India Modern traces the living dialogue between traditional Indian craft and contemporary design, moving from village societies and Mughal palaces through to the textiles, ceramics, and architecture reshaping the subcontinent's visual culture today.
About This Book
Equal parts travelogue and design survey, India Modern assembles an expansive visual record of the subcontinent's built and made environments. Author Herbert Ypma traversed India to document how ancient craft traditions — hand-loomed ikat textiles, vernacular building forms, the fearless Indian use of colour — are being reanimated in contemporary practice. The book refuses to treat Indian design as static heritage, instead showing it as a dynamic, evolving aesthetic emerging from the tension between tradition and modernity. For designers, architects, and researchers with an interest in non-Western design histories, it is both a visual resource and a cultural argument.
Key Features
- 240 pages of documentary photography spanning buildings, textiles, ceramics, and people across India
- Text and photography by Herbert Ypma
- Published by Phaidon, compact pocket edition
What You'll Discover
- How native craft traditions — from Mughal palace architecture to village weaving — form the material foundation of contemporary Indian design
- The distinct role of colour in Indian visual culture, examined as a design principle rather than mere decoration
- Traditional hand-looming techniques, including ikat cloth production, and how these methods persist and evolve in modern production
- The emergence of a hybrid aesthetic that synthesises subcontinental vernacular forms with contemporary design sensibilities
About the Author
Herbert Ypma travelled extensively across India to compile the photography and research underpinning this book, bringing together images of architecture, textiles, ceramics, and communities alongside a perceptive written text. [Details available upon request]
Specifications
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 240
- Dimensions: 140 x 156 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9780714839486
- Publisher: Phaidon
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects and designers engaged with non-Western design traditions, textile researchers, students of design history, and anyone exploring the intersection of craft heritage and contemporary Indian aesthetics.