Keyur Zaveri — “So I try to sell design to the businesspeople on one side and on the other, business to designers.”

Keyur is an Architect and Industrial Designer with years of professional experience in driving design-led products into Indian homes and workplaces. He is also a recipient of the India Design Mark and the CII Design Excellence award for his work in Furniture design. His work as Director of Furniture Design at Furlenco is a testament to the synergy between business innovation and user-centric design. He relates his experience of working in this contemporary and exciting intersection.

What is your key role as a designer on your current projects?
As the head of the design team at Furlenco, it’s about going full circle — not just creating the product but also connecting back to the user in our target group. An important part of this is presenting the products in the form of engaging photos, as eventually users have to interact with the products on an e-platform. Our job is to take these 3-D objects and represent them 2-dimensionally in terms of aesthetic as well as functional value.

Another interesting part is connecting business and design. On one hand we help designers see the reach and impact of business and on the other, relate the designs back to the investors. Bridging the gap between businesspeople and designers — that’s the kind of role I play. So I try to sell design to the businesspeople on one side and on the other, business to designers.

What kinds of different hats have you had to put on while working in a designer’s shoes? Which such role/project was most challenging?
In the context of India, a pressing challenge, even now, is establishing the importance of design. Most of the time, a designer has to wear the hat of a salesperson to sell the premise of design thinking itself. Although, it is getting easier everyday as people are slowly and steadily being exposed to and building their own understanding of design.

What would you say is the defining characteristic of “Indian” design? Do you think there is a modern visual language that is specific to India?
If we’re talking about products and furniture, ‘Sastha, Sundar, Tikau’ are the three pillars of perspective of a large part of our population. Apart from this functional and ideological perspective, I don’t believe we have figured out a visual language yet and that will take due course of time. We have a lot of material products that are influenced by global factors recently, but these three factors remain. Between them, perhaps there was a time when ‘sasta’ was more important, or maybe there was time when ‘tikau’ was more important and the other two followed suit. Based on each product category and the target group maybe the three pillars are shifted in priority but the core idea remains the same.

What is the most valuable (design) lesson you’ve learnt from someone who is not a design practitioner?
I’ll describe a particular ‘a-ha’ moment for me: Early on in my career, I was having a very long conversation with my client. We were moving in circles and neither of us was reaching a compromise. The client expressed her belief that there are only two paths possible in any form of relationship that you have: either you convince or you get convinced — there’s no in-between. If you’re convinced with your client’s thought process you must follow that, or you convince the other party so that they have conviction in your process and ideas. If there’s anything in between, the outcome will be forced.

How has being in Bangalore enriched your creative process? What have you learnt from the city?
It’s a great place for conversations and creative professionals. Growing up in Gujarat, I didn’t have the chance to interact with diverse sets of people. But in the last 11 years that I’ve been in Bangalore, each and every person that I met has had unique personal personal and professional experiences to share. There’s so much diversity of people and perspectives which always leads to very interesting flows of conversation. Any kind of meeting I’ve had in Bangalore, I have always had something new to take away or often even opened a completely new realm of ideas. Of course, the weather is also great!

And finally, to wrap up — How do you spend a perfect Sunday in Bangalore? Any specific recommendations or must-trys?
Currently, my perfect sundays start with some fun exercise with my 5 year-old son — cycling, badminton or a swim. Later, have a satisfying breakfast that must include some good idli-vada. In the evenings — I enjoy trying the microbreweries dotting the city with a swig or two of their latest recipes.

Furlenco website: https://www.furlenco.com/
Find Keyur on LinkenIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keyur-zaveri-8a20664/

This interview is a part of a series of conversations with designers from Bengaluru called ADI Diaries. You can find more interviews here.