Tag: Rachana Sansad

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Creating beauty from junk

Mumbai designer Arjun Rathi creates some beautiful products from scrap, and says that his quirky products are finding several buyers.
by Rachel Tseng

Walking through the numerous by-lanes of the crowded scrap markets in Mumbai can be very exhausting and cumbersome. But for someone like Arjun Rathi, it is a creativity inspired adventurous experience. A casual walk through Bharat Bazar in Mumbai 2011 was what introduced Arjun to the world of product designing using scrap and recycled products.

Arjun RathiArjun (26) is a professionally-trained architect and a product designer by passion. After graduating from Kamla Raheja College for Architecture, Mumbai in 2010, Arjun took up a summer course in Switzerland and worked with a Swiss firm specialising in industrial buildings. In India, Arjun has worked with Indiabulls Real Estate and has been a part of their Panvel Greens township project and their mall projects in Jodhpur and Kota.

We interviewed Arjun and this is what he had to share with us about his quirky passion and new-found profession.

What inspired you to design products out of scrap and recycled material?
I was travelling around the scrap markets of Bharat Bazar in Mumbai and happened to stumble upon a retro Kelvinator refrigerator door. I immediately got an idea of converting it into a coffee table. Since then, re-using recycled materials for furniture design became a passion. The raw industrial look of recycled metal was very appealing to me.

Growing up as a child in the 1990’s, there are fond memories of a majority of the items we find in present day scrap yards. There is a lot of emotional connection to things like the Ambassador cars, retro fridges and the Walkman, as I have grown up with them. Re-using those items to give them functional purpose is great fun. Also, using scrap for functional design is a great way to recycle. Sustainable design doesn’t end with designing green buildings but zeroes down to micro-design of furniture as well.

How much money did you invest to begin work with?
I started experimenting with furniture and product design from my savings. More than the money, knowledge and good technical sense of what you’re doing is required. Furniture with recycled material is relatively cheap as your investment is in the core scrap product you want to design around. Negotiation is key at that point, if you’re purchasing them second hand or from scrap markets. The next step is either making the product yourself if you’re skilled enough, or getting it fabricated. Rates can vary from person to person.

How long did it take you to establish this business and make it functional?
As I lacked formal training in product design, I spent more than a year working hands-on with fabricators to understand the limitations of various materials like metals, plastics and glass. Knowing your material is key to designing a great product. It is also important to build multiple teams of different fabricators for orders of different scale and number. I am presently into my third year where I am professionally designing products, lighting and furniture.

Arjun Rathi Refrigerator TableWhat inspires you while developing/designing a product?
Usually by looking at the key recycled product you want to design around, one is able to give it a function. As a process it works in two simple ways – where you find an item and design something using it, or you look for specific items that fit your concept.

Most of the time when doing specific client work, it is important to understand the emotional and functional needs of the client before searching for the right materials or objects.

What is the approximate time frame to develop a product?
Designing a good product can sometimes take a lot of time. Working around a concept and finding the right recycled materials in the best condition is also a tedious task. Though once all the material is procured, we can generally assume two to five weeks for a project, depending on its size and complexity.

Apart from the Kelvinator fridge door converted to a coffee table (see featured image and pic on left), what are the other products that you have made using scrap or recycled material?

I have made desk lamps using Ambassador and Enfield motorcycle headlights. The natural casted form and raw industrial look of the headlights make for very interesting interior Arjun Rathi Enfield Lamp Product Design Desk Lampobjects, while the internal reflective surfaces of headlights are very functional for interior lighting.

I have also designed a shelving system using champagne bottles as structural supports. Champagne bottles, unlike most wine bottles, are made of much thicker glass, hence can be used as structural supports for a shelf if executed properly.

Another light installation is presently under production using 24 Ambassador headlights and pipes to create a very industrial look for a private client’s space.

You make very unique and interesting products. Who do you consider as your competitors?
Design is a highly competitive and saturated field. The market is flooded with designer products targeted at all income groups. Most of the products I design are due to self-initiatives or constant urge to experiment with processes or materials. Most of the products are a result of my emotional response to them. I design products for myself and if someone wants to buy them, they are welcome to do so.

Is there a growing interest among people for decor of this kind?
The trend for customisation is rapidly picking up in India. The client is able to get a unique product designed for their space at a fairly lesser cost than purchasing an expensive branded design. Also the fact that their piece will never be replicated again. There has been a lot of interest for lighting products through recent clients. Luckily all clients I have dealt with are open to experimentation with design concepts and materials. They have a clear understanding of what they want as well. Most products require some appreciation space in the apartment; hence clients so far who have commissioned highly customised work have larger homes.

How do you pitch for clients?
Most products are designed due to my emotional connections with recycled scrap. I tend to design them for myself, then approach design stores and websites if they’re interested in selling them. Many clients also approach me directly for a specific piece to be customised for their space.

Where do you retail?
Some of my products are being retailed at the design store Chromakey, opposite the Warden Road Church and on the website www.homehero.in. You can also view my products on my blog and the studio can be directly contacted on email for product inquiries.

We also do a lot of niche design work for clients who need specific pieces or furniture or accessories. These are usually exclusive lighting design or furniture customised and designed specific to their space.

Arjun Rathi Champagne Bottle ShelvesWhat is the price range of your products?
Most of the products are limited edition or one-off pieces as the same fridge door/ headlight sample or recycled item cannot be procured at will. Every product is handmade by fabricators and a unique piece by itself. Also, there is minimal interest in the studio for mass production as it deviates from the larger scope of urban and architectural proposals.

Limited edition products generally start retailing from Rs. 14,000 upwards. All client-specific jobs depend on the design and scale of the project.

What has been the most satisfying part of your work?
The satisfaction after a successful execution of a concept is unparalleled. The process of exploring materials, design and meeting new people is great fun.

What message would you like to give people wanting to start a product line like yours?
Be open to learning. I’ve learned a lot hands-on through the process of trial and error. Some technical knowledge is essential or you might get taken for a ride by the fabricator. I remember when I was making the Refrigerator Coffee Table, I changed my fabricator twice because I was unhappy with their quality of work. It’s also good to know the general market rates for materials, as sound budgeting is important for any business.

(Pictures courtesy Arjun Rathi)

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Trends

The city of carcentricity – Part II

Trupti Amritwar Vaitla explains how we all are paying for road infrastructure that caters to a small proportion of people.

Read Part I of the series here.

Yesterday, we featured Part I of Nidhi Qazi‘s interview with Trupti Vaitla (see pic on left), Chief of Operations at Mumbai Environment and Social Network (MESN), and also the head of Rachana Sansad’s Urban Design Cell. In the concluding part of the ‘City of carcentricity’ series today, Trupti explains how the majority pay for a small proportion of users’ car infrastructure by way of taxes and more.

Nidhi: Why this car-centric approach? Whom does this approach benefit and how?

Trupti: The projects in the city are car-centric as cars are a big business for many, like the car manufacturing industry, the road infrastructure industry and many car-related service industries. There is also a belief that car industry provides employment to a large number of people, and so, going against it is as good as going against the employment of working class.

We have a big impact of American lifestyle, where people live in sparse suburbs and are totally dependent on cars for mobility. For us, this model means ‘being developed’ and we are imitating them blindly in our cities which are dense, compact and actually ideal for mass transit. America is now seriously rethinking its car-centric ways which have proved unsustainable.

Our politicians, policy makers, bureaucrats and other authorities, are all car users, and view the entire situation from that lens and believe that owning a car is progressive and getting car infrastructure is the motorist’s right.

Big infrastructure projects like highways, freeways, sea links and flyovers which require huge investments, and are justified seeing the congestion on the road, but what causes that congestion never gets highlighted either by politicians, authorities or even by media.

N: How much does the government spend on the public transport system?

T: While in Mumbai, public transport carries 70 per cent passenger trips (down from 80 per cent about a decade back), the expenditure by users of public transport is less than 6 per cent. On the other hand, users spend more than 70 per cent on private transport which caters to barely 12 to 15 per cent of trips.

All the Western and Central railway suburban stations and tracks were completed by 1925, and since then, there was very little investment in upgradation till 2004 except in Navi Mumbai stations after Mankhurd. During the last 10 years, due to MUTP 1 (Mumbai Urban Transport Project) and MUTP 2 there was an investment of about Rs 2,000 crore for replacing the old tracks, coaches and extension of platform.

Recently some investment up to Rs 4,000 crore is made for the metro and monorails. Also 1,000 new buses more were bought under JNNURM, where half were in lieu of grant and the rest were bought by the Municipal Corporation. Of these, 600 were to replace the old buses and only 400 were added to the existing fleet. There is no investment in any kind of bus system to improve its efficiency. About Rs 8 to Rs 10,000 crore were spent on highways, the Sea Link and flyovers within Mumbai in the past 10 years.

N: Can you give us a comparison between the taxes paid by buses and car-users? Why is there a difference? What are the solutions?

T: Depending on the cost of the vehicle, the private vehicles have to pay a lumpsum one time tax of 7 to 14 per cent  for an individual and 14 per cent to 20 per cent for a company-owned vehicle for a lifetime. A bus has to pay tax annually and on per seat basis, depending on the type of vehicle (like basic, luxury, and AC bus). It is estimated that buses, considering a life of seven to eight years, pay 25 to 30 per cent tax i.e. two to three times higher than the private cars ! Also buses have to pay sales tax of 3 per cent on the sale of the tickets.

We also have a street tax which is based on the property value at 15 per cent  and not on the vehicle value or size. If we have pro-public transport policy, then why, under our tax regime, do buses pay much more than private vehicles? Why don’t we have taxation or road user fees that are designed to restrain private vehicle ownership and tilt in favour of buses? Also why can’t we charge nearer the real and total cost of parking spaces? Such rationalisation is easy and will make a great difference in favour of public transport usage.

It’s a Catch-22 situation, where it is unrealistic to expect migration from private transport to pay heavy charges and expect people to travel in the poor public transport. At the same time, it is not possible to wait for public transport to improve to restrain the growing numbers of private vehicles.

The basic rule is that mass transit can improve mobility, but it cannot solve congestion. Congestion can be solved only by a restraint on private vehicles and provision of good public transport. Both measures need to happen simultaneously to achieve a sustainable mobility. Instead of time consuming options like the metro rail to improve mass transit, this city needs solutions like improving the buses with dedicated lanes or BRTs, which are time and money efficient ways but which need vision, will and discipline.

Organising the existing intermediate public transport fleets like autos and taxies with dial system and shared routes to optimise its use and provide effective last mile connectivity.

Besides, we should focus on improving information and ticketing systems for better utilisation of public transport.

(Featured image courtesy purveshg.blogspot.com. Trupti’s pic courtesy bmwguggenheimlab.org)

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Trends

The city of carcentricity – Part I

The first of a two-part series on why public transport, and not cars, is the ideal solution for Mumbai’s roads.

Trupti Amritwar Vaitla (see pic on left), Chief of Operations at Mumbai Environment and Social Network (MESN), and also the head of Rachana Sansad’s Urban Design Cell, throws light on the state of public transport in Mumbai and the loopholes therein – the biggest one being the shift of focus from public transport to a private, car-centric model one that the city has resorted to.

Excerpts from an email interview that Nidhi Qazi conducted with her:

Nidhi: What is the increase in the number of cars seen on the roads in the past decade? How has that impacted the public transport system of Mumbai?

Trupti: As reported by MMRDA in its latest compilation of Basic Transport Statistics in Mumbai, the growth for the last 20 years is 214 per cent of four-wheelers (4W) and 432 per cent of two-wheelers (2W). If we consider also the growth together with Thane city, it is 2875 per cent of 4W and 1500 per cent for 2W.

This drastic growth, particularly in Thane district, is very striking and the reason is that many vehicles whose owners are residents of Mumbai get their vehicles registered in Thane to avoid paying octroi duty.

The huge growth in two wheelers indicates that bus users are shifting to this mode of private vehicles, which is affordable, faster and convenient till the last mile. On the other hand, the BEST bus trips have remained constant for the last 10 years on account of being stuck in traffic congestion (thus reducing its speed and reliability  thus becoming further unpopular and losing usership).

According to a National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) report, “Millions of man hours (and fuel) are lost with people ‘stuck in traffic’. The primary reason for this has been the explosive growth in the number of motor vehicles, coupled with limitations on the road space that can be provided as it is a very expensive infrastructure.”

Today in Mumbai, this congestion has impacted the efficiency of buses, and intermediate public transport like taxies and autos, (and even cars) as they are unable to complete the required number of trips  to carry more passengers with better frequency (although the number of buses has increased by 50 per cent during the last 10 years).

N: The reason for such an increase in the number of cars?

T: On the one hand, the deteriorating quality of public transport and on the other hand private transport is getting more attractive, cheaper and easily available.

Potential car buyers are increasing with increasing income levels between the 25 to 30 age group. Car prices have gone down, and now provide better quality, reliability and fuel efficiency and are available with easy car loans with reduced interest rates, and with no waiting period.

Most importantly, billions of rupees are spent on car advertisements to sell dreams to young potential buyers, increasing their aspirations. And if this is not enough, all our mega road projects are adding further fuel to this fire by providing dreams of more road widening, highways and freeways. And easy loans on attractive terms are available for asking – a thing unheard of until recently!

N: What does ‘equitable road space’ mean? Where does the city stand on that front?

T: I would like to refer to the NUTP report, which says “At present, road space gets allocated to whichever vehicle occupies it first. The focus is, therefore, the vehicle and not people. The result is that a bus carrying 40 people is allocated only two and a half times the road space that is allocated to a car carrying only one or two persons. In this process, the lower income groups have, effectively, ended up paying, in terms of higher travel time and higher travel costs, for the disproportionate space allocated to personal vehicles. If the focus of the principles of road space allocation were to be the people, then much more space would need to be allocated to public transport systems than is allocated at present.”

In Mumbai, road space allocation for buses is less than 10 per cent, taxi, autos is about 20 per cent and private transport is about 60 per cent, while commercial vehicles is about 10 per cent. Exactly reverse is the ratio of  passengers carried by each mode, where buses carry more than 65 per cent passengers, taxi auto about 20 per cent and private vehicles 15 per cent.

A study done by transport policy institute shows comparative per person travel space needs. A bus commuter requires 75 sq ft space travelling in a bus at 50km/hr, whereas a person travelling in the car occupies 250 sq ft while standing and about 1,500 sq ft moving at a speed of 50km/hr. Each car requires at least three car parking spaces in the city, one at home, other at office and third at shopping and other activities. Each parking space demands not less than 400 sq ft which is more than an affordable dwelling unit for four persons. This clearly indicates how space intensive the cars are and the tremendous pressure on the road infrastructure.

In the last 10 years, many highways, flyovers and the Sea Link have got built in the name of solving congestion in our city. When MESN did the traffic count, we realised that on an average 2 per cent buses, 23 per cent taxi/auto and 75 per cent cars ply on flyovers; on the Sea Link, less than 1 per cent buses, less than 10 per cent taxi and above 90 per cent cars.

The buses do not take the flyovers and also the fast links like Sea Link and the new Eastern freeway have very few entry or exit points, which again discourage bus usage, as they need more stops with easy accessibility. This clearly indicates that these big infrastructure projects are not pro-public transport and are in effect, getting subsidised by non-users’ tax money.

Road transport projects require large investment and cannot be self-sustaining through users’ fee alone; they need some viability gap funds. Giving such funding to public transport is acceptable all over the world as it is in the interest of many. However, in the case of Mumbai, unfortunately all the road transport projects are in effect, car-centric.

Part II, tomorrow: How non-car users are paying for the upkeep of cars and infrastructure that supports them.

(Featured image courtesy akshardhool.com. Trupti’s pic courtesy bmwguggenheimlab.org)

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