DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
: I am mad about tea. And also very specific. I often miss the perfect cup of my tea when I'm out of my place. This bought me the initial thought of making a fully customisable tea maker.
DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
: As all my works, for Ocha also I give the primary concern to functionality and User. I made the entire design around how a User, his moods and his environment.
DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
: It took around a year for Ocha 2.0 to take its shape.
DI: What made you design this particular type of work?
: As I already mentioned, I always work on needs and user. I found many users including myself, who had a common need. And hence the origin of Ocha
DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
: My friend Vimal C, an industrial designer had helped me in this project. We have done few projects together.
DI: Who is the target customer for his design?
: Any one and everyone who want their specific cup of tea is my user. Ocha 2.0 is designed for a nuclear family consisting of 4 to 5 members. For those people who feels the current busy life styles make them lose a lot of things small and big. Who wishes if someone makes their perfect cup of morning tea n bring it to bed. For people who wants their perfect tea when they are tired from hectic office work.
So anyone and everyone is here in the list of user.
DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
: The transparency of this design is its main highlight and make it stand out and close to the user. Unlike normal vending machine, Ocha makes tea in front of your eyes in the very traditional way someone can make a tea. And it is also packed up with updated technologies like Internet of things. Ocha is a perfect example of how technology can bring back the style and tradition that we miss
DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
: Ocha means tea in Japanese. The tea is in culture and tradition of people of Japan and they are very serious and specific about tea. What other name could be perfect for such a product?
DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
: I used Autodesk Inventor 2015, Keyshot 5.0, Photoshop CC
DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
: Brewing tea is a play between tea dust, infusion rate, quantity of milk, not the least the amount of sugar as well to give indeed a cup of perfect tea that tingles your senses. Presenting Ocha 2.0, the next generation tea brewing experience. Ocha 2.0 is a cocktail of all conventional brewing experiences. The rule in design is “form follows function”, likewise in the case of Ocha 2.0 it has redefined the rule as “art follows technology”. Loaded with options such as customising, scheduling tea with Internet of Things as the base.
DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
: Ocha was a result of intensive User Centric HCD Process.
DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
: One of the most challenging part of the design was to design the stirring mechanism which would replicate the efficiency of using a spoon to stir. Ocha uses a unique methodology for stirring the ingredients within. Achieving the stirring action without the use of any external parts led to the most innovative feature of Ocha 2.0. It has a rotating platform that holds the glass jar in place with the help of an electromagnetic groove which is eccentric to its rotating axis. The circular metal ring at the bottom of the glass jar falls in line with the electromagnetic groove so that the jar could be held firm. This positioning on the whole helps the jar in moving along an eccentric path which in turn ensures thorough stirring of the ingredients within the jar.
DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
: A' Design Award is one of the best platform for evaluating ourself and the exposure a designer get from such an international award is priceless. This made me participate in this award.