IDF's Rajshree Pathy on why design doesn't mean art

Over a call in the wee hours of the night if there is such a paradox as a straightforward rhetorician it has to be Rajshree Pathy Laughing and claiming to be 15 when the subject of her age is brought up Pathy is both warm and brisk qualities that the Padma Shri awardee and the managing director of Rajshree Group of Companies loans to the India Design ForumIDF IDF is the alter ego to the entrepreneur who runs a company that produces white sugar organic manure bioproducts and power in Coimbatore The story of her truncated desire to become an architect is now part of the Pathy legendRajshree Pathy MD Rajshree GroupIn 2012 IDF cofounded by Pathy and daughter Aishwarya debuted in New Delhi followed by a 2013 Mumbai edition after a financial sabbatical of two years IDF 2016 will hit public and indie venues in Mumbai as part of Make in India Week from February 13Pathy receiving the Padma Shree award from President Pranab Mukherjee at The Presidential Palace in New Delhi on April 5 2013 PicAFPHaving hosted speakers like luxury footwear designer Christian Louboutin and architect Rahul Mehrotra in the past the event pulls in both the glam and the brawn perhaps a little more of the latter this time given its collaboration with Make in India and its investor guests But design Pathy is clear is the soul of manufacturing Edited excerpts from the interviewQ You are now in Coimbatore just days before the IDF is set to begin in Mumbai How are you managing itA Coimbatore where my factory is located is my hub We have a team of eight to manage the backoffice and my daughter and cofounder of IDF Aishwarya is also here having recently become a mother She felt that Coimbatore would be a better place to bring up the baby Physical presence is no more a limitation to organise an event anywhere in the world So much gets done over the Internet My iPhone is a little thing that gets a large volume of work done It shows the power of good designQ IDF is returning after a hiatus of two years What were the reasons for this gapA We had to take a break since the event was so large in 2012 and 2013 IDF is an exorbitant expenditure which is privately funded Right from accommodation for speakers to venues it costs a lot of moneyQ IDF 2016 has a design trail and a conference Why have you chosen Mumbai again as the venue Why arenrsquot you venturing into New Delhi as you had in 2012A In 2013 when we had held Design Matters at the National Centre for Performing Arts NCPA we found the enthusiasm in Mumbai overwhelming Delhi is the place for art but Mumbai is the place for design There are urban pockets full of design activity institutions such as Bhau Daji Lad Museum IITB and JSW that actively support design are great influencers of society Besides the proximity to Pune which is known for its automotive design and the National Institute of Design NID in Ahmedabad also helpsQ We often tend to club the words art and design How would you distinguish the twoA Art is a personal expression almost selfish if I may add Design on the other hand is a solutionprovider that can turn craft into a contemporary product It is about functionality it intervenes in products and manufacturing processesIf you had to ask me what the best example of Indian design is I would say itrsquos a thali it is quintessentially Indian Design has to be relevant to a culture In the Indian context where we donrsquot use forks and knives the thali is totally relevant We canrsquot import something from Italy and make it work here Moreover the thali is used by both the wealthy and the rural villager Thatrsquos design mdash it is democratic Art canrsquot do thatQ This time around IDF has collaborated with Make in India Who approached whomA Make in India approached us in midNovember We were scheduled to organise the event in Bengaluru a little later in the year IDF is unique as a design platform and we address several design verticals such as automotive and product design and the convergence of these with each other At every IDF conference we have policymakers and ministers because it is important they are part of this process We are excited that design is included as a mainstream activity at the Make in India WeekQ Does this mean that IDF and design were not ldquomainstreamrdquo earlierA Well people talk usually about the manufacturing sector but not enough about design The problem is that people think design is a product A physical product is only incidental to design Design is not a thing it is a way of thinking How can design be used to create a service or a product With IDF along side student exhibitions by the National Institute of Design NID at Make in India design has arrivedQ You mentioned that Bengaluru was supposed to be the venue for IDF this time We would have thought so too mdash that Bengaluru with its vibrant startup culture is an obvious choiceA Bengaluru is of course great for innovation and we are looking to broadbase IDF in the future We do want to have it happening every alternative year as well as have smaller programmes in tier II cities to provide exposure and opportunityQ Among Indian designers who do you think is doing a good workA Satyendra Pakhale Nipa Doshi and artists Thukral and Tagra come to my mind Thukral and Tagra have been working with Meissen porcelain and with ETRO to make handbags Others that I can also think of are Little Shilpa Gunjan Gupta and Nappa DoriQ The story of how you wanted to study architecture but were signed up by your mother to continue the family business is now pretty wellestablished So apart from the IDF how do you personally persist with your interest in art and designA I build all my spaces and even design my own furniture I am a complete modernist and like minimalism My houses be it in New Delhi or Coimbatore use concrete steel and natural material I like functionality over opulence So my furniture is simple and inexpensive I even built the companyrsquos factory 25 years ago Sugar factories if you have ever visited one are conventionally like a tunnel mdash planned to have sugarcane go in on one end and have sugar come out from the other That requires more manpower and monitoring I changed it to a square model rather than a linear one to bring in a central monitoring architects technicians and machine suppliers didnrsquot agree initially But finally I was able to get it done Coimbatore surrounded by the Nilgiris Hills has a healing energy that keeps me emotionally and physically stable and fulfilled Every year I visit the Isha Yoga CenterQ Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev from Isha is the first speaker at IDF this timeA Yes His talk is called Design for Life and will also include a presentation on the architecture of the Isha Center He has designed everything at Isha himself The centrersquos elliptical Dhynalinga dome is the largest built in the last 100 yearsQ How do you manage everything You run the IDF you are chairperson of the Confederation of Indian Industry CIISouth and you are a sugar baronessA I laugh at the label lsquosugar baronessrsquo It makes me sound redundant I live in the real world rather than royalty living life in silk cushions My work is in rural Tamil Nadu and Telengana with sugarcane farmers and with democratic design not luxury