Pune: barely a month, Pune had a high level of visitors from Italy: Design guru Leonardo Fioravanti, the man who has designed no less than eight Ferrari cars. The visit was largely unnoticed, but it signals a trend increasingly become a design industry.

Fioravanti was the consolidation of the strategic alliance between his company, Fiorovanti Srl in Italy, with averages Struck Conex Auto Avio Pvt. Ltd, a Pune company is specialized in editing tools and dies for sheetmetal panels and components for the automotive industry.

While plans Fioravanti Indian style cars for car manufacturers in almost one third of costs in Italy, Conex, for its part smart sheetmetal manufacturing prototypes of components and subassemblies.

At one point, Conex, by their alliance with Fioravanti, hopes in developing their capacities in the arena of style and attract business from the inside and outside India, said Avinash Belgamwar manager. And this is only the beginning of history. At least four other companies, for example, design, design and Onio Elephant design, progress in the field of design deaf and dumb, so that a product Pune active Hub talented designers in the country.

What is striking is that many of these companies, led by young graduates at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, and the Industrial Design Center, IIT, Mumbai, identify opportunities for product growth Designer. The history, they are script is not unknown. Global companies have begun to relax and observe, although in a small way now.

In a small apartment, that the functions of an office aundh road NID graduatesturned entrepreneurs Manoj Kothari (Alumnus, IIT, Mumbai) and Prakash Khanzode are occupied with the elaboration of a roof-Top DVD player for cars. Your customers? Based in Hong Kong one of the manufacturers of electronics, for which she had designed an MP3 player, one of the oldest on to the market.

In the past, Onio, led by Khanzode Kothari and gift items and candlestands for the mother of all departments in the business world, the American Wal-Mart, structural and packaging for exports to the flower dries Country Netherlands. They are now working for a German inventor in the world has patented an ergonomic office chair.

Your other project involves a series of perfume bottles, to the exclusion of world exports of the company’s sales Bluom. “All the design work we are doing to foreign customers or to Indian exports oriented company,” said Kothari, while describing the opportunities for global product designers in India.

He believes that it takes at least five years before exploding for the occasion Indian Designer products. Another group of graduates NID, and her husband Satish Falguni Gokhale, head of design, information on transportation, are also actively to foreign customers.

Satish, earlier this month was adjudged “best Indian designer” in a national competition, provided that its design critic of the German company of its Digipass. He gave his fire Digi’s announcement of modular systems a form of inter-changeable parts, not only improved performance, but also bettered the British Standards.

Satish is now available in at least four meetings with potential customers western expressed an interest in the design of arrivals Information on transport. Elephant Design, launched by five, NID fresh graduates in 1989, is one of the more it comes to success stories in the nest. This multidisciplinary approach council opened a branch in London three years ago.

“We have, it is clear that London is the hub of international design, and we wanted to put in place on the base,” said Sudhir Sharma, one of the founding directors. According to Sudhir, a subsidiary of London does not work Only as an office of international marketing for elephants design group, but also allows the company to comply with the recent in the world of industry and product design.

The five, decided to become an entrepreneur and literally started their business from top to bottom, has decided to operate in Pune because it offers not only a strong engineering / manufacturing, but also the near Mumbai. Satish, the meaning of design, believes that the Western world is not yet known, quality designer India, because Indian companies themselves have not exhausted their potential by hand. Accordingly, Indian products have no conception of strong entries.

Ruing the lack of a national association of Indian designers, Satish believes that the time has come for an industry for the marketing skills of Indian designers abroad. According to him, Indian designers are innovative, fast delivery, inexpensive and qualityconscious - qualities that internationally competitive. “We must capitalize on these strengths,” he says.