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Take an idle glance over three of the different pieces produced by Loco Design – an exquisite leather armchair, a stylish Snakes and Ladders board, and a textured surface covering made from rare veneers – and it’s not easy to discern precisely what they have in common. But look more carefully and you will notice that they share a delight in craftsmanship, innovative design and beautiful materials artfully deployed. Each piece is produced by a different brand – Madheke, Taamaa and Pintark – which flourish beneath their parent company Loco Design, a design house founded in 1997 in India by Parminder Pal Singh.
“We wanted to do something unique from the very beginning, particularly for the Indian market as the craft tradition here was being completely destroyed,” says Parminder. “It was becoming like a traders’ commodity, making things cheaper and cheaper with no thought about finish or design. India went from a place that was rich in craft to a manufacturing hub of cheap products. It was frustrating and disturbing because there was such a high level of skill in the country.”
Parminder – who still happily answers to the childhood nickname of “Bubbles” – is a craftsman himself. Although he came from a trucking family, he was fascinated by the art of making things by hand and went to college to study jewellery design. He believes this training helped him develop his eye for the sort of fine detail that elevates Loco products. “I was always fond of drawing with very fine detail, really going into the intricacies of what I was drawing, and I think jewellery focused that attitude,” he says. “I also learnt about ergonomics and the use of technology and how to develop a precise skill. All those things came together in my training and now I am able to look at a product in the minutest detail.”
Loco draws on Indian traditions of craftsmanship but uses material from around the world to create products that are made in its factory outside Delhi but which have an international appeal. Madheke, which makes all kinds of furniture and accessories from small boxes to large cabinets, is named after Parminder’s home village; Pintark, which makes adaptable and innovative tiles for walls and furniture, uses Pinta, the Finnish word for “surface”; and Taamaa, which concentrates on innovative, quirky design products such as tablet cases and board games, takes its name from the Japanese word for soul. “The idea is that they all complement one another across a single house,” says Parminder, “so you can get that consistency of feel.”
If there are three characteristics that connect Loco’s brands they are craft, creativity and heritage. At its factory, Loco trains craftspeople from all over India, teaching ancient skills but finding modern applications. “We want to elevate their skill sets,” says Parminder. “We are not looking to substitute craft with innovation, but we are adding value to their skill sets. We work with some very traditional materials like wood and leather, but we also work with carbon fibre and other modern materials to bring a freshness to what we do.”
Of the three brands, Parminder singles out Pintark as the one the company always introduces first into a new territory. Pintark essentially consists of small tiles that can be made from a variety of materials including leather, beads, veneers and metals, but are often three-dimensional or patterned. These can be used on walls, room dividers, screens, cabinets, headboards, wardrobe doors and ceilings to create backdrops that are as simple or complicated as the client desires.
www.locodesign.in
Read more: https://locodesign.in/news-1/rrec-feature
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