DESIGN tête-à-tête

We invited Ar. Akshat Bhatt of Architecture Discipline to engage in a one-on-one professional conversation with Satyendra Pakhalé—from one mind to the other about the process of design and its realisation.

Assaya Centenary Armchair

2014, Commissioned by Poltrona Frau, IT, Centenary armchair for the connected world. Satyendra Pakhalé was invited to design a centenary armchair on the occasion of 100th anniversary of the Italian legendary Poltrona Frau Design manufacturing company. The design concept of Assaya is inspired by the way of life in the connected world. Assaya is articulately crafted with the knowledge of the age-old tradition of saddle making coupled with fresh interpretation of Poltrona Frau industrial leather craftsmanship. The objective is to create a long-lasting design that will be cherished and celebrated for the next century and beyond by connecting with the next generation ensuring the lasting legacy of Poltrona Frau.

Akshat Bhatt: Your work seems to draw on a myriad of references. Tell us about them

SP: Intellectual curiosity has been a constant feature of our design practice, leading to various themes and projects that provide a wider, deeper context and cultural connections across the works. With our engagement with a wide range of topics cultivated over the years I see the world as one place of our common human condition. The ‘Culture of Creation’ is the thinking and the research that inspires our everyday studio activity. It aims at exploring why we as human beings do what we do and how the things we create nurture our sensorial and social nature. Each work gives us the possibility to contextualise our multi-faceted, culturally diverse and technologically rigorous design practice, sheds light on our design approach, way of creation, studio practice itself along with a critical thinking, world view and intellectual position.