper sheets to put down their design thoughts. The photo cameras run from hand to hand so as to immortalize this workshop and all the drawings and ideas.

We all hope the students will learn from this afternoon, and by looking at them we do not have too many doubts about that. By a very simple quotidian example the teachers manage to transmit them the essential steps of a design thinking strategy. From home to school. We know they all experience it every day, but the in between is particular for each student. During the workshop they had a chance to think about it in a deeper way. First they had to feel their day-to-day life situation in a different context, with a critical distance, in order to be able to transmit it to others, by making visible the invisible. Then they had to imagine something that they want to change/improve/remove from this situation, visualize it, and share. A whole design process that everyone could experience precisely because the chosen example is universal and simple.

Many thanks to my guide for the day, M.P. Ranjan.

Although I was the assisting teacher, I certainly learned a lot from this workshop and from the kids. I was impressed to feel so much hope and willing to change by seeing their drawings and talking with them. And I also could experience a design strategy “in real life” rather than in a quiet office. An essential and constructive approach for the designer I pretend to become.