All posts by Matter

B L Manjunath: The Architecture of Intensity, Experience and the Unseen

June 15, 2026 Matter Leave a comment

The Gyaan Project x Matter

B L MANJUNATH

Based out of Bengaluru, B L Manjunath is a distinguished structural engineer and the founder of Manjunath & Co. Structural Consultants. The practice believes in learning about structures from nature and from everything around them. With decades of experience, he has contributed to projects of numerous scales and typologies. He is also an educator, acclaimed for integrating structural efficiency and innovation in engineering design.

In this conversation, Manjunath positions spatial thinking as a speculative practice grounded in perception, memory and imagination. He reflects on the transition from seeing to observing, proposing that design emerges through an engagement with the unseen dimensions of place and experience. Intensity is framed not as concentration, but as a state of rigorous inquiry driven by curiosity, uncertainty and continual self-revision. Through metaphors of geology, growth and transformation, the discussion challenges disciplinary boundaries and fixed modes of thinking.

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Design

PAKHA by The Vernacular Modern

May 28, 2026 Matter Leave a comment

PAKHA by THE VERNACULAR MODERN is one of six projects that emerged from the mentorship of the Godrej Design Lab Fellowship in 2025. The fellows exhibited their projects and processes at the Concious Collective in December 2025.

PAKHA offers a way of revisiting the single-blade fan at a more sculptural level, an object as beautiful in stillness as in movement. The blade becomes a stage or canvas for moving art, adding craft as a layer of presence. Through reconfigured mechanics and materials that historically resisted both wind and the manual force of Hath Pakhas, it invites a contemporary reconsideration of vernacular techniques, evolving the fan into a functional and visually assertive expression of sustainability.

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Podcasts

Vishwa Shroff: Are you looking?

May 18, 2026 Matter Leave a comment

The Gyaan Project x Matter

VISHWA SHROFF

A discussion with Vishwa Shroff, an artist based in Mumbai, this episode dwells into the virtues of a slow-practice that involves looking at things with intent. The conversation outlines the power of drawing and observing for drawing as a tool to document the environments one inhabits.

Vishwa’s work is a record of the memories and presence of human endeavour in the built environment. The drawings enliven and extend the space they represent, thereby framing a cognitive record of the way we encounter place in public and private domains, extending Vishwa’s role as a cartographer of memories in a practice of recording.

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Design

KADALUM by Tarocollective

May 11, 2026 Matter Leave a comment

The KADALUM collection by TAROCOLLECTIVE is one of six projects that emerged from the mentorship of the Godrej Design Lab Fellowship in 2025. The fellows exhibited their projects and processes at the Concious Collective in December 2025.

Composed currently of seven products – Lounge Chair, Footrest, Chair, Dining Table, Low Footrest, Low Armchair, Low Table – elements in KADALUM arise from custom moulds and extrusions developed for furniture applications. The manufacturing process is a philosophical extension of the studio’s industrial design ethos.

A custom high-stability aluminium extrusion was engineered to echo the refined profile and elegance of the Kadam collection while simultaneously outlining structural lightness and outdoor durability. Achieving the requisite precision led to the integration of machining to ensure a crafted advantage for foldability, mobility and versatility for sustained outdoor usage.

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Podcasts

Jeevaram Suthar: एक बढ़ई की ज़िंदगी, कारीगरी और कहानियाँ

March 9, 2026 Matter Leave a comment

The Gyaan Project x Matter

JEEVARAM SUTHAR

In conversation with the master carpenter with experience in making everything from the smallest peg to a building in wood, the podcast explores the ideas and the philosophical underpinnings of a practice deeply engaged in the idea of making.

For years, Jeevaram Suthar has mentored a generation of craftsmen and collaborated with some of the most celebrated architecture and design firms in India to produce work of integrity as he shares his thoughts on tradition, livelihoods, learning, and the dignity of working with hands.