Bengaluru: Student designs schoolbag that can turn into a desk

BENGALURU: Any mention of schools lacking infrastructure brings forth images of children sitting on the floor, hunched over books placed on their laps or floor. These scenes prompted Himanshu Muneshwar Deore, a product design student who graduated from the city's NICC International College of Design, Hennur, to create an ergonomic schoolbag that can double as a desk.
The 24-year-old, who is now working on design projects with an NGO, came up with the design in 2019 as part of his final-year project.
To work for the project, Himanshu turned down an internship and job opportunity at a corporate firm. Instead, he travelled to Naina in Uttar Pradesh and collaborated with local artisans crafting baskets using locally grown moonj grass for over four decades now.
Himanshu, who is from Nagpur, said: "I stumbled upon the craft during an exhibition in the city and was fascinated by their work. I had always wanted to work on something to help children who are struggling with posture issues because of lack of desks in schools. Back in my hometown, I had seen how kids hunch over their books for hours, it looked painful." In 2019, he worked with the artisans from January to March, learnt their techniques and developed the design for the bag.
The bag, which can carry a load of three kg, is designed keeping in mind various technical details and health of the shoulder and back of children. With two straps, the bag will also use cloth, bamboo and two metal stands that will support the side of the bags and turn into the legs of the desk when needed. It will also be complete with colourful design to gain attention of kids, Himanshu said."The product is designed to solve the problem of posture and provide kids with a desk to write on. It is also providing livelihood to the artisans whose art is fast depleting," he said.
He said he had studied anthropometry and ergonomics while working on this project. "I studied a class 5 student, calculated the size and measured at what distance, angle and height she usually writes. These measurements were used in development of the prototype," he added.
Himanshu has helped a few students with the bag and got positive responses. "I'm working to improve the design and want to reach as many kids as possible," he said.