Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Germany India- Infinite Opportunities. A labour of love

I very rarely talk about work on my blog. Mostly because my blog is an escape from my work. But in true follow my recipe style I felt this project had a place on the blog for all its heart and warmth.
The Germany India- Infinite Opportunities is a two year long cultural program held in all major cities in India. Performances, music, dance, theater, photography and many such collaborations and cultural exchanges. The Urban Mela is a traveling festival across 5 major cities around India- Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Pune. Its consists of these beautiful jewel like pavilions designed by German artist Markus Heinsdorff. Each pavilion is given to a German partner company to showcase the idea of sustainable cities.

I designed the Deutsche Bank Pavilion along with my team at Ogilvy Action. The few of us involved in the project ideated, curated, wrote, designed and provided technical specifications for the exhibition for the Deutsche Bank Pavilion.  The idea was to curate a set of projects created by various innovators who are designing objects, systems, ideas that would make better living in the our crowded urban scenario. Windowfarms, Green Karbon- On urban biodiversity, $300 House contest winner, Solar Lantern, Solar Plane, Dream In, A sanitation project,  The waterfront reclamation project. The pavilion becomes a place to exchange ideas and thoughts on how to make better cities.
Many projects are brought alive through interesting interactive ways. Such as the Green Karbon project culminates in a photo contest challenging people to capture biodiversity in their cities. The window farms is currently growing eggplant and chilies and a dream tree that invites people to tie their dreams on a tag. Many projects were Deutsche Bank supported and some were just people that we believed in. Shagun Singh of Designwala helped us curate and reach out to the various innovators so that we could showcase their work.

In the process of design, I went through several layouts trying to create the best narrative possible. What works with what. Working with German organizers for the festival was also interesting as they had several processes in place such as understanding our electrical requirements etc. All in all it was a great learning experience.

On the opening day, when I walked into the Pavilion it was a moment of pride. People were walking through, looking, reading, understanding. Our super college kid promoters did an excellent job thoroughly explaining each project to the visitors. People looked engaged. I was amazed with the windowfarms. It was brilliant - it worked. There was also a baby eggplant growing. The dream in tree was filled with dreams. Though only 50 sq m this Pavilion was a labour of love. It had heart.

The Urban Mela is up till Sunday April 22nd at Cross Maidan at Churchgate. Do go see it. Its stunning- in the evening all the various pavilions light up. Some of the others were also interesting. There is a beer garden  serving Erdingers and bratwursts.


The painstaking process of construction of the pavilions and some initial design drawings. I was not involved in the final installation of the pavilion.
Do participate in the photography contest for Green Karbon.

Some acknowledgements are in order. My Ogilvy Action team - Nyka, Aarti, Khushboo, Shripad, Shrikant, Vipul and Rahul. Our various support people the photographers, website designers, AV makers. The organizers of the Urban Mela. Though there are many here to thank I especially want to thank Jenny and Henning. And of course our client at Deutsche Bank to give us this opportunity- Linus, Reshma, Ajay, Madhav and Mike.
Thank you for this opportunity.

23 comments:

  1. Looks super duper Jyotika! thanks for sharing. Im passing thw word along..

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  2. Dear Jyotika,

    great article, but could you please change the Urban Mela link? The correct link about the Indo-German Urban Mela in Mumbai is: http://www.germany-and-india.com/en/IGUM/536/indo-german-urban-mela-mumbai

    Thanks,
    Christopher

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  3. Awesome work. Ogilvy is probably missing you!

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  4. Awesome post. Wish I could be there to see this exhibit. Were the exhibitions only from companies that were partnering with german companies? Or were some of them Indian?

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    1. Check the website link I have provided. It is all German companies. I guess it is about their presence in India and what they can do here.

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. Very well written blog post......I loved to be there at the time of inauguration. It was out of the world....Deutsche Bank pavilion was magnificent..Very well done.......The window farm was simply awesome.....it gives such a cool feeling.....Other exhibits were equally attractive especially the solar lamp and dream tree........I am the proud mom........ Other attractive thing was the Fresh mint box. A small box made of fine recycled plastic and replica of Deutsche bank's logo, contained fresh mint. That was a complimentary gift given to the visitors of Deutsche bank....A great idea....

    Ah-May-Zing!

    Chhaya Purwar

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  7. Lovely style and blog! I like your posts, very inspiring!:)
    Would you like to keep in touch and follow each other?

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    Replies
    1. Sounds like a plan. You have a lovely and stylish blog too. Thank you. I will add u to my reading list.

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  8. oh it's looking fab..... great work...;)

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  9. what a cool mela.. and post! so nicely put together.

    and jyo, it's very you, actually :)

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  10. nice post! looking forward to visiting it!
    - Radhika

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  11. This is absolutely awesome and commendable. We hope to see you on Tv in Alfred NY one of these days and smile to ourselves, "Hey, we are her proud mama and mami".
    Way to go, Jyo!

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    1. Thank you for the kind remark. ill never forget i started my design journey with you.

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    2. Thank you for encouraging words for her. Kudos and applauds for her. She deserves that. Believe me, she never forgets to mention your name, whenever she executes any design especially Mami. More than me she gets her inspiration from Mami.

      I wish you had visited the pavilion. Worth spending time and learn new things!

      Chhaya

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  14. Wow, looks great. Interesting behind-the-scenes take, too. Wish I'd known about this when it was actually going on. Was at Oktoberfest in Munich a good 4 years ago, and if the beerfest here was anything similar, I sure missed a good time. What I'd do for a good pint and a bratwurst!

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