Surfaces Reporter- India’s 1st magazine specialized on ‘products & materials’ for architecture & Interiors-and Ply Reporter- India’s leading Ply magazine- have finished their 10th edition of the Talk of Town Event on 4th May 2019 at Hotel Renaissance, Ahmedabad. Renowned Town Planners, Architects, Designers, Real Estate & Heritage experts were the part of this enriching event.
Curated by Madhurima Chowdhury, Surfaces Reporter’s ‘The Talk of Town’ is a neatly designed nationwide conference aimed to connect, engage, and network, for the architects and designers fraternity. It has been travelling all over India to various cities, talking about issues & ideas that concern the interior design, urban planning, architecture community, establishing dialogues on important topics and bringing together the experts.
Madhurima Chowdhury, Curator, The Talk of Town
The event commenced with the auspicious lamp lighting by Smt. Bijal Patel, Hon. Mayor of Ahmedabad.
Soon after the lamp lighting ceremony, Ms Vertica Dvivedi, founder of WADe Asia and Editor-In-Chief of Surfaces Reporter Magazine, welcomed all to the Talk of Town.
(From L-R) Hemal Shah; Utpal Sharma; Ms Vertica Dvivedi (Moderator), Jaxay Shah, Pradyumna Vyas, Yatin Pandya
The event started with the first panel discussion of the day on an extremely interesting topic- ‘The Heritage City – Ahmedabad – Way Forward’ in which panellists- Yatin Pandya, an owner at FootPrints E.A.R.T.H; Utpal Sharma, Director, Nirma University; Parul Zaveri, founder, Abhikram; Hemal Shah, Principal Architect, Hemal Shah & Associates; Jaxay Shah, Chairman, CREDAI, India; Pradyumna Vyas, Former Director, National Institute of Design shared their valuable insights. The panel was ably moderated by Ms Vertica Dvivedi, founder of WADe Asia and Editor-In-Chief of Surfaces Reporter Magazine.
Jaxay Shah, Chairman, CREDAI
Jaxay Shah, Chairman, CREDAI, India gives his outlook on the future of Ahmedabad- “Ahmedabad is posing for great opportunities for growth in times to come. I love the stress free Ahmedabad!!!"
Ar Hemal Shah, Principal Architect, Hemal Shah & Associates
"Ownership of the place, carrying the Genome, Collaboration and integrative approach are the key things required for the way forward," said Ar Hemal Shah, Principal Architect, Hemal Shah & Associates.
Yatin Pandya, owner, FootPrints E.A.R.T.H
"We need to mediate where the issues are hurting, we need more effective bylaws such that Ahmedabad is able to preserve its ethos,” insight shared by Yatin Pandya, owner, FootPrints E.A.R.T.H
Pradyumna Vyas, Former Director, National Institute of Design
Then Pradyumna Vyas came up with a beautiful thought "Ahmedabad is a living heritage. Celebration of life is there. So why not work towards making it the World Design Capital?"
Aditya Thota Srinivas, Fundermax
The audience participated actively at the end of the event, which created a perfect environment for a presentation by Aditya Thota Srinivas, Fundermax. He said, “We add character to buildings. We build for people”
Vikas Jha, JSL Lifestyle
Soon after, Vikas Jha of JSL Lifestyle gave presentation on the limitless possibility of stainless steel.
(From L-R) Niraj Shah, Snehal Joshi, Hiren Patel, Arpan Shah, Ranna Parikh, Bhadri Sonpal, Vikas Jha, and Deepali Meni
The atmosphere got all charged up as we entered into the second-panel discussion on “Exploring 4 Key Design Skepticism.” The Panel was an electrifying one with the presence of Hiren Patel, Hiren Patel Architects; Bhadri Sonpal, The Grid Architects; Ranna Parikh, Ranna Parikh Architect & Interior Designer; Snehal Joshi, Snehal Joshi Architects; Deepali Meni, Kunal & Deepali Associates; Arpan Shah, Modo Designs; Vikas Jha, JSL Lifestyle. The panel was being moderated by Niraj Shah, IDO design Solutions, IIID Ahmedabad Chapter Chairperson.
Niraj Shah, IDO design Solutions, IIID Ahmedabad Chapter Chairperson
“Designers are bogged down by constraints. If we work on the thought process, we can avoid plagiarism and evolve design, said Niraj shah.
Hiren Patel, Hiren Patel Architects
“Sometimes someone gets so fascinated by something that it's ok to be inspired. We all have been taught by copying. We all learned the same ABCD but eventually, we found our own ABCD. It's ok to get inspired from something, but once you make it your own it becomes original, said Hiren Patel.
Vikas Jha, JSL Lifestyle
“We have become very mechanical. Our minds have stopped working, our hearts have stopped working, there is no tandem among them. This is leading to more instances of copying.”- Vikas Jha
Ranna Parikh, Ranna Parikh Architect & Interior Designer
“Plagiarism is a kind of inspiration where interior designers are concerned,” said Ranna Parikh.
It's nice to have inspiration, but we must make it our own, we must evolve-- all the panellists agree on this while discussing Plagiarism in Design.
Mr Makarand Kendre, Renson
Following active audience participation, the event had a rejuvenating presentation by Mr Makarand Kendre of Renson on its product and company’s promise to save environment.
Chintal Mehta, Chintal Design Studio
Moving on, the Talk of Town included splendid mini-talks by Chintal Mehta, Chintal Design Studio; Brinda Parth Shah, BPS Architects.
Brinda Parth Shah, BPS Architects
Thereafter Amulya Mica presents to the audience its unique range of products that make it stand out in the world of design and architecture.
Amulya Mica
The second round of electrifying mini talks started with a panel of talented young architects and designers- Chandni Patel, Studio Abhinay and Heena Kokel, director, Array Design House. They shared their powerful ideas and design stories in power packed, crisp and to the point manner on varied topics.
Chandni Patel, Studio Abhinay
"Collaboration among designers and marrying global with local are important," shares Chandni Patel, Studio Abhinay.
Heena Kokel, director, Array Design House
Through a story, the storyteller Smita Bhatnagar brought a new wave of energy and enthusiasm to the event. Learning important thoughts on preserving our heritage, Smita built the perfect mood for High voltage discussions after the scrumptious lunch.
Smita Bhatnagar
The event gathered its pace again post lunch as more interesting and engaging sessions, panel discussions and presentations were waiting for us. Post lunch Ms Vertica Dvivedi opened the session, telling everyone why we need a retailing platform like IIR.
Ms Vertica Dvivedi, founder of WADe Asia and Editor-In-Chief of Surfaces Reporter Magazine
Our knowledge levels soared new heights when the penultimate panel discussion kicked off on the topic ‘The Journey of Interior Retailing in Ahmedabad’. In this discussion, father and son from two very prominent showrooms of Ahmedabad- Bhavin Shah & Prakash Shah (EDGE Studio & Builders Home) and Pawan Arora & Raghav Arora (Arodrape) superbly shared their thoughts about where the retail industry is moving - trends - the culture of showroom designing - lessons - successes & failures. Vertica Dvivedi outstandingly moderated the panel.
(From L-R) Pawan Arora, Prakash Shah, Vertica Dvivedi, Bhavin Shah & Raghav Arora
Thereafter, the fourth and the last panel discussion of the day, moderated by Pragath Dvivedi, provided valuable insight into The Need for Innovative Retailing of Wood & Decorative Panel products and highlighted through inputs from experts Pragath Dvivedi, Founder, The Ply Reporter; Alay Upendra Nagori, VP, The Ahmedabad Timber Merchant’s Association; Madan Sharma, Owner, Core, Surat; and Ashish Khandelwal, Neha Ply & Laminates.
(From L-R) Pragat Dvivedi, Ketan Thakkar, Kailash, Niraj Shah, Ashish Khandelwal, Alay Nagori
They were involved in an intuitive discussion on various subjects such as the retail culture of Ahmedabad, the unending spree of Showroom Designing, their story of building up a retail brand, some good & not so good market practices and suggestions for upcoming showrooms. The last session of the event turned out as exciting as the first one.
The intellectual ideas and suggestions shared in the event made the entire ambience highly contagious. The whole day was eventful and very insightful.
The interesting discussion was closed with the promise to bring everyone together at the next edition of the Talk of Town in Bangalore.