The Social Object

Apprehending Materiality for Industrial Design Practice

Soumitri Varadarajan

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Hardback

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English

Intellect Books
02 May 2025

Non-graphic art forms; Art techniques & principles

A study of objects and domestic spaces of middle-class India.

Drawing on the methods of design history, material culture studies, and the social construction of technology, this book analyzes the domestic spaces and objects in the homes of the middle class in India, describing how people make meaning of the objects they buy, own, and gift.

Soumitri Varadarajan argues against a simplistic universal account of the way we think about how objects are designed. Instead, he presents a biography of projects and objects, offering a detailed and affectionate account of the lives of objects within the homes of the not-so-rich.

By: Soumitri Varadarajan
Imprint: Intellect Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 148mm, Spine: 16mm
Weight: 470g
ISBN: 9781835950616
ISBN 10: 1835950612
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 02 May 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Introduction Chapter 1: Waste-work Chapter 2: The place Chapter 3: The right way Chapter 4: The object journey Chapter 5: Sites for objects Chapter 6: Designed objects Conclusion Bibliography

Soumitri Varadarajan is an industrial designer, hospital-embedded researcher, and probono community mobilizer. He develops embedded projects focused on transforming the outcomes of people’s lives through the realization of their agency. He is an academic at RMIT University, Australia, and writes on material culture, the environment, and the human body.