Dutch designers present Connecting Concepts, an exhibition that deconstructs the method behind design. An umbrella that sustains winds up to 82 km per hour, a dress with 100 buttons and pants held together with a single stitch are just a few reasons why you should stop by
Dutch designers present Connecting Concepts, an exhibition that deconstructs the method behind design. An umbrella that sustains winds up to 82 km per hour, a dress with 100 buttons and pants held together with a single stitch are just a few reasons why you should stop by
Walk into the Indian Institute of Contemporary Indian Art and you will see a collection of seemingly random objects -- a bicycle and a bizarrely shaped umbrella displayed next to a pair of jeans. Our guide, Bertjan Pot, the designer of Connecting Concepts has implemented his study of 'good' design to piece together a decade of Dutch designer projects with a few Indian examples. A detailed booklet guides you through the two-floor exhibit and explains the techniques used to create the designs. 
Exhibition designer Bertjan Pot stands with a dress exhibit made
by Ahmedabad-based womenu00a0 dress makers.
"The designs in the exhibition are intended to be reference points and not the final product. Audiences should have the flexibility to add to what the designer has created," says Pot The exhibition he says is also an attempt to explore the definition of genius. Trying not to get into a sticky situation, we ask what genius actually means? To which Pot replies, "It can be called intelligence or just plain laziness. The basic point of innovation is to simplify a process."
He explains his argument with the help of an example:"Netherlands is one-third below sea level. They are the second largest exporters of agricultural produce but its coastline is under threat. The sand engine project (launched in January) will build a peninsula with 2 crore cubic meters of sand, and the wind, waves and current will gradually spread the sand so that the coast grows naturally. The coast will provide space for plant and animal life and the sea will do most of the work."
The exhibition comes to Mumbai after a stopover at Ahmedabad, and will move to Bengaluru before heading to China. Pot has been observing Indian methods of design. He says there is a 'functional self-organisation' that can been seen in how the dabbawallas work but admits that understanding how large groups of unorganised masses can still seem to function productively is difficult.
At: Connecting Concepts, Indian Institute of Contemporary Indian Art, Kala Ghoda
Call: 28303030
Button Masala project
Once the button was mainly ornamental, then in 13th century Germany, it met its functional counterpart in the buttonhole. Designer Anuj Sharma simply places an array of buttons and a series of buttonholes throughout the two square fabric that form the dress. The do-it-yourself principle allows the wearer to transform the outfit by simply attempting different combinations of buttons with buttonholes.u00a0u00a0 
Logo by rule
"Design is not the last stage of any process," says Pot who prefers to explain via an example. When the publishers of 010 in Rotterdam approached Thonik, an Amsterdam-based visual communication designer, he gave them a rule to follow rather than a rigid design, with a specific font that would clash with the book's typeface. To incorporate different font options, Thonik suggested using alphabets for the numeric, so '1' becomes 'I' and 0 becomes 'o'.u00a0 
Senz umbrella
Umbrellas have got smaller and prettier but even the funkiest umbrella surrenders when faced with a gust of wind. The Senz umbrella, developed by Gerwin Hoogendoorn, takes inspiration from bird's wings and will never upturn. It has been tested against wind speeds up to 82 km per hour, perfect for the Mumbai rains. "What is interesting to see is that people have played with materials but a simple design adjustment eventually made all the difference. That is intelligent," says Pot.
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