How do you define furniture? she always ponders upon this question when she looks around. Especially in such a diverse country like India, having people with different needs and wants as one travels from one settlement to another, how did we decide to categorize specific objects as furniture? In recent years, every family had their houses built according to their functional and practical needs. It was not so long ago (certainly within my lifetime) that we bought furniture to last. They were a part of our lives and are embedded in our fondest memories. This practice of extending objects throughout their life, from resource extraction (cradle) to the use phase and disposal phase (grave), is referred to as the “Cradle to Grave” design. While individual Indian families from the recent past believed in the cradle to grave design life, the Indian society has always practiced the “Cradle to Cradle” way of living. This concept and other sustainable design strategies formed the basis of her research. Summing up everything, she came up with her definition of “furniture”, which goes like, “Something that aids a human both physically and mentally”, which became her brief for the project, combined with sustainable design theories and the contemporary Indian way of living.
With Idyll, a piece of sleek and modern-looking furniture with Indian correlation, she aims for people to keep up with the present-day lifestyle, characterized by the minimal and elegant look of the bed, and yet, keep a part of their culture and traditions with the cozy and warm quilt. This piece of furniture is an experience, more than an object. It is something unseen and new, yet familiar to many people.
Comfort, Content, Earthy, Eco-design, Unconventional Indian
