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Demand for design is booming in India, but the tastes of the local market have to be acknowledged to ensure success, says Sarah Balmond
Her voice is soft, a clipped tone crackling down the Bangalore- London phone line connection.
'At the moment there is no real design industry here. No sense of community or network, with no formal magazine or journal covering design,' says Sujata Keshavan, co-founder of Ray & Keshavan Design Associates, one of India's major brand consultancies, which has just been acquired by WPP (DW 26 October).
Like China and Dubai, India is currently basking in global hype. It has the world's second-fastest growing economy, a sprawling service sector, a booming IT market with outsourcing exports predicted to reach pound 18bn by 2008, a behemoth population of 1.1 billion and a 250 million-strong middle class. Yet India has still to lay down the foundations to support the burgeoning creative industry flourishing against this vibrant backdrop.
Keshavan is optimistic about the immense possibilities stretching before the nation, as both regional and international businesses slowly wake up to its slumbering might. 'As more companies come into the creative space it will liven up the scene and become increasingly interesting. We won't feel so isolated,' she says.
Already the seeds are being sewn. India held its first annual design festival, Design Yatra, this year in Goa, marked with an...