Prof. Ananthapuram Gopinath Rao
He came in contact with Charles Eames and was deeply inspired by his personal discussion with him on his concerns of India's vanishing product traditions and the need for its study in 1969. He, later on, went on sabbatical leave for a year to study the bamboo crafts of Northeast India. He has designed more than 20 products for Indian Industries, including the “Electronic Voting Machine’ used in India. He designed the EVM, as we know it today, for Bharat Electronics Limited and more than 20 products for companies like Crompton, Siemens, Thermax, L&T, and also a Bamboo tool-kit for UNDP. He was invited for various talks on Design and Bamboo in places like Bali, Costa Rica, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brazil, Mexico, USA, and Europe.
He worked on and set up a design studio for Meso called the ‘Colour Fly’ for their exported products. He even conducted several workshops on Design, Creativity, Product Innovation, Experiential Learning, and Bamboo craft for a variety of groups like school children, designers, and even engineers in companies like Honeywell, Whirlpool International, NTU Singapore, Hyperwerk, Basel, Switzerland. He tried and even succeeded in developing a tool-kit and even small technologies for bamboo. He also started an Incubation company with social concern, called ‘A.G. Bambu Style’. He held many positions, which included D.L.Shah Chair for innovation, Hon. Director, Boroplast Pvt. Ltd, President’s Nominee for Faculty Selections, IIT Guwahati. He was also the Managing Director of A.G.Bambu Style Pvt. Ltd, which was started under SINE, IIT Bombay.
Books:
• Industrial Design Center - Decade Book of Design......
• Bamboo Craft Design......
• Booklet - Art and Science of Golden Proportion......
