Preeti Knowles runs The Hidden Gallery in Delhi and represents the British KLC School of Design in Delhi.
A talented designer, married to another talented British designer, Mike Knowles, she is pioneering some disruptive influences in the international design world.
Preeti told the Asian Voice that she was born and brought up in a privileged home in India. She did a diploma in Interior Design and pursued a BA in the same subject from The American College in London.
“Mike and I set up our interior design company, worked on some lovely homes and eventually set up an export business in furniture between India and the UK.” They designed and manufactured approximately $100 millions’ worth of product for groups like the John Lewis Partnership and were involved with the company for around 20 years.
“We moved to India in 1999 to see if it might work. We had no intention of staying more than a couple of years. However, 16 years later we are still here and have done many wonderful interiors in New Delhi and other cities,” she smiled.
Preeti and Mike have their own workshop and design and produce some unusual pieces using the local skills and crafts under the banner of The Hidden Gallery now. It’s a nice space with a naturally creative feel.
Preeti feels that Design in India has progressed over the last 15 years. “Design has now started to become a profession with a huge amount of respect. Design education has miles to go to catch up with the West but it is getting there fast. Aping the West blindly, without a proper understanding of the aesthetics, happens a lot.
In the colonial heritage, European furniture and artefacts were copied and fused with the Indian aesthetic. The fusion is still happening. The West has a more evolved and controlled approach whereas here it’s still a bit hit and miss,” she explained.
Preeti is representing Design through Distance Learning for the 30- year old KLC design school. “It gives an opportunity to people who may want a career change, or those who go into design after graduating, or need time to decide which aspect of design they want to specialise in.” They can all opt for a foundation course.
“Distance learning is available to the whole sub continent, to people in big cities and remote towns. It opens up a whole new world of access to design education with a British aesthetic.
The course would cost a fraction of what it would if the student had to physically go and study in the UK. There may be youngsters, especially young girls from traditional backgrounds, whose families wouldn’t be happy for them to travel abroad to study. This course will enable these girls to get the best of British design education in their homes.”
Preeti is also establishing design-led skills centres in India, where she takes great local craftsmen and introduces them to top designers. A prime example is Suresh Kumar who has worked with her for over seven years. He has gone from making simple matkas, or earthen pots, in terracotta, to large matkas in stoneware, adapting their shape and form, and now he is producing stunning studio ware to an international standard. Leading UK designer, Shalini Misra, wife of Soft Bank’s Rajeev Misra, is the design lead in this project.
He has progressed from using as modes of transport a push bike, then a scooter, then a motorbike, and now a Maruti 800 car. His earnings have increased four- fold and from working on his own he now employs his wife, son and nephew. He’s also gone from being ‘just a potter’, second lowest rung on the craft ladder, to respected craftsman maker.
Preeti added, “I would love for the people we employ here in India to keep enriching their lives through the work we give them and that we as a company keep improving our quality and use local crafts and produce exquisite designs for the rest of the world. I love to see so many of our products going to customers all over the globe. It gives me so much joy to see a happy and satisfied customer at the end of a project.”
Preeti said that her current challenge is “to keep her head up and make sure my daughters succeed in their chosen paths in education and professions, which happen to be design. I want to help them achieve whatever it is they want to achieve in their lives and careers.
