India Modern: Traditional Forms and Contemporary Design

India Modern explores the themes used through the centuries by village craftsmen on Hindu temples, Mogul palaces and traditional crafts. The author reveals how modern designers are reinterpreting these forms and returning to the indigenous skills of Indian craftsmen and women to produce works that are praised worldwide for their aesthetic quality. He looks at the exciting developments in modern architecture in India, in particular at the work of architects Charles Correa and Satish Gujral who have returned to the heritage of Indian civilization to design buildings that are both culturally relevant and highly modern. And he shows how the power and beauty of India's decorative heritage - the skill of being able to use different patterns, forms and shapes in endless combinations of colours and rhythms - is being utilized in all aspects of the contemporary arts, most notably in the textile design of Asha Sarabhai and Shyam Ahuja.
Herbert Ypma, together with a team of talented photographers, travelled across India to bring together an array of astonishing images from ancient and modern India. Together with a perceptive and personal text, these images create a source of ideas and an insight into the emergence of an exciting aesthetic that truly combines the old and the new.