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TALK of TOWN by WADe ASIA is a series of Mini Talk Sessions designed for an evening to closely interact with the design leaders & innovators in a city or town. It is a beautiful evening that is spent around design discussions, thoughts, interactions and more. In this world of ever growing technology, TALK of TOWN is a respite to switch off your phone and to connect with real people, and their world of thoughts.
TALK of TOWN is a medium to exchange ideas and begin relationships. WADe ASIA reaches out to Architects & Designers in their own city to enjoy the flavours of the city and its design culture.
TALK of TOWN Pune was definitely a Talk of Town! Held on 2nd September, it was a warm gathering of some beautiful souls together from the field of design in Pune. The team of Orient Bell Ltd warmly hosted the event in their Pune boutique designed around ideas expressed through tiles
The evening session started with the speech of Pratap Jadhav, National President, IIID. Mr. Jadhav delivered a mesmerising talk on ‘Designing for the masses’. “There is a notion amongst the general masses that design is only for the elite. I felt, this thought needs to be erased. We thought of ‘Design yatra‘ to travel 26,000 km across the nation and take this mission to the masses, sensitizing people and communities.” WADe ASIA is preparing his entire talk for sharing with the industry. It would be our privilege to contribute in such a holistic mission.
Ar. Sunil Patil, founder of Sunil Patil & Associates, spoke about “Contemporary Architecture with Vernacular Materials”. He said, “This topic is very close to my heart. Since past 25 years, I have been living and working with this philosophy.” Mr. Patil shared an interesting comparison between vernacular materials of yesterday and today, through his projects spanning more than 15-20 years.
Ar. Ashwin Lovekar is a great orator who connects and binds the audience almost instantly. He has raised some pertinent questions that would require more discussions. “We have architects like Charles Correa and B V Doshi to look up to, but
we need to see what the younger generation looks up to,” he asked. We are in a thoroughly confused state. We do not know
what we are doing and where are we going and tomorrow when the next generation becomes architect what sort of architecture are they going to look up to? He ended the speech with this thought: “What does Indian architecture stand today and what does the future hold for us?”
Ar. Anjali Lovekar shared the sweet experience of working with an all women team through unique presentation of real photos of her team, studio and stories beautifully narrated. The bond was visible and touched many hearts in the audience. Young designers Ar. Tushar Kothawade & Ar. Chiranjivi Lunkad took us through transformation of small spaces for wider functionalities. Literally, we could see through their presentations how intelligently & smartly they are adept in creating extra space. It is clear that space cannot hide from the eagle eyes of these designers!
Dhara Kabaria, Co-founder and Principal Designer, Studio Alternatives, stressed upon the concept of re-use, and how her firm is into recycling as well as upcycling. She said, “My idea when we started our studio was to adhere to this philosophy
and apply it to the mainstream. “
Ar. Swapnil Gawande of Studio Draft shared some of his designs and research on architectural fabrication and technology. He said, “We do some non-conventional type of work and I am also associated with Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture as a faculty in the department of digital architecture.”
Madhur Daga, MD, Orient Bell Ltd. concluded, “I had a lot of learning in the past couple of hours and hopefully we can integrate that into our offering. I am a huge believer in education and we did a lot of brainstorming to do CSR by
educating next generation of children. We figured out and did our first school project almost a year ago in a small village called Til Begumpur in U.P. We completed our second project couple of months ago in Varanasi. The fact that OBL is more than just a manufacturer of Tiles is giving us a lot of satisfaction.” He showcased the videos that received a lot of appreciations.