India

Gunjan Gupta
Age: 33

My Job Title
Director, Wrap Art & Design
www.wrap.co.in

Design Field
Furniture

My Education
MA Design (Furniture), Central St Martins College, London 2006

My Work
"Wrap Art & Design is a young and innovative Furniture Design Company that engages with social and material sustainibility, and attaches a new set of values to objects through the combination of traditional craft and contemporary design for a global luxury market. I am involved in all design related activities from idea concepts and presentations to prototyping and the final touch. I have very recently recruited two design assistants to help me in this area. All products are produced in partnership with local New Delhi producers and traditional artisans in Jaipur. I look into all promotional and business development activities for the company by taking part in International Trade Shows and planning launches within the country.

India has been a historical producer of luxury goods, and it is most unfortunate that these craft skills that were once widely patronized across the world are now in a serious state of decay, threatened by the country's rapid modernization. I consider myself a design entrepreneur because I believe that it takes a fair amount of entrepreneurship to salvage an ancient Indian craft tradition from obsolescence by attaching contemporary design values to it, and putting it at the very top of the global luxury market."

Issues in the design sector on my country
"The Indian design scene in furniture is very western-centric, and most contemporary furniture in India's burgeoning luxury market is either a Western import, or a locally manufactured imitation of the same. India's heritage of craft skills in furniture and other crafts is rendered pejorative within the Indian milieu, and exists largely through the export market of other affluent countries.

'Made in India': Although there is a lot of 'Made in India', there exists very little of Indian design in the international context. India is most recognized globally through the cheap & cheerful segment of the Western market. Indian handmade goods are rarely promoted for their fine craftsmanship or cultural value, and are regarded as cheaper and exotic alternatives to the problem of standardization and mass manufacture. This greatly affects quality, and is demeaning to local artisans."

Innovative design trends from India
"When we wrap something we attach a new set of values to it, is the premise for this project. The tradition of wrapping pure silver sheets around courtly furniture is an ancient throne decoration technique from India that reverses the notion of the 'precious' into 'being wrapped'. The 'D Throne' recycles tradition and draws from the cultural redundancy of thrones, creating a new form wherein a rudimentary Indian stool connects with an exotic back and becomes a throne. It is proposed as a 'Dining Throne' and is an experience in luxury that goes beyond the traditional façade of silver using geometry to explore the reflective properties of the metal. The gold reflects into the silver and invites the sitter into a glow of ultimate luxury.

Handmade to high quality standards by Indian artisans; the ancient crafts of applying 24-carat gold leaf and silver skillfully balance material audacity with austerity in form. While the traditional technique remains the same, large swathes of the silver foil are wrapped around plain surfaces and the craft process is guided from a random 'covering' in silver to a methodical 'wrapping'. The concept of wrapping is carried across the construction process in the wrapping of Indian hardwood panels around the silver. "

You can find out more about the national competition in India on the British Council website in India.

The information above is taken from the application form completed by the finalist in early 2007. Things may have changed since this information was provided and we recommend that you should not rely upon this information as a definitive statement of current fact. Click here to contact the finalist.