One of the most progressive design studios to emerge from the Asian subcontinent in recent times, Apical Reform is a collaboration of forward-thinking designers dedicated to creating one-of-a-kind design objects that sit on the cutting edge of high-design and high-tech. “Our team treats each project as [an] honest inquiry into how design intervention can transcend the mundane into a singularly extraordinary experience,” says Amrish Patel, Founder and Principal of the Indian studio that will soon open its gallery at Dubai Design District. “Our foundations are based on innovation in both design concept and the technology that will finally bring it to life.”
Patel highlights 2017’s strongest design movements.
Parametric design
The last decade has seen the design world go through a seismic change as advances in design and production technologies open new perspectives. Parametric design has emerged as one of the core tools for next-gen designers as they treat mathematics and geometry as a tool for creation. From using the sun’s path to derive artistic facades or dynamic fluid forms sought through plays on axis, the designer can define his parameters while seeking appropriate design solutions. Digital fabrication, methodological assembly systems and effective sequencing are key to such high quality design production. 2D and 3D CNC cutters, 3D printers and a myriad of material — from wood and steel to leather and glass — transform mathematical formulae into exceptional design products.
Interactive design
A user’s interaction with design is an innocent and subconscious process. However, when carefully studied and nurtured, it can create a deeper, more meaningful experience. In 2015, London Design Fair made headlines as it took interactive and virtual design from gaming sleaze to a spiritual experience with the Odyssey. Visitors found themselves immersed in the larger picture of the universe, as the roof of the Somerset House lifted and they flew on a propeller high above our planet. All this, just with especially designer VR googles. Interactive design is already supplementing a designer’s toolkit, allowing both the creator and the client to have an intimate expertise with the product or the service well before it has been executed. We hope it leads to less wasteful design.
Design apps
The means of disseminating and collecting design information stands drastically altered.
Blogs and design sites have replaced magazines, Facebook and Instagram are where up and coming designers or design shops gain notoriety. Pinterest is the new mood board. Add to that a hoard of new apps that not only aid the design professional but make design more accessible for the consumer. From apps that help you pick the right colours to those that help you imagine prospective furniture in your room and others that help calculate light levels, design is fast becoming more democratic. As designers, we need to gear ourselves to face better informed, more aware and self-reliant clients.
In praise of hands
The more forward-thinking we get as designers, the more humanity is in our creative process. It takes the human mind to explore materiality, form and the human condition to create experiences that make life better. You might use 3D printers and CNC machines — all guided by computer programmes to create the next big design icon — but there is a human that conceives the idea, and it brought to fruition by hand, as craftsmen bring together the many components. This symbiosis between technology and the hand brings back pride to the craft communities that were temporarily lost to the industrial revolution. In giving them new ways to think and create, it makes traditional crafts pertinent to the times.
