Introduction: Leather Uptil Now...
Leather – Years of evolution have given leather hides a fiber structure that has protected animals and humans from nature’s harshest elements. Therefore leather products have traditionally had the advantage of durability and flexibility and weather resistance over conventional synthetics.
The material is created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin. It is a unique commodity that links grassroot villages with high societies and traditional practices with emerging technology. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.
Leather Industry occupies a place of prominence in the Indian economy in view of its massive potential for employment, growth and exports. There has been increasing emphasis on its planned development, aimed at optimum utilization of available raw materials for maximizing the returns, particularly from exports.
The global competition has been the major driver that forced the leather industry to upgrade its technological base. Over the last twenty years and particularly in the last ten years, it has become the fourth largest foreign exchange earner in the country.
Given the nature of the leather industry, its modernization requires the following initiatives to make it efficient, agile, responsive, and competitive.
· Enhance productivity
· Reduce wastage
· Increase opportunities in areas of design
· Automate the production process
· Introduction of new technology
Scope
Despite the fact that India has a comparative advantage in the leather sector on account of abundance of raw material, low cost labour and availability of trained manpower, there exists, an acute deficit of good quality finished leather products.
Having understood this aspect of the industry where there is not only a high demand but also a need for quality and finish in areas of design, there has to be some effort made towards globalizing and bridging the gap between what we call a traditional practice and the high society which adorns it.
Looking at the industry and the people engaged in it, there is a need to understand its link with the social and organizational structure through caste and community.
Introduction to Definite Design
Definite Design was established in 2005 and offers a wide portfolio of home, office, lifestyle, accessories and promotional items. Based in New Delhi, the company has a dedicated team of craftsmen who provide customized solutions for any need. Renowned for discerning design skills, high quality in production, and innovative ideas, the company currently exports its products to clients in Denmark, Norway, UAE and USA.
Founded by NIFT Graduate, Gautam Sinha (mentor) who owns a retail outlet –
N A P P A D O R I in New Delhi. Nappa Dori is firmly rooted in Indian origin and literally translated means ‘leather and thread’. The premise of Definite Design recognizes that, the design of traditional work is a process of direct, intimate collaboration between creator and user.
Project Title
Client based project proposed to and accepted by Definite Design for designing lifestyle products and furniture items for the launch of N A P P A D O R I - Home. This will involve my own explorations and experimentation in the different processes techniques possible in leather. These explorations will further lead me into the designing of products and furniture. Also make a costing and marketing plan for the products which subsequently go into the boutique for sale to customers.
Project Brief
My project will be an explorative venture where I will investigate leather as a material, the variant and diverse processes (listed below), techniques, how the material behaves in different circumstances, study the theme and go on to ideating on elements like form, ergonomics, functionality, scale, which lend to a well designed product. The products will be designed in combination with materials such as canvas, wood and chrome polished metal.
Beyond this, the project will also cover the cultural context where I will trace my interaction with the city (Delhi) in line with the theme, with the karigars who I will talk to and who will help me in my explorations. It will go through a process of analysis, exploration, investigation into the material and form, and finally identifying certain spaces in the city, which typically bring out the essence of the theme, and using that as an inspiration to design a range of products and furniture.
Thus referring to the “scope” above, my study will also involve aspects of my prior experience as an intern at Definite Design in 2010, where I got a chance to see the working conditions of the karigars. Having interacted with them I found that majority of them belong to the Muslim community and other traditional leather working castes. Thus beyond the ongoing design process, this study will also look into some issues that affect the workers, in terms of their working conditions, wages, social and employment security.
Theme and Mission
The products extract exquisite elements of Vintage India, infused with an inimitable contemporary touch. The theme reminds one of the classic era. The brand and its core philosophy surrounds a fusion of old India with new interpretations, whether it be visual or multi-sensorial. It is poised to change the face of the Indian luxury leather market with superbly designed products.
Target Audience
Upper Middle Class - Sophisticated Professionals
Foreigners
Primarily women between the age of 23 - 40 years
Deliverables
Lifestyle Products
Furniture (Designed in combination with canvas (plain woven fabric), wood and chrome finished metal to check cost)
Research Questions
WHAT IS / ARE..?
Current scenario of the Leather Industry
Vintage India (Theme)
Predominant areas of Survey, Research and Availability of material
Various Processes involved in the manufacture
Material Specifications- How it behaves?
Ground reality of the karigars
Similar/ Other Products existing in the market, Competition?
HOW to evaluate and tap appropriate markets?
Market research in relation to the target audience
Approach/ Process
- Understand the material in totality.
- Understand the possibilities and limitations of the material and processes involved, and planning the designs accordingly.
- Study ergonomics.
- Visiting tanneries and other related institutes to scrutinize the entire process from extraction to manufacture.
- Collecting samples of different skins, ranging from leather to leatherite and making a sample booklet for future reference.
- Understand the market: look at the customer’s requirements, product preference, budget, willingness to pay, value for the product and what they look for when they come to buy.
- To profile the user (persona’s) so that I can define the age group, aesthetics and price.
- Understand the ground reality - work methods of the artisans, skill, problems faced at production and marketing level.
- Understand the ‘why’s’ of every detail.
- Derive mood boards and colour palettes of textures, spaces and surfaces according to the theme through the medium of photography and research.
- Adapt and familiarize myself to the working conditions of Definite Design.
- Develop a cost sheet and a marketing plan.
- The exploratory aspect includes experimenting with the many different processes, prototyping, ideating on different forms and thus designing the products.
- Dyeing (vegetable, chemical, water)
- Cutting, Pasting
- Stitching
- Embossing/ Stamping
- Splitting
- Skiving
- Nailing/ Punching
- Moulding
- Buffing, Edge colouring
- Spray painting, decorative painting
- Laser Cutting
- Weaving
- Screen, Digital printing
- Embroidery
- Crushing, Crackling
- Pleating
- Patchwork
Materials and Resources
Primary Sources
Definite Design - Talking to mentor (Gautam Sinha) and head karigar (Rashid Bhaiya)
Definite Design Workshop to prototype.
Definite Design’s Leather Resource
In-house karigars to help explore and experiment with the material
NIFT Library (If permission granted)
Tanneries in Kapurthala, Delhi
Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) Chennai
Journaling
Secondary Sources
Books and Magazines
Websites
Blogs and Articles
Shops, Boutiques selling similar products - PortSide Cafe (New Delhi)
- Three Sixty Degree (New Delhi)
Learning Outcomes
- To be able to follow a well thought out and planned design process, with appropriate design tools and ideologies, to achieve the desired outcome.
- To explore my role as a designer in studying a social condition through a specific theme which thereby inspires me in coming up with prototypes, and hence expresses my own design ideology.
- To explore the different possibilities and limitations in the material and its appropriate use, in combination with other materials to check costs.
- Launching a product line in the real market scenario.
- Building on different skill sets.
- Getting first hand ground level experience.
- Learning how to mediate between the director, the karigars and college.
- To explore my imagination and creatively blend it with someone else’s to produce something effective.
- To push myself and my design skills to a level that can evoke something innovative.
- To take the rigour in a positive spirit and have a holistic learning experience.
- Meeting expectations.
- Time Management.
References
- http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/sereport/ser/stdy_ict/9_leather.pdf
- C.E.C Working Paper - Leather Industry In India - Sumangala Damodaran and Pallavi Mansingh - 2008
http://www.cec-india.org/images/stories/pdf/CECWork_paper/Leather%20Industry%20in%20India,%20 2008.pdf
- Central Research Leather Institute - http://www.clri.org/
- Definite Design - http://definitedesign.in/
- Gautam Sinha - Director, Definite Design (mentor)
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