Escaping Flatland

The Forbes Celebrity 100 list shows actors, actresses, athletes, models, media personalities, all in their 20s or early 30s. But I can understand that. And I don’t feel bad about it. After all, I never had the looks, talent or good fortune to be like them.

But perusing through the London Design Museum site today (I have a lot of free time on my hands nowadays), I came across Mr. Onkar Singh Kular, a BBCD who’s made it big enough to be on the London Design Museum site. And this dude is younger than me! The next ten minutes were spent soul-searching and introspecting. A rich oatmeal raisin cookie and ice-laden Sprite later, I feel much better. Now, onto exploring what makes OSK famous.

Onkar has designed very creative products by concentrating on usage rather than function. Three socks in case you lose one from your favourite pair (in England, they seem to have favourites for the weirdest things). Tea mugs in 128 shades to match the exact colour of your ‘favourite’ preparation in case someone else is making it. A picture frame with a spirit level. Deceptively simple concepts – and as usual, many designers tend to overlook it.

Or, rather, the critical and innovative design thinking required to revolutionize household products is beyond the blinkered vision, structured product development processes, and meager R&D budgets of most commodity firms. And given the recent efflux of worldwide manufacturing to China - whose core competence is low-cost execution, not innovation – this trend will not abate for a while. This is why I like IKEA, and Michael Graves , and (of course) Apple - they push the boundaries of the prosaic, enhancing form, function and features, fulfilling unspoken needs. On a larger scale, even governments can be innovative once in a while, creating bridges that turn into tunnels that turn into bridges [Aerial view] [Close-up view]. This is what separates a knowledge economy from an industrial one.

Or, in my case, a rich, famous Desi from a lowly salaried worker!