Born in Madras in 1950, M.P. Ranjan grew up surrounded by toys and furniture made at Modern Agencies, his father’s factory. Design remained the singular passion for this design guru, who passed away last week. ‘Probably the most prominent design educator from India, he himself always remained a keen student with childlike curiosity. A true polymath, he straddled many spheres; from grassroots handicrafts to high-tech processing, from policy issues to design pedagogy of the future, and much more.’ — this was senior designer Sargarmoy Paul’s tribute to Ranjan.

Ranjan joined the National Institute of Design (NID) in 1969. He studied furniture design and started teaching soon after completing the programme. From 1974 to 1975, he was totally involved in designing toys at his father’s factory in Madras and he successfully launched the Mini-Wheeler series at their shop, Rocky Toys. Ranjan’s adventures with toy making tuned his sensitivity towards craft, as seen in his trips to Channapatna, and this was a catalysing force in his long tryst bridging handicraft and design..............Read more

Source web page: The Hindu