If you want to play the violin in the middle of the night without disturbing family and neighbours, the Japanese have a solution. Get a silent violin with headphones. Among the various innovative Japan-designed products that were on display at an exhibition in New Delhi recently, was a mobile traction device to keep painful leg muscles and bones in place while walking, a whistle for football referees to produce a solid cutting sound and a wooden bathtub with temperature control, electric bicycles and eco-friendly stationery.

The exhibition, “Good design is good business”, hosted by the Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in association with Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organisation (JIDPO), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Indian Design Council (IDC), brought to India 95 products ranging from cars, household appliances, furniture, lifestyle items and machinery.

“Design should not be seen as just a cosmetic change but should also add to the overall product quality…Design can make people's daily lives comfortable,” Mr Kazuo Tanaka, President of GK Design Group Inc, Japan, said on the occasion.

Mr Tanaka, an award-winning designer, also renewed the MoU to continue their association with IDC on the occasion.

Earlier, the IDC's I Mark or the India design mark was launched by fashion designer Ritu Kumar, who said that India had thousands of craftspersons in the textile sector alone, so the design mark was a good idea but needed to be carefully formulated.

I mark, the proposed marking symbol that the IDC plans to confer on select products that conform to standards set by it, would help in increasing design and quality-related awareness among entrepreneurs and consumers, according to Mr Pradyumna Vyas of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.

He said there was an urgent need to foster the culture of economically and ecologically good design in the country.

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