Contents
LETTER FROM Dr. PHEROZA J . GODREJ 8
MESSAGE FROM JAMSHYD N . GODREJ 10
Foreword 1 AMIN JAFFER 12
Foreword 2 PRAVEEN NAHAR 16
Introduction SARITA SUN DAR 20
SECTION I
From the Simple Paatlo to the Ceremonial Pidha 27
Vernacular Seats of India
1. Tokens of times past
2. The vernacular
3. Aesthetics of limitation and excess
4. The elevated seat in India
5. The elevated seat became an indicator
6. Seats in ceremonies and rituals
7. The convenience and functiona lity of floor seating
8. Seats serve as meeting places
9. Mobile aids to sitting
10. An expression of hierarchy
11. Frugal or ornate
12. Inclination to 'heritage chic'
2. A Queen's Leg, a Makara's Gaping Jaw, an Acanthus Leaf, a Ball& Claw 63
The Seat in Colonial India
1. Assimilation, crossing over, or 'going native'
2. Influence of Indian traditions on the arts of the West
3. Distinctions are often murky
4. A throne, a deck chair or a barber's chair?
5. Indian Baroque
6. The first genuine, bold and creative collaboration
7. Ingenuity of design
8. Synonymous with a colonial lifestyle
9. An inventive eclecticism
10. Unite elegance and utility
3. Power, Posture & Privilege 99
The Politics of the Seat in India
1. A confusion of diamonds
2. Each part became its own treasured object
3. A simulacrum in a miniature painting
4. A sybaritic seat invites awe
5. The politics of Gandhi's seat
6. Hierarchies and gendered disparity
7. Everyday means to situate power
8. Sitting redefined as animated not static activity
9. The special seat grants the privilege of darshan
SECTION II 129
Citadels of Modernism
4. Monumental Markers of a National Vision
1. The 'assembly line and the drama of automation'
2. Proud reminders of authenticity
3. The 'archaeology of Modernism'
4. Do reproductions of modern masters retain an 'aura'?'
5. The mainstay of most public offices
6. Modernism followed many trajectories
7. The Bauhaus School
8. All India Council of Design, 1952
9. A modern ethos with local craftsmanship
10. Tubular steel was a veritable turning point
11. One of the most influential furniture prototypes of the 20'h century
12. The neutral machine aesthetic
13. A Plato-like ideal
14. Informed as much by Indian craft traditions as by Scandinavian minimalism
5. Journeys towards a Spiritual Modernism 165
A Political Stance or a Sustainable Ethic?
1. A rallying cry 2. An alternative modernism 3. Consider sustain ability holistically
4. Disrupts popular perceptions of crafts 5 . A confluence of tectonics, aesthetics and
social reform 6. Art, design and craft working in tandem 7. A forerunner to the work of
Neomodern designers 8 . A counterpoint to mass produced design 9. A testament to
spiritual value 10. Alternative futures
SECTION Ill
6. Poetry in the Common and Everyday 195
The Lure of the Ordinary
1. The seat for the man-on-the-street 2. They move in herds and congregate
3 . Universal in idiom, inexpensive and accessible 4. Vernacular seats are often
inspirations for redesign 5. Welcoming, inclusive, sturdy, no-nonsense and democratic
6. For nostalgia's sake or an appeal for simplicity 7 . Attention on the 'everyday' and its
ability to create wonder and resonance
7. The Post Seat 225
An Explosion of Pluralisms
1. Take an everyday material and transform it 2. The first ever 'post seat' 3. A theatrical
infusion of cultural ly dissimilar elements 4. The closeness of everyday and the distance
of the myth' 5 . A coll ision of multiple codes of reference 6 . Blurs the boundaries
between skin and structure 7. Unpredictability and controlled chaos 8. Countering
Modernist styles 9. New ways to recline, lean fo rward, and engage
8. A Reflexive and Romantic Turn 257
The Neomodern Reaction
1. Embraces rather than opposes individual context 2. A revisionist idea of Modernism
3. An acceptance of a pluralist outlook 4. These designs reflexively turn back
s. Palimpsests, pastiches or parodies 6. Practices and principles that shaped seats
throughout history 7. A classical or a vernacular seat from a bygone era or distant
geography becomes the sketch a. A mix of art and design 9. Purposeful lunges towards
Modernism and nostalgic flirtations with the old 10. Affirms the influences of the past
but also sensitively converses with the present
100 Seats oflndia-A Graphic View 283
SECTION IV
9. Unsettling Chairs 289
Designing Seating in mid-century Bombay
ABIGAIL MCGOWAN
10. Designing the Modern Chair 307
Godrej and Indian Office Spaces
LAKSHMI SUBRAMANIAM
11. A Chair for Everyone 331
NlD and Early Progressive Modem Indian Expressions
SUJATHA SHAN KAR KUMAR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 350
CONTRIBUTORS 352
BIBLIOGRAPHY 354
IMAGE CREDITS 358
INDEX 360