Rashmi Bidasaria

About

Rashmi Bidasaria is an Indian designer, who enjoys blurring the boundaries between different material media to find new interpretations that are often inspired by her native roots and cultural understanding. Through her work she aims to bring together all stakeholders - network of designers, researchers, technical experts and the citizens to a common platform.

While at the RCA, Rashmi has also co-founded the Design Products Publication - 2MD (Too Many Designers) 

Her practice is shaped by her background in architecture and product design and her work extends from spatial experiences to objects and artefacts. Developed around mixed media , her work, brings a multidisciplinary approach to her practice. She likes to engage with people and communities and enjoys the process of uncertainty and discovery with them..

Sponsorship:
TextielMuseum | TextielLab, Netherlands (2019)

Contact

Degree Details

Statement

The collection of projects presented here are all tied by the commonality of the communities involved. These works spread across different latitudes and longitudes, but most of the time they tell the same story in a different language. Rashmi's work highlights multiple collaboration projects that reflect in the way she conducts her research. Her process is sinusoidal in the way that she learns to make, fail and make again. 

At the moment Rashmi is in India and is exploring new ecosystem, material cultures and craft practices around her. As she graduates, Rashmi is working on thoughts about her own practice, collaborating with communities and the impact that they would collectively make happen. 

Dross

Dross - Process Trailer — Process Video Montage.
Monolith Low table
Monolith Low table
Process Animation — Animated sketch presenting the industrial processes involved in treating the slag and quartz waste.
Monolith Console
Monolith Console
Rest Away Bench
Rest Away Bench
Lunch Table and Rest Away Bench Collection
Lunch Table and Rest Away Bench Collection
Floor Table
Floor Table
Moulding Process
Moulding Process — Slag and quartz are crushed and rammed into the mould. The clamps allow re-use, modularity & easy de-moulding.
Dross Assembly - Rashmi Bidasaria
Dross Details - Rashmi Bidasaria

Dross investigates the recovery of steel slag, ramming mass and residual heat that form a large percentage of the waste by-products of the molten iron processing industry. By using the materials and residual energy found on the geographical site in context, the project focuses on innovating with industrial methods and manufacturing techniques common to the factory worker following principles of utility and proximity. Thereby, working with their technical expertise to create an iterative, modular process to utilise these materials.

The techniques and the aesthetics are a result of scrap objects found in the factory’s waste pile. These scrapped bits are then welded together to create forms and edge details, to completely allow the process of discovery to influence the final outcome. The rough, brutalist and simplistic aesthetic that Dross adopts is a reflection of the modern sections of India’s cities which are all about roughness, raw tactility and puristic shapes. The project is key to the factory workers and their working & living communities by being an active resource of income and comfort, told through a collection of stories using artifacts and their object narrative.

Dross seeks for these above-ground materials that are of no value or considered waste/dross.

The artifacts created through this process are meant to start a dialogue about the consumption of materials and manufacturing processes by allowing room for thought to develop a more responsible sense towards use of resources.

This project is in collaboration and funded by Southern Ferro Ltd, Hubli, India a recycling steel scrap foundry.

Medium: Residual Heat, Steel Slag , Waste Quartz Powder (Ramming Mass)

Size: 5 Months

Dross Process

Contextual Study of A Steel Manufacturing Factory
Contextual Study of A Steel Manufacturing Factory — This section highlights the community side of a factory and the life within it.
What makes these factories look 'lived' in?
What makes these factories look 'lived' in?
Day-in-the-Life-of-a-Factory — Understanding the context of making of the Dross Project and how it utilizes this steel manufacturing plant as an institution of people, tools, materials and its community.

Kaarigari - कारीगरी - Research

Artisan movement and Gesture Mapping
Artisan movement and Gesture Mapping — The tapestry depicts movement patterns of two block printing artisan-brothers- Mr. Heeralal Kumar and Mr. Mohanlal Kumar.
Kaarigari 'कारीगरी' / Craftsmanship — This video illustrates the journey of the project, spanning across different latitudes and longitudes, from India to the Netherlands, exploring the meaning of craftsmanship. Kaarigari highlights a parallel between two textile crafts - Hand Block Printing and Weaving. It is a commentary on production techniques in the textile craft communities, with the precedent being 'man as a machine' which is up to the viewer to ascertain.
Block printers in their 'kaarkhana' / workshop
Block printers in their 'kaarkhana' / workshop — The block printing artisans print on an average of 10 hours continuously everyday. Thousands of stamps that print almost as a muscle memory. The monotony and the mundane routine is quite tiresome and often unrewarding.
Artisan Mr.Mohanlal Kumar, printing his 1208th block for the day
Artisan Mr.Mohanlal Kumar, printing his 1208th block for the day — Upon working with the artisans and observing them, the project begins documenting each artisan's prints that is very unique to each individual.
A visual map of the body movement of Mr.Mohanlal Kumar
A visual map of the body movement of Mr.Mohanlal Kumar — There is a notion of performance/dance that is complimented by their movements, their signature move, unique to the individual. These nuances of movements are recorded to translate them into patterns - using analogue and digital tools.
Body movement mapping of multiple artisans
Body movement mapping of multiple artisans — Time - Motion Study technique used to track the body movement. Inspired by the long exposure photography technique that was used by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth to study efficient workflows in the early 1900s.
A visual map of the finger gestures of Mr.Mohanlal Kumar
A visual map of the finger gestures of Mr.Mohanlal Kumar — This concept gave an insight into their movement and work spaces that led to a deeper understanding of their finger gestures.
Finger gesture mapping of multiple artisans
Finger gesture mapping of multiple artisans — This graphic is a representation of the spatial workspace the particular artisan is printing in. The dots are indicative of their signature moves, swiftness, speed and how methodically and meticulously they practice their craft, capturing the nuances of every impression their fingers make.
Gesture comparison
Gesture comparison — These patterns depict the gesture mapping of 2 artisan-brothers. The dots clearly showcase how differently they practice their craft. Yellow - Left Hand, Blue - Right Hand.

Kaarigari , कारीगरी, (Craftsmanship in Hindi) explores the celebration of a craftsman as a front runner in his craft. Hand Block Printing, a 500 year-old traditional craft in India, is now becoming redundant due to advanced digital printing systems and is requiring craft individuals to realize the worth of continuing it. Kaarigari is aimed towards delivering recognition to the artisans towards their work by highlighting their individuality. The project records the nuanced signature movements and translates them into patterns that become each artisan's individual signature, an impression of their time, work and body.

This project is supported and funded by the TextielMuseum | TextielLab Netherlands.

Medium: Virtual Reality, Photography, Textiles

Kaarigari - कारीगरी - Textile Development

Signature Fabric - Mr.Mohanlal Kumar
Signature Fabric - Mr.Mohanlal Kumar — This fabric is a representation of block printing artisan Mr.Mohanlal Kumar, his craft and practice. The dots signify his Left Hand in Yellow and Right Hand in Red. The colours were inspired by the city of Jaipur, to where the artisans belong.
Colour and Material Samples
Colour and Material Samples — Every 100mm depicts different technical details to achieve the right colour with various yarns.
Texture and Materials
Texture and Materials — Metallic Yarns, Paper, Rubber, Natural Fibres and Recycled Mono-filaments are used to create this composition. Cotton, Mohair, Wool, upon steaming swell up to create a dense composition depicting movement and repetition based on frequency. The bigger the dots, the longer the artisan has taken.
Underside
Underside — Paper yarn backed by rubber yarn on the underside to allow for expansion and fluff. Upon steaming, natural fibres swell up - rubber restricts that movement causing a fluff in that region. These technical details were developed along with the TextielLab product developers.
TextielMuseum | TextielLab
TextielMuseum | TextielLab — The woven fabrics were developed at the innovation lab premises, TextielLab in Tilburg, Netherlands. I thank the entire team at TextielLab for encouraging innovation, originality of not just this project but also of the block printing artisans in India and for being extremely supportive of ideas and inquiries. This collaboration was a great learning experience.

Kaarigari , कारीगरी, (Craftsmanship in Hindi) explores the celebration of a craftsman as a front runner in his craft. Hand Block Printing, a 500 year-old traditional craft in India, is now becoming redundant due to advanced digital printing systems and is requiring craft individuals to realize the worth of continuing it. Kaarigari is aimed towards delivering recognition to the artisans towards their work by highlighting their individuality. The project records the nuanced signature movements and translates them into patterns that become each artisan's individual signature, an impression of their time, work and body.

This project is supported and funded by the TextielMuseum | TextielLab Netherlands.

In Collaboration with:

  • Product Development and Production
    Product Developers - Judith Peskens and Lotte van Dijk Production using the Dornier Jacquard Rapier Looms at TextielMuseum | TextielLab, Netherlands.

2MD - Too Many Designers

Publication Editions
Publication Editions — 2MD - Too Many Designers Issue 00 - Genesis Issue 01 - Pandemic
2MD Website
2MD Website — Welcome to our second issue. Pandemic.

Launch Project

2MD is a publication by Design Products Students at the Royal Collage of Art. We would like to give you a glimpse of what we are thinking, not just making. We wanted to share DP’s creative voice and its position
within the realms of art, design, and beyond. Our publication,2MD, is a curated collection giving readers a
glimpse into the inner-workingsof Design Products students. It is a testament to how we communicate as designers; we hope to represent a wide breadth of content that is reflective of DP’s diverse cohort.

We want to:
explore and investigate;
discover and uncover;
and above all,
be both accepting and critical as we pave the way for a new age of creatives.

Medium: Design Products Publication

In Collaboration with:

Sponsors