By IANS,
New Delhi : P.R.S. Oberoi, chairman of the Oberoi Group, was the man of the moment at the Design Brilliance Awards 2008 event as he was presented the Lifetime Achievement award.
“I am glad that my work has been appreciated and I hope youngsters get inspiration from my work,” Oberoi said at the event Saturday evening. The award was jointly instituted by the Future Group, Businessworld and the National Institute of Design (NID).
The evening saw eminent members of the design, corporate and celebrity fraternity putting their hands together to fete those found deserving of the fifth edition of the awards, with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia doing the honours as the chief guest.
The awards were launched in 2003 to honour new levels of design excellence as India’s growing economy meets the challenges posed by rapid globalisation, where the significance of design in determining the future of any product in a competitive market stands undeniably unchallenged.
“The new age design is breaking boundaries. Design is playing a key role in linking manufactured products and technology supported series to the user,” NID director Darlie O. Koshy said.
Kinetic Motors won the award for the best transportation and automobile design, Titan Industries and Titan Collection for their fashion and lifestyle designs, Icarus Designs for the best product and packaging design, Design Direction for the best digital design and Onio Design for the best furniture design.
“Design is the key to move up the value chain in business,” Businessworld editor Jehangir S. Pocha said on the occasion.
“Earlier, India’s rich design heritage wasn’t reflected in commerce. Now that this has started happening our awards seek to recognize and encourage the process, for it is essential to growth as also to developing a national aesthetic,” he added.
The entries were judged by an independent jury of design experts that included Pradyumna Vyas, head of academics at NID; and Lalit Das head and master of design at the industrial design programme at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi. Anand Mahindra, vice chairman and managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra chaired the jury.
The following were the awardees:
Designer of the Year – Abhijit Bansod, Titan Heritage Collection;
Fashion & Lifestyle Design – Abhijit Bansod and Neil Foley, Aviator Series by Titan Industries;
Transportation & Automobile Design – Ajinkya Firodia, Kinetic Motor Company;
Digital Design – Falguni Gokhale, Design Direction;
Product Design – Nishma Pandit and Balkrishna Mahajan, Ticket Design; George Mathew and Sapna Behar, Icarus Design;
Packaging Design – George Mathew and Sapna Behar, Icarus Design;
Furniture Design – Prakash Khanzode, Onio Design;
Best Concept Design-Student – Abhijeet Khopkar and Nikhil Karwall.