London Design Fair reveals details of This is India guest pavilion

This is India landscape1

In celebration of its tenth anniversary, London Design Fair has selected India as its first annual guest country pavilion, which will see ten Indian designers and brands spanning product, textile and furniture design showcase their work.

This is India is co-curated by London Design Fair founder and director, Jimmy MacDonald, alongside London-based consultancy Tiipoi’s founder, Spandana Gopal.

The launch of the guest country pavilion follows tradeshow events Tent London and Super Brands restructuring under the new name London Design Fair.

Supported by e-commerce retailer, Indelust, the pavilion is designed to showcase a “renewed but intimate perspective on established and emerging design practices from India today”, according to London Design Fair.

India on the global design scene

“With an increasing overview of the global design scene we have been observing with great interest the number of new independent designers and studios from India making their first inroads on the global design scene,” it says.

The lineup includes textile designers Leah Singh, Injiri and Safomasi, industrial studio and manufacturers, Taama and product designers, Objectry.

Independent designers such as URMI Studio, who work with repurposed plastic, and studio and workshop SHED will also go on display.

“Experimentation and openness” are the two main themes of the pavilion’s exhibition design, according to the designer, Kangan Arora.

2017 UK-India Year of Culture

Paying homage to the “ancient astronomical instruments and jagged geometries” of the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, Arora plans to transform the pavilion space in east London’s Old Truman Brewery with an installation that comprises more than 500 hand-painted terracotta pots stacked into various colonnades and towers.

“Clay as a material is something that’s present in every Indian household – whether it’s the ‘matka’ that keeps your water chilled or the plant pot in which you’re growing your herbs,” she says.

“It was this simple act of utilitarian products stacked in repetitive forms that inspired me with the pavilion, it says something about the scale and necessity of creation in India.”

“Following our announcement to make This Is India our first guest country pavilion at the London Design Fair Gov.uk announced the initiative; 2017 UK-India Year of Culture,” says London Design Fair founder and director, Jimmy MacDonald.

“So in 2017 we intend to build on our learning of 2016 and produce a larger more rounded This Is India pavilion.”

The London Design Fair is a design destination that runs as part of the London Design Festival.

This is India runs at the London Design Fair from 22 to 25 September at Old Truman Brewery in London. Find out more here.

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