Timeline
- 2004
- Seeds of an idea
- 2005
- Setting sail
- 2006
- Our first global collaboration
- 2007
- Studio number two in Bangalore
- Quicksand incubates an independent project
- 2008
- Studio re-think v1.0
- 2009
- Rediscovery of our practice
- Bangalore studio finds a new home
- 2010
- Quicksand indie takes root
- Kickstarting the studio offsite tradition
- Potty Diaries
- 2011
- Our very own festival, UnBox
- Building partnerships across the world
- 2012
- Moving to the heart of urban sanitation action
- Designing for the BoP
- 2013
- A makeover for UnBox
- Our first international studio offsite
- Studio re-think v2.0
- 2014
- A new avatar for the UnBox Fellowships
- Design thinking informs business strategy at the highest level
- 2015
- Commitment for the next decade
- 2016
- Innovation in the humanitarian sector
- Pushing physical boundaries
- 2017
- Expanding operations to Goa
- Design thinking for financial inclusion in Southeast Asia
- Investigating global and local trends
- 2018
- A year of public engagement through art & expression
- 2019
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Seeds of an idea
The first proof of concept of Quicksand's proposition as a design research firm - a research documentary shot on mobile playground communities
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Setting sail
Quicksand gets incorporated and puts out its call to arms - a brochure capturing the design services on offer.
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Our first global collaboration
First project with Ideo starts a series of global collaborations on design research projects. Quicksand would team up with Ideo (London, Palo Alto), Idea Couture (Toronto), Studio Red (New York), Google (Mountain View) in the coming years
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Studio number two in Bangalore
Quicksand Bangalore starts and with it our first foray into design for social impact. We partner One World South Asia & QUEST to understand teacher-learner experiences in government schools in rural West Bengal
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Quicksand incubates an independent project
Starting the culture of incubation with Basic Love of Things (B.L.O.T), an audio-video ensemble that kicks off in the studio basement
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Studio re-think v1.0
After 3 years of practice, we make some difficult decisions. We close down our films practice, shut the Delhi studio and co-locate with a communication design firm in Gurgaon
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Rediscovery of our practice
The Safe Water Project from PATH brings in a new phase of work and provides a great opportunity to the studio to re-assert its vision for design research.
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Bangalore studio finds a new home
Quicksand Bangalore co-locates with our friends at QUEST in a beautiful green space in Koramangala, while continuing our work with them in youth education and skills training.
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Quicksand indie takes root
Independent projects take root in Quicksand with Greenhouse, Blindboys, Grey Garden and Fattabox - exploring the multi-faceted creative dimensions of the studio.
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Kickstarting the studio offsite tradition
We kickstart the tradition of the studio offsite - a group holiday filled with enthusiastic drinking, ambling and soul searching
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Potty Diaries
Quicksand consolidates its design for social impact practice by launching an ambitious project on urban sanitation in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - Potty Project
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Our very own festival, UnBox
We pull off the first edition of UnBox - a platform for dialogue on interdisciplinary design and action - in partnership with Codesign, British Council and Goethe-Institut
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Building partnerships across the world
Quicksand becomes a member of REACH - a global design research community. Start of a series of projects in collaboration with partners in Netherlands, UK, Spain, Indonesia, China and Singapore.
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Moving to the heart of urban sanitation action
Our Bhubaneshwar office opens as a mission control base for Project Sammaan - a culmination and way forward for the Potty Project to build toilet blocks in partnership with the city governments of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack
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Designing for the BoP
Quicksand partners Unilever to steer a global innovation project across India, China, Indonesia, South Africa and Nigeria on disrupting the business model and products for the BoP
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A makeover for UnBox
The third edition of UnBox marks a transition from a project incubated within British Council premises to a more sustainable, self-supported hands-on festival.
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Our first international studio offsite
Time to regroup on our first international off site - reef hopping in Indonesia in true island style while dreaming up the next steps
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Studio re-think v2.0
Another inflection point in Quicksand's history - we move out of our co-located Gurgaon space into a gorgeous, new independent space in Delhi
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A new avatar for the UnBox Fellowships
UnBox spawns an incubator with the first edition of UnBox Labs - a two week residency to re-imagine the future of cities
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Design thinking informs business strategy at the highest level
Quicksand gets commissioned to advise on customer propositions and a differentiated experience for one of the upcoming consumer banks in India
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Commitment for the next decade
We made a commitment through our communications efforts to inform and co-create with our friends and partners -
Innovation in the humanitarian sector
Through the human-centered design methodology, Quicksand brought innovative new thinking to Africa’s humanitarian crises
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Pushing physical boundaries
The team eschewed sun-kissed beach locations for this year’s offsite, opting instead to head high up in the mountains to take on Kashmir’s Great Lakes Trek
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Expanding operations to Goa
Quicksand opened its third location in a beautiful heritage home in the sleepy village of Bardez, Goa
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Design thinking for financial inclusion in Southeast Asia
Across several engagements in Indonesia and the Philippines, Quicksand championed design for innovation in the region's financial inclusion sector
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Investigating global and local trends
Utilising our empathic approach to qualitative research, Quicksand studied emerging trends to inform the design or new products and experiences for India
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A year of public engagement through art & expression
Working with Invisible Flock, Quicksand/UnBox built the Duet platform connecting 1,200 participants across India and the UK over a year to celebrate connection, with 25,000+ responses and public artwork in 6 cities engaging an estimated 5 million people