designs. In addition, we’ve worked with educational institutions (MAEER MIT in Pune to design their design institute’s manifesto and architectural direction). How did you build sustainable differentiators into your enterprise? AB: I would like to think that we’ve been very honest with our processes. We’ve tried to actively inculcate parallel influences; most of our team has influences ranging from history and theory, to jewelry and shoe design, illustration and graphic novels. We’re constantly looking for the next fun thing to try. All of us are buzzing with new experiments to try in projects, and it’s a high energy environment overall. Hopefully clients can sense that in us, and allow us to really fly with seemingly strange ideas. How did you tackle the twin challenges of expansion and scalability? AB: We’re actually really conservative about expansion. I’d like to think that we should expand more in terms of our impact on the city, our scale and vision of projects, and scale up our thought processes, be a lot crazier and much more insane. Somehow larger offices lack soul in a way, and I think we’d consciously remain boutique. What was your first restaurant design project? How has the journey been since? AB: The first restaurant design project we did was the Venom Club in Kolkata,
in association with 100 Watts Design Studio. It was a nightclub, with attached F&B. The journey? It’s been a blast! Hospitality has always brought out our best – it’s allowed us to express a lot of our own personalities in our projects, which is immensely satisfying. It’s been a great learning experience working with different target audiences (we’ve designed Udipi restaurants as well as high-end fine dine outlets), a variety of cross influences (Smokehouse Grill being acid jazz, smoked meats and natural materials, while Smokehouse Deli is travel, AfroCuban Bossa Nova music, and the occult) and different city types. We’ve worked extensively in Mumbai and Delhi, and we’ve got a loose grip on what works in these two places. We’ve also, on the flipside, done a lot of work in Kolkata, but are still completely clueless about what works there! I think the most important learnings have been internal; we’ve all realized that to do interesting work we need to be interesting people, so we’re trying anything and everything once! It’s the most scalable model we could think of! Designers typically create lot of IP; how do you safeguard your IP Rights? AB: Actually, we’re big believers in the copyleft movement; anything and
everything that goes into the public sphere is open to interpretation and plagiarism. I think ideas only evolve and get better if left to evolve in a free environment. It’s weird how architects who’re spearheading conservation movements, crafts development and social projects are so guarded about their sources and contacts - almost losing sight of what it is that they’re trying to achieve in the first place. Open source is the way to go! What are Busride’s future plans? AB: We’d working on a split studio idea, nine months in Bombay and three months in Goa! We’ve also made a list of collaborators we’d like to work with in the near future, people doing amazing work in their own fields, like architect Rahul Mehrotra and BLOT, so we’d like to use the next year to cement these relationships and do a lot more insane, meaningful work! What we would love to work on is a redevelopment project that converts part of the harbor district in Mumbai into an art district, with public promenades, art galleries, installation art spaces, a vibrant and buzzing hotel and restaurant scene; one which opens up an entire district of the city that none of us are familiar with. We’re working out a proposal for the same, so interested readers please call us!
@anaggh India is a massive country where preferences change every 15kms and customer loyalties shift every Rs. 10/www.poolmagazine.in 21