Friday, April 23, 2010

Visit to Chitrakala Parishat

The exhibition at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat gave me an insight into the History of the Ulm School of design (1953-1968).The Ulm School of Design is considered as one of the most influential and prestigious design schools of today.It was founded in 1953 by Inge Aicher Scholl, Otl Aicher and Max Bill.
The Ulm school oriented itself in its early years on the Bauhaus of Dessau.
It thus was a great opportunity for me to read and visually go back in time, to get to know the history of this great institution. The main attributes of the Ulm model were new systematic design, inter-disciplinary co ordination and Team Work.

It encouraged creative research and training, combined with practical work, Anti-fascism, Cultural responsibility, functionalism, rationality and practical design which were few of the elementary aspects, the school imparted to their students.

The Ulm School will always have a special place etched in Art history. The art world still holds the three founders of the ULM SCHOOL OF DESIGN in high esteem and they are revered for their foresight and vision to date.
It is thus these famous institutions which encourage the younger generation to get motivated and understand art and design in its manifest ways.
RAK Mulder Porcelain Pvt. Ltd.

RAK Porcelain is part of RAK Ceramics Group.RAK Porcelain was set up to produce high quality ceramic and porcelain and stoneware products. They deal in Transfers which are sticker like sheets for different purposes.These transfers are made and then stuck to the Porcelain or bone china to acheive prints or different colours and patterns on your surface.
RAK Porcelain imports their materials from Germany and U.K. Their whole process is automatic to ensure quakity of material, colour and shape.
Thus we see that there is a step by step way of putting a transfer onto the surface of a product like a ceramic plate or a mug.

1.Artists do the art work which are pictures drawn and then scanned, according to the need of the client
2.Once the print is finalised, they do colour separation, where positives are made according to the colours. Thus every colour in the design will have a positive.
3.The positives are given to the Pre-press section and exposed to a photographic film or screen on which you apply a photo sensory cappiliary film to which it is transferred.
4.Thus for each colour there are separate screens.
5.It is exposed to yellow light for about 4-5 minutes, for them to develop.
6.After the positive has been transferred on to the screen it is washed to obtain the negative where the part which is to be coloured remains white and the part which not to be coloured becomes black or red.It is washed so that the coloured area becomes soft for it to absorb colour.
7.The negative is then developed to obtain the sticker. The sticker is given a protective coating.
8.It can be transferred onto the required surface by wetting it. To ensure that it does not peel off, the surface is baked.

RAK Porcelain has another section where they print on tiles in the same process.
Thus it was a great experience seeing how this is done especially how the printing is done on tiles and then how the baking is done. It was a good learning experience.
Stona Exhibition

At this exhibition, we saw some extensive varieties of stone, like marble, granite and concrete, and a lot of products made out of stone. Also importantly I saw how stone could be cut and its properties which enable it to be used in different ways and for different purposes which include residential, commercial, retail and even decorative purposes.
There was extensive carving done on the stone with different textures and varieties.
this exhibition had not only stone but also lighting options where a lot of foreign manufacturers come for selling purposes.
Thus it was a good experience and i was glad to see so much stone and the many ways it can be cut, carved and made into several products.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

India Wood Exhibition

On vising the India Wood exhibition, we were exposed to a lot of different types of lumber, with different colours and grain. The good part about it was that it was all under one roof and a many foreign manufacturers had put up their stalls, so we saw a variety of lumber some of which you dont get in India, with the range being very wide, from the lowest to the highest prices for lumber like teak, mahogany, rosewood and other types.
We also saw furniture made out of prelaminated mdf and particle board, such as wardobes which can installed in walk in closets and modular kitchens. A little bit of bedroom furniture but the commercial market was huge.
The exhibition had not only wood, but a lot of work done in glass and acrylic and also stone.There were manufacturers who had lathe machines and were turning wood as a part of the exhibition.
It was a a good learning experience.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Kelachandra Veneer Industries

Paper honeycomb is a building and packing material. One of the most commons uses of paper honeycomb is for standard doors, and shelving units as well as cupboards nowadays. It is not only used for these purposes but also can be used for other furnitures and creative products inside houses.

“Honeycomb paper”, is thus a lightweight, spongy and sturdy material made of recycled paper. It comes into use when a layer of thin plywood sheet and then the enforced paper made into honeycomb shapes (hexagon tubes) and then another layer of plywood.It is stronger than steel and costs substantially less to manufacture.
Paper honeycomb was also used as a packaging material. Glued with paper on both sides, it made an excellent protecting material for all kinds of items.



Its properties are impressive, as it has good thermal insulation, shock and vibration absorption properties, not to forget its strength as you can jump on it without it getting damaged due to the hexagonal structure.Most importantly honeycomb paper ensures that the use of wood is reduced at a time when we are facing an environmental crisis.

Thus this visit gave a great insight into a new material which i had not had exposure to earlier. It is a great substitute for wood when you are making heavy and bulky furniture as it reduces the cost and the weight if the product.
This paper is sold at Rs 5 per sq feet which is very cheap in comparison to any grade of wood available in the market.





This was a fascinating trip because we also saw how veneers were made in the factory, and then pasted to the board to achieve smooth surfaces ready for use. Also they manufacture veeners from differnt woods and get different colours and grain. One thing I had not seen before and saw here was veneer made from bamboo but it is not readily made and manufactured in India. But it is a very upcoming facet of design and im glad we got a chance to go and see how its manufactured and what all can be made out of a material such as this.

Featherlite

Featherlite’s manufactures and markets extremely innovative and cost effective office furniture such as modular work stations, chairs, partitions, desks conference tables educational, lab & retail furniture and fixtures.

After our visit I received a lot of knowledge on the various types of wood and its properties. We saw a lot of work being done in office modular furniture and partitions and panelling, for cabins and even for retail and commercial purposes.
They extensively use particle board and I noticed how the rowtering machine cuts minute cuts and performs the detailing bit so accurately.
After the cutting is done the cut pieces go for a process which is called edge banding where the exposed sides of the board are pasted with a plastic band of the same colour as that of the board, to acheive an even and finished look.Edge banging can be of two types, flat banding and curved banding.

Featherlite is known for product innovation, value additions and after sales service. It has manufacturing capabilities to produce more than 800 chairs and 7000 workstations in a month.





This gave me an outlook into the broadder dimension of furniture and its design capabilities and made me learn and get a closer view on what the different properties of wood are and how it is very important in designing different and quality products, keeping in mind the advantages and disadvantages of some materials can pose during the design process.




Featherlite thus manufactures and markets the following:
. workstations
. executive desks
. chairs
. Conference & Training
. sofas
. cafeterias
. retail fixtures

Saturday, April 17, 2010

SANSERA ENGINEERING PVT LTD.

Sansera engineering established in 1987, is the second largest company in Asia to manufacture Rocker Arms, Precision Forged and Machined Components for the Automobile Industries.

Some of the PRODUCTS


Rocker Arm (Sintered Tip)
Generally referred to within the internal combustion engine of automotive, marine, motorcycle and reciprocating aviation engines.


Connecting Rod
Together with the crank, they form a simple mechanism that converts linear motion into rotating motion.






Sprocket
Sprockets are used in bicycles, motorcycles, cars, tanks, and other machinery.A sprocket is a profiled wheel with teeth that meshes with a chain, track or other perforated or indented material.


Sansera engineering has various departments for various functions such as Die Milling which involves 3 D modeling of the components using Uni Graphics, heat treatment, metrology lab and metallurgy lab.

Clients (Domestic)
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd
Bajaj Auto Ltd
Honda Motorcyles and scooters India Ltd
Tvs Motor company ltd
India Yamaha Motors company

Overseas
Piaggio c and spa (Italy)
Fiat Power train (Italy)
Harley Davidson Motor Company (United States)
General Motors(South Korea)
Ymaha motors (Brazil, Indonesia)

Thus after visitng Sansera Engineering, i firstly got a sense of how automobile parts work and how complex each part and its manufacture entails. How there are so many mechanisms to make one automobile part. Also what i observed was how the components are mass manufactured and what role they play in the car or two wheeler.
It was a fascinating experiencing because i hadnt been to a factory like this before and learnt how important each small part is to form a machine.