“New-Improved” : Haute Waste
by Ria Rajan
“New-Improved” is a label started by Namrata Narula, a textile designer based in Bangalore India. (She is also is a close friend and classmate of mine from college). “New-Improved” stems from the age old habit of recycling, preserving and jugaad especially amongst Indians. The idea behind the label being that there is still use and [...]
CKS – 34 ways to save a life
by Ria Rajan
This post is long overdue. Ive been caught up with the madness that trails behind deadlines, mundane activities like getting my driving license, visas etc. In the midst of all this thankfully, I managed to have a chat with Aditya Dev Sood, Founder and CEO of the Center for Knowledge Societies (CKS). CKS is an [...]
Unbox Festival
by Ria Rajan
India seems to be on the brink of exciting new things especially in the realm of art and design. As a young creative practitioner, its inspiring and encouraging for me to see examples of the new work that is emerging from the country.The UnBox festival was once such platform that brought together 200 practitioners, academics, [...]
The Dream:IN Project
by Shagun Singh
The practice of design research and design innovation has picked up in the past decade. Design thinking is not the forte of design related businesses alone but is being extensively used to rethink businesses that have nothing to do with design. The idea of thinking outside the box, looking at things upside down and gaining [...]
Digital Green – bettering farmers’ livelihoods via technology
by Ria Rajan
Image – Digital Green website Rikin Gandhi made it to Technology Review’s Young Innovators list 2010. And rightly so – his NGO – Digital Green aims at educating farmers of developing countries using innovative, simple technologies. The seed of Digital Green was sown while Rikin was working at Microsoft Research Labs, India, a few years ago. At Microsoft, the [...]
InteGreater – Networking for Social Enterpreneurs
by Ria Rajan
Following the conversation with Kalyan Akkipeddi about ProtoVillage, I decided to weasel a little more of his time and get him to talk to me about InteGreater. I reckoned it would help me understand the larger framework within with the ideas of social entrepreneurship; sustainable habitats and knowledge sharing are situated. One of Kalyan’s favorite [...]
Where Art meets Science and vice versa.
by Ria Rajan
In simple words, Synthetic Biology is about making living organisms do things which nature had not intended on them doing. Its about taking tiny bits of DNA, splicing them together and inserting them into bacteria. In effect, a bacterium could be made to change colour or made to be bright enough to be visible to [...]
NyayaBhoomi – A Service Design Venture for Auto-Rickshaws
by Shagun Singh
Ever had to catch one of those New Delhi auto-rickshaws? You know that you are being taken for a ride then. The rickshaw drivers are rude, they refuse to go by the meter, they always seem to be going the opposite direction to where you want to be going. I have questioned the local transportation [...]
The Better India – Positive news. Happy Stories. Unsung Heroes.
by Ria Rajan
Tired of the sensationalized reports and negative journalism of Indian newspapers and magazines, Bangalore based husband and wife duo – Anuradha and Dhimant Parekh decided to set up a platform that focuses only on happy stories. Thus The Better India was born. It was an honest attempt to celebrate and bring together those unsung heroes [...]
BPL StudyLite by Studio ABD
by Ria Rajan
In India, power cuts during exam time is every child’s biggest anxiety. One breaks into a sweat, starts pacing up and down and even goes to the extreme of praying to the Almighty; promising reforms, pledging away a life of sin and the long dreadful countdown to when the lights will turn back on. This [...]
Bambike – A Bamboo Bicycle
by Ria Rajan
Bruce Sterling’s short story The Interoperation , featured in the Technology Review published by MIT, (Massachusett’s Institute of Technology) can be briefly summarized as a tale of a future where robots build and tear down buildings based on pre-set programs and a future where people ride bamboo bicycles. In present times, this story is not [...]
Babajob.com – Connecting employers with informal sector workers
by Ria Rajan
Babajob.com is a Bangalore-based start-up that uses the web and mobile technology to connect employers and bottom-of-the-pyramid (BOP) informal sector workers (i.e. maids, cooks, drivers, etc.) with the goal of creating a scalable, replicable and profitable solution to combat poverty. Babajob aims to do this by creating greater market efficiency in the informal sector through [...]
Jaaga – Creative Common Ground
by Ria Rajan
Having spent a long weekend with Archana Prasad –Co Founder Jaaga, National Institute of Design alumnus and Bangalore based artist, in Pondicherry, where she was performing with her group The Manjunauts, (she is also a VJ) at the Freedom Jam; I had the chance to engage in a dialogue with her about Jaaga. Jaaga’s name [...]
Uniform Project at Bungalow 8
by Shagun Singh
Most people in the US of A, may have already heard about the Uniform Project. But for those few who still don’t know, here is a quick update. Uniform Project is the brain child of this quirky, fun and fabulous girl called Sheena Matheiken from Brooklyn, NY. She was born and raised in South India [...]
Disposable mugs
by Shagun Singh
Unlike the westerners Indians use water to clean themselves after going to the toilet. However while traveling in cramped trains, the toilets have running water, but dont have containers or mugs to store the water to clean with. This unique problem has been addressed by Paul Sandeep. He designed a sustainable, disposable mug that could [...]
The Sun King Solar Lantern – Energy everyone can afford
by Shagun Singh
Greenlight Planet is a startup based in Mumbai that sells affordable solar LED lights targeted at rural India. The sustainable solar design is a substitute for the kerosene lamps widely used in rural india. The lamp provides 16 hrs of electricity on a single days charge and is known to be twice as bright as [...]
Ideas and their roleplay in the future of India
by Shagun Singh
TED talk by Nandan Nilekani, CEO of Infosys. Nandan talks about ideas in India which include Ideas that have arrived, ideas in progress, ideas in conflict and ideas in anticipation. The talk essentially circles around the role of India as a global player and the role ideas play in this process. Watch the talk on [...]
