Steve Jobs made a pertinent observation that made a huge impression on me "Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary".
Woke up from bed to feel completely out of place, just to realize after few moments that I'm actually in Germany, the place where Industrial Design, schools like
Bauhaus and ULM which layer the foundation for the future schools of thought originated. it felt like a page straight from my dream.
After a long wait of eight months I was finally there where I always wanted to be, not because of anything else but mere curiosity.
The eight months of gestation was as interesting as the six and a half months spent at Germany. While I was anticipating the visa, I had opportunity to realize
certain dreams.
Well I never knew that it was going to take eight months, I had received the letter of confirmation by the third month and from there it was mere anticipation and
prayers to speed up the process.
How do I make the best use of the time available?
The first month when i was sending résumé’s to firms, I enrolled myself for a swimming course just to find myself surrounded by kids from second generation and
of course with few exceptions to give me company. I do have to accept that i learned more form seven year olds than from the coach. I was experimenting,
keeping my life at stake " the concept of buoyancy ". It was not about the fishes, which raised my curiosity, but the kids who got like fishes to water.
A month passed by and i had received replies back, now was the time to select companies to which a detailed portfolio has to be sent. Mid way between the
second months I had finalized on the places where I would like to go and started dispatching cd's.
The confirmation came in the third month and by then i was done with my swimming classes, not that i have turned a fish myself.
Now i had options between u.s, Germany, Netherlands and London. The only way to decide was , to choose the company which starts the project early.
I enrolled for German class and then it was no looking back. The destination was fixed and i was preparing myself for it.
Landed in Germany on the 5th of December just to learn that there are three weeks of holidays ahead for Christmas and New Year’s starting from next week.
I was asked to sign the non-disclosure agreement and I just thought that it was a formality, just to find to my horror later that my diploma was at stake.
There were students from other schools doing their diploma and all that they required was a certificate from the company and that was it.
So when I approached my guide at designafairs with this problem, he told me that we will speak about it after the vacation and told me not to worry, by this time I
had my first mobile phone selected for the final presentation.
Well there goes the vacation for a toss; this was always on the back of my mind, that my diploma after such a long wait was still at stake.
With loads of expectations built during the holidays I went to the office just to find that there is no possibility that I will be able to take the projects back.
Then there was this beautiful offer, which was given to me, I was told that I can do what ever I want apart from the projects which I will be working there and take it
back as my diploma. I was suggest ice skates, roller blades…. I didn’t know exactly how to react to such a situation.
Then I decided to formulate the brief myself which will be of some use to them in the end. So I approach my second guide Jens Pattberg and he was the director
design strategy for siemens, why don’t you work for products for five years hence, and that was the beginning of the diploma.
From then on it was work and research simultaneously. My day started at 8:00 am and ended by 2:00 am the next day. That was the time when I realized that it
wasn’t easy to formulate a brief.
It wasn’t that tough but not that easy either to project five years down the lane from where they were right now, and the moment things were making a clear picture
I had a presentation with my guide, just to realize that similar projects are on the pipeline.
The redefined brief was formed then, “ now that I can see the similarities from what you have done to what we have in the pipe line, I’m more curious to see what
will you come down if the time period is twenty years from now and the redefined brief was formed.
Felt good in a way but it was becoming more vague.
It felt as if I was making my way through a dense fog.
Is it a hypothetical project ??? well that’s exactly what people from nid would say !!!!
Is it that easy like what they think it is ??? is it so simple to fool the design director, who deals with the road map of the company ???
If one reads “ the pictures of the future “ – the magazine for research and innovation by Siemens such a thought as hypothetical will never come to the mind.
Having seen “siemens designlab presentation” - term 2.. I knew that it is not hypothetical for them.
They live in a different era, and people in India are from a different mindset altogether.
It is the ‘no need market’ that dominates Europe and so I do know that it is tough for someone to comprehend the type of project done there, without
understanding their environment.
It took some time for me to catch up with the time lag from India to Germany in terms of industrial design.
The only thing yard stick of reference for the project at hand was the designlab students who were working for a utopian world, but what started worrying me was
that the yardstick which I had choosen was not just one way, the comparison was inevitable. So what ever done has to be gut !!
Twenty years time period was a good coincidence because the products which the company was doing was any ways five years down the lane and the designlab
was on a utopian trip and I thought this could be the missing link.
I owe a lot of thanks to my guide shashank for his reassurances, which helped me to concentrate on the project at hand.
Months passed by and I was able to see the faint outlines through the fog, was it that destination or a pit stop along the way was time to answer.
My pre-final presentation was long due after which I can start on formalization of the product. It was during this time that SITECO announced a competition. The
deadline was two weeks from then. The introduction of the briefing was in german !!!! and all I could say was geknow !!!!! which means exactly.
Now there is one more work added to the schedule. Two weeks flew by and I was there in the conference hall where the presentation took place. I was the only
one with sketches and that too on a4 sheets, the rest of the trainees had a3 and the designers had huge plots, I was at one point embarrassed to present but did
manage to save my face.
After that I never thought about it, and I was back on track with the weight of diploma looming over the head. I had fixed an appointment with my guides and the
presentation date was fixed. The presentation went well and I was asked if I can make a workshop of the whole project and not just one scenario which I had
initially intended to do, for they wanted to see all the themes and their respective scenarios worked out and not just one. Since time was against my favor, I
agreed for the deal. But the condition was that the workshop was to be organized after the office hours.
The workshops venue was fixed, the irony was that on the first floor we had the designlab students and right below them were us. There was no criteria of
selection for the people who can take part in the workshop, but those who were available. Time rolled by.
It was time to leave and 28th june was my last working day ,so I fixed the 27th for the final presentation and started making posters. Had fixed an appointment
with the president for the 27th at 3:00 and so the time was also fixed.
The last five months were so stressful, I was playing kicker when I was told that the presentation ceremony for the siteco competition was about to take place in
the conference hall. And I was asked to attend. I had faint hopes, if not for the Champaign I wouldn’t have gone, and the suspense was building and when they
announced the third prize, I lost all my hope since it wasn’t me. Then I was waiting for the meeting to get over to start with the toast for the winner and I couldn’t
believe what happened in the next few moments and all I could hear was ‘ sonte ’ servo!!!
That was one of the happiest moments of my life and my fees was taken care of.
On the 26th I was told that the president was busy by 3:00pm and so if I want to present to him I have to take 11:00am and no I had two presentations to handle.
I was there in the office by 8:00am preparing for the presentation and as scheduled I was ready by 11:00 am but the president had some unexpected visitors and
schedule was postponed to 11:45 am and there was exactly 15min which he can spare and so he asked me if I can wind it with in that time.
It took exactly 90minutes and he was there patiently listening. He was surprised that the whole thing had happened undercover. The words that came from him
after the presentation was enough to prove the validity of the whole workshop. He asked me if I would like to present the same along with the designlab students,
and mentioned that he would like to present the concept wired bathroom to siemens medicals.
When I look back, I think “ it was worth the wait ”.
