EP 267 . 08 Mar 23
Rock Paper Scissors
With Sagarika Suri
In the episode
- What does material mean to you? Has that definition changed over time? How important it is for a designer to know his/ her medium? Why?
- What is “rockpaperscissors”? Why did you start it?
- From your research on materials, what are you trying to arrive at? Is there a goal or just exploration? Because it is said that material is just a medium. (as BV Doshi says, even RCC can be made to look beautiful).
- What are a few parameters on which you evaluate a material? Is there a framework or set of guiding principles to identify good material versus bad?
- You also engage in repurposing/reusing waste. Here plastic seems to be the most versatile material if used properly. Tell us about plastic and your engagement with waste.
- Which is the most versatile material, plywood, paper, resin, concrete, glass, and cloth that you are currently working with or anything else?
- How do you investigate the short-term and long-term implications of a particular material? If you can give any examples?
- Can you explain the process by taking an example of any material and how has the journey been so far? What have you uncovered? How about Liquid Plywood for eg?
- How does this help in your commercial projects?
- What is the future of materials? Which material do you think will dominate the market? We see a lot of sustainability brands mushrooming all over. Do you think they will scale?
About Sagarika Suri
In episode 220 with Hrush Bhatt, he said, a sculptor knows his / her medium, marble, mud, or stone, and an architect knows what kind of material he/she wants, similarly, a digital product designer should know how to code, design and write copy. Today we have a guest who is a perfect blend of understanding materials and implementing them in her practice. Sagarika Suri – a practicing architect and urban designer in Mumbai. She practices small and large-scale projects through Studio Tessera based in Mumbai and dabbles with materials at rockpaperscissors. It’s a material lab for the studio to experiment with ideas and concepts on a smaller scale. Sagarika is also a part of CSA which is the Collective for Spatial Alternatives and has been engaged in self-development and low-cost housing projects in Mumbai.
