Crafting a National Identity in an International Market: Design Emergence of the Global South

Crafting a National Identity in an International Market

16 September 2024 -

The similarities between some Indian and international design objects can be attributed to the hegemony of ‘Western’ design and a postcolonial mindset. Elise Hodson says that as design history expands beyond the study of Western objects, there is a risk that Western narratives and methodologies will continue to dominate. New histories will be told about previously ignored parts of the globe, but always relative to a Western worldview - an ‘advanced’ and ‘modern’ West as ‘silent referent’ for an ‘underdeveloped’ East.(1) A major challenge is to study the cultural forms of the contemporary world without being biased towards Western design and designers or presupposing their authority.

One of the unfavourable outcomes of a globalised world is in its awareness of international designs and products, which sometimes leads to the appropriation of global design influences without due credit or acknowledgement. Designers grapple with identity as a problem of reconciling their own artistic heritage with Western innovations. This links to the Indian psyche and raises questions about the deeper residual effects of colonisation.

An example of a strong Western influence in the work of an Indian designer can be found in Aakriti Kumar’s Dowel Bench (Fig. 01), which bears a marked similarity to George Nakashima’s work (Fig. 02). While Kumar’s bench is an unusual and modern take on the classic use of wood in Indian furniture, in the specific way that the plank of wood has been left in its natural state it has a strong reference to Nakashima’s style. Kumar says there are a lot of designers that do get inspired by nature and by the Indian aspect of design, and try to create it not in a traditional manner but more in a modern sense.(2) Her work generally does showcase the aspect of nature.

Divia Patel says that many designers use craft as a signifier of locality, and some of them celebrate its potential for hybridisation and use it as a positive symbol of globalisation.(3) Indian designers while being influenced by the West, push the limits of Indian craft traditions in terms of usability, typology, use of materials, and production processes through research and development, in order to make unique objects. Thus the decision about what must remain traditional and what can be innovated, the negotiation of patterns and meaning-making, resides with designers who are equipped and have been educated to handle such issues.(4) Howard Risatti aptly describes this modern way of using craft:

Like painting, craft cannot compete with mechanical production and, like painting, if craft is to survive in the modern world of the twenty-first century, it must make itself understood as a way of bringing objects into the world that is meaningful in and of itself (just as painting is understood as a meaningful way of bringing images into the world).(5)

Instead of assimilating the indigenous into the global sphere, there is an accommodation between the two, producing a hybrid culture as a result. Indian designers are therefore, both carriers and signifiers of culture in a design world that is dominated by the Western. Establishing a sense of identity allows people to respond to the objects and for the objects to respond to the cultural dialogue. Designers are motivated by the development of different aspects of their social understanding, which, when linked to their specific experiences, influences their design ethos.

Dealing with a confused notion of identity and being influenced by anything ‘Western’ is a throwback to centuries of colonisation and national identities have been moulded through various cultural conditions. Khilnani substantiates that research on ‘non-national’ identities has proliferated, and that some historians have begun subtly to examine the processes through which national identities have been moulded out of the pressures and opportunities of power, often by the active manipulation of the boundaries of the individual and collective selves.(6)

The Embroidered Lounger (Fig. 03) by Rooshad Shroff has a strong visual reference to the traditional day-bed that is ubiquitous in rich homes in India (Fig. 04). However, Shroff’s contemporary use of craft and form dispels all links to historicity. As Javier Gimeno-Martinez points out, ‘crafts and folk dress offer unequivocal signifiers of the nation, which maintain their character even after being streamlined to appeal to an international audience.’(7) Shroff designs in a way that does not conform to an Indian identity. In this lounger, he uses a linear geometrical form. In terms of its formal language, it is very contemporary and cannot be attributed to a particular country or type but rather has a universal typology.

Analysing the process of interaction between the West and the East results in the conclusion that the role of one cannot be understood without engaging with the other. This allows us to see the play of these multiple forces together. Understanding this is key to grasping the contemporary Indian cultural landscape as unique.

These small groups of independent designers are becoming conscious of their cultural roots. They are experimenting by developing a new language in furniture design. They are also attempting to assimilate functional and visual clues from Western design practices and making a way forward to break the hegemony of the West. This also reveals that Indian design is on a strong trajectory in the global design world, which has hitherto mostly been dominated by Western design.


References

(1) Elise Hodson, ‘Exhibiting Independent India - Textiles and Ornamental Arts at the Museum of Modern Art’ in Penny Sparke & Fiona Fisher (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Design Studies. London: Routledge, 2019, p.493.

(2) Interview with Aakriti Kumar.

(3) Patel, India Contemporary Design, p.207.

(4) Alicia Ory DeNicola and Clare M. Wilkinson-Weber, ‘Designs on Craft Negotiating Artisanal Knowledge and Identity in India’ in Ory DeNicola and Wilkinson-Weber, Critical Craft - Technology, p.92.

(5) Howard Risatti, A Theory of Craft Function and Aesthetic Expression. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007, p.153.

(6) Khilnani, The Idea of India, p.2.

(7) Gimeno-Martinez, Design and National Identity, p.73.