This visual ethnographic study aims at capturing the pulse of the Suthar community in Sankheda, a village in Chhota Udaipur district in the Indian state of Gujarat. The study was an experiential bliss for the hearts of the craftsmen that embody the turned wood furniture craft. Me and my camera were met by heart-warming families that shared their life, its struggles, and their craft with open arms. The study involved interviews with various craftsmen, including a master craftsman, a methodical documentation of the manufacturing process, a qualitative analysis of their work environments, their involvement with the craft, and the conflict of interests faced by present-day generations.

The report is part of the summer internship project carried out as a part of the M-Des in Industrial Design programme at IDC, IIT Bombay. The project helps to understand the various parameters that essentially make a tourism project successful. It aims to visualise the key issues faced by the institute in disturbing these parameters, which might hinder the development of the place at a later stage. The report also suggests solutions that are capable of giving a facelift to the institute with tiny tweaks to relevant parameters.

Vegetable processing in commercial kitchens is carried out without the help of machines with a wide range of processing capabilities and functions, and they require extreme durability along with higher productivity and performance. Most of the existing products in the Indian market, manufactured industrially, are imitations of their international counterparts and exhibit various design flaws. As an industrial designer, the purpose of redesign is to introduce new and competing products to the current scenario by optimising the existing design. The final concept addresses usability, ergonomics, and productivity issues considering a set of functional and manufacturing constraints.

Sankheda is a village in Gujarat located in Chhota Udaipur district renowned for its turned wood furniture crafts. The craftsmen of Sankheda follow the traditional working postures in most of their activities, adapting them to their indigenous machinery and processes of manufacturing. Task analysis and interviews with craftsmen reveal the need to design and optimise their workplace for better productivity and health benefits. This project aims at designing a workstation for the craftsmen, focusing on reducing drudgery in their work environment and optimising the production process. The final concept can be extended to allied work environments to impart similar benefits.