My favourite products: A rapid-fire round with award-winning designer A Balasubramaniam

Earlier this month, he became the first Indian to win the prestigious Hills Millennium Award. How did he get here; what are his favourite creations? Take a look

Does your lamp light your table up just right? Does your water bottle fit easily in your hand?

The Eames chair, Anglepoise lamp and Jawaja bag.

“Design is everywhere, and designers have the power to influence lives — for better or worse,” says product designer A Balasubramaniam, 64.

Earlier this month, he became the first Indian to win the prestigious Hills Millennium Award. Here are three quick questions with Balasubramaniam. (For the full interview, click here.)

* Why design?

I feel like I didn’t really discover design; design discovered me.

I was born in Rajkot, Gujarat but travelled across India as my father had a transferable job with the Life Insurance Corporation. Through it all, my mother, a homemaker, was sort of my creative partner. She could make even the most mundane school projects fun and arty.

Once, for a science project, she helped me make a table lamp out of a plastic tiffin box, some aluminium foil and a fruit basket. Her creative instinct possibly shaped me subconsciously. Back in the 1960s, I just never imagined something like that could become a profession.

* What have been some of your favourite projects?

One was a collaboration with block-making artisans in Pilkhuwa, Uttar Pradesh, in 2000. These were artisans who had trained for generations in the art of carving wooden block-printing blocks. But the industry was languishing and they were out of work.

I worked with them to channel their craft to make photo frames, stationery holders, coasters, mirrors, lamps, coasters, all of which used their traditional wood-carving techniques.

Another interesting project was a collaboration with a cycle-rickshaw driver in Haryana. He would lug herbs, flowers and fruits from farms to factories, till he realised that they could be processed for juices, pulps and extracts at the farm itself, saving time and money.

So, the man, Dharamveer Kamboj, designed his own prototype for such a machine, in 2003, in association with the National Innovation Foundation (NIF).

When NIF reached out to me for developing the product, we realised that the innovator’s design had many flaws. It was difficult convincing Mr Kamboj about the changes that it needed, but over time, I was able to build that trust and in the end, he was happy to see it was his own design with his name.

* Can you name three products, designed by others, that you admire?

My most favourite thing is the Anglepoise lamp designed by George Carwardine, a British automotive engineer, in 1931. With a spring, crank and lever, it is efficient, flexible and a classic design.

The Eames Lounge Chair with ottoman, made of wood and leather, is also a favourite. It was designed, of course, by Charles and Ray Eames in the 1950s. I had the chance to sit on one and it was the most comfortable experience!

The third is a craft product — Jawaja bags — that a former colleague Nilam Iyer created with leather artisans who were once mainly shoemakers, in Jawaja, Rajasthan, in the 1970s. The bags have such a contemporary design, and have helped the community.