Serving fresh and innovative ideas from diverse arenas like design, organic gourmet and art on one platter, is KONA, Delhi’s first multidisciplinary pop up. Born out of a need for a platform for evolving design ideas, this three-day festival hopes to initiate dialogue and discussion among, and with architects, artists and engineers, while also providing a space to think of new ways to live in urban India.
“We felt that interesting, innovative and creative work was emerging from various spaces across the country, but a platform to bring those ideas onto a common stage was missing. KONA aims to be that space for professionals who are experimenting with fresh ideas and challenging our conception of materials and their functionalities,” says Inderpal Singh Kochhar, organiser.
Supported by the Sewara group, KONA will see artists and designers like Anpu Varkey perform a live graffiti act; Suchet Malhotra and the Temple of Drums experiment with percussion and Shirley Bhatnagar talk on the history of ceramics and Indian terracotta.
Designer Srishti Bajaj will be on a panel talking about ‘The Trials and Tribulations of Production’. For her, an initiative like KONAis a great way to bridge the gap between designers and their audiences.
“All that is needed is a bigger audience. Today, a lot of designers are turning entrepreneurs and opening their showrooms and studios, and there is a need to patronise the Indian designer and his/her designs. KONA will be able to bring a wide variety of designs, ideas and audiences under one interactive platform,” she says.
An experiment for the larger idea of platform, Kochhar says that the team contacted some established artists and also searched for young, emerging artists who understood and wanted to be part of a platform.
“KONA started off as a design idea and evolved, more fully, over time into a platform for urban living, a sort of movement for contemporary living,” he says.
Today is the last day of the festival at 1, Jor Bagh.