Dear Germany, enough is enough!

I can only call them terrorists. Corporate terrorists.

Remember my post in May 2012 – German Minister promises to ensure Just Resolution of Ideafarms Dispute? Well, it looks like there are more and more such injustices now coming to light.

Close on the heels of the last post on this blog (Indian Court Issues Warrant for Porsche C.E.O.s Arrest – NYTimes.com), comes another shocker. Now Padma Rao, A senior journalist has alleged discrimination at the hands of her former employers, a leading German magazine, because she is an Indian. 

Padma Rao. Photo: Sanjay Rawat

Read this Tehelka expose Is Padma Rao a victim of racism in the German media?

Of late, Germany, which has always enjoyed the reputation of an admirable welfare state and a fair judiciary, has been arbitrary and racist.

Indian Court Issues Warrant for Porsche C.E.O.s Arrest – NYTimes.com

An Indian court has issued an arrest warrant for Matthias Müller, chief executive and chairman of Porsche, the German carmaker, and eight other executives from the company.

Another case of German high-handedness where they show little respect to Indian partners, knowing they can rely on their legal system to side with them.

Whether the arrests will happen or not, this action by the Jaipur court is a strong signal that Indian companies have come into their own and will not allow themselves to be walked all over.

Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters
Matthias Mueller, chief executive of Porsche, posing inside a 911 sports car, at the company’s headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany on Jan. 9.

via Indian Court Issues Warrant for Porsche C.E.O.s Arrest – NYTimes.com.

Sneak Review: Cloud Surfing

THE FUTURE AIN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE. – Yogi Berra

The fact that I have the opportunity of reviewing Cloud Surfing before its launch sitting halfway across the world in India, hints at Tom’s having already made a round trip to the future. Everything in the future is about connections — Machine-Machine + People-Machine + People-People — that will reach from 5 billion today to a staggering 100 billion in 2020. This is likened to the number of neurons in the human brain. Whether or not this means that the world will become intelligent, one thing is certain – our past cannot inform the future of work, life and play.

Tom is a natural at storytelling and you run into pleasant sprinklings of anecdotes that stay with you throughout the book. Each chapter of Cloud Surfing is a revelation; the more I read the more curious I became. Parts of it are science fiction at its best, only it may not turn out to be fiction.

Vendor-Client relationships

Whatever one may try in building relationships with customers, it always comes back to negotiating prices the way it was done in the industrial (material) age. This hilarious, in-your-face video says it all. Is our client listening?? Can they laugh as loudly as we at this beautifully captured absurdity

Read Ann All’s post “Squeezing Vendors Isn’t a Good Idea“ 

Designers w/o Borders

World Trade Centre, Rotterdam, 25th September 2009. Indo-Dutch collaboration summit focused on Industrial Design. Hmmm … (Design Crossover).

A view of the audience

That’s me on the right!

Raijmakers & Oberdorf

Why they invited me to speak is still somewhat of a mystery considering I dropped off the Industrial Design radar towards the end of the last millennium. I guess it could’ve been because my company, Ideafarms, has been able to maintain a growing relationship between India and Europe over the last 8 years through projects and partnerships with Dutch and German corporations.

I’ve never been a champion of networking – I’ve actually often criticised some of my friends for using networking to get ahead – but am quite overwhelmed having been in the midst of some of the most ‘conscious’ designers of today. Jeroen Raijmakers of Philips and Jos Oberdorf of NPK Design are inspiring to say the least. I’m grateful to Ruchita Puri for the opportunity to meet them at the event.

From whatever was presented, it looks like good design can be really good business. There’s a case to be made out for a design collaboration without borders. Couple of good reasons here …

1. European design reflects high quality, the idiom being minimalistic and functional. Whereas India’s design sensibilities are more embellished. Their combination will raise the aesthetic appeal without compromising design values.

2. Pure economic tenets come into play when we see the sheer number of people both on the supply side (design talent is plenty in India) and the demand side (India is emerging as one of the largest markets). Leveraging the ‘great Indian talent pool’ is an opportunity.

3. The life sensibilities of India’s cultural make-up have always been in the mould of sustainability, something the world has woken up to only recently. Add to this the rich craft-based traditions and you have a universal design paradigm that’s as powerful as Buddhism.

Jump into this conversation folks. You don’t want to be left out. Really!