Each year Delhi’s IIID invites its members to present their work and explain what makes them tick

The Delhi Regional Chapter of Institute of Indian Interior Designers (IIID-DRC) organised its annual event ‘10 on 10’ on October 10 at India Habitat Centre. The institute’s marquee event, according to the organisers, was started a decade ago with the objective of enabling fraternity members to get recognised through their work. Accordingly, the informal and fast-paced event provides 10 members – leaders and creative minds – 10 minutes each to provide an overview of their background, inspiration, current work and interest.

This year the highlighted 10 were Akshay Kaul, Akshay Kaul & Associates; Amritha Ballal, SpaceMatters; Mukul Arora, DADA; Aasha Sairam, Studio Lotus; Rudraksh Charan, 42mm Architecture; Madhav Raman, Anagram Architects; Aarti Agarwal, Knock on Wood; Vasanth Packirisamy, Firki Studio; Amrita Guha, Untitled Design Consultants; and Amit Pasricha, author and independent photography professional.

The traditional lighting of the lamp by senior members of IIID-DRC marked the beginning of the annual event. Akshay Kaul was the first to share his thoughts on water, wherein he stated that for him each and every project story started with water. As one who works on landscape planning, his thoughts on bio-engineering were indeed intriguing. Kaul shared details of a few project interventions and his contribution in rejuvenating water sources around the project site. Amritha Ballal spoke about the language of space, wherein she urged that architecture and design should speak the language of the local site where a project is coming up. She shared the case of ‘likahi – the art form’ from the hills in Uttarakhand that is dying, as there are no trained craftsmen to take up the job. Mukul Arora dwelt on ten types of designs.

Aasha Sairam spoke on creating meaning and celebrating context and shared her experiences working on Kohler’s Lajpat Nagar experience-centre project. She discussed how the centre was designed to help Kohler showcase more products, and how touch points were designed to elevate customer interaction. She also emphasised how interactive screens have been used to highlight behind-the product stories. Rudraksh Charan shared his thoughts on the need to bring diversity to design. Madhav Raman spoke on how rural villages go on to become urban villages and finally turn into slums. He passionately shared his thoughts on puccah, a crowd-funded project for rural India. Aarti Agarwal presented her story of working with wood. Vasanth Packirisamy shared his project, Red Curtain Office, and the challenges he had to face working around a tight budget and yet come up with a design that reflects modern work aesthetic. Amrita Guha touched upon several projects and highlighted how minimalism has influenced her work. Amit Pasricha explained how India’s historical wealth is in dire straits. He said that of the 7,00,000 heritage structures dotting India’s landscape, only 2,500 are protected by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).