Today morning, while cooking my Indian Chai on one of Prakti’s amazing Leo stoves, I was just letting my mind wander in the smokeless air when not one, not two, not three, but four ideas struck me:
1. Prakti Design, as the name suggests, is an engineering design lab, and engineers just love Research and Development.
2. Prakti Design is an engineering lab, but it is not only an engineering lab : it is a team dedicated to design for change – social, environmental and economical change.
3. I’m late for writing an article for Prakti’s blog and newsletter about our recent and exciting research work for the GTZ.
4. Michael Jackson is dead.
Four random facts without any link to each other? Maybe not – wait and see what my keyboard has to say about it. In February-March 2009, Mouhsine and I spent some time in Mauritania developing, modifying, manufacturing and testing two prototypes of wood-saving stoves: the “Vita”, a simple portable metal stove with huge potential, and the “Torchis”, a fixed mud stove very suitable for big families on the countryside. Late 2008, Mouhsine and Gisa had already spent a month working in Benin on similar technologies.
Running to the local blacksmith, potter, carpenter, mason, baker, translator under the West African sun, learning a lot from the incredible know-how of these skillful craftsmen and trying to give a modest input from our own experience on stoves, building and testing prototypes : quite a program! The missions were a success on the technological and human level, and the stove results were very promising – but the hecticness of work during consultancies does not always allow to do as much testing and research as an engineer might need to be happy.
A new project therefore arose– Prakti and the GTZ decided to start a Reseach and Development program in Prakti’s lab in Pondicherry, India, in order to go the extra mile and make the most out of the data and input gained on the field. Over the last two months, we have been calculating, drawing, building, testing, calculating again – and came out with two optimized designs of Vita and Torchis. These designs have been specifically conceived for two specific environments: Mauritania and Benin. Development has to be made locally – but it is sometimes necessary to step back in order to take the time to do things right and capitalize on the experience gained in the field. Creating a first exchange in Mauritania and Benin in Winter and Spring 2008-2009, working scientifically on the new products and data from India in the summer, and going back to West Africa in Autumn this year to implement the new solutions with our local partners: a perfect synergy and an exciting partnership with the GTZ for every season. But back to my four ideas of the beginning – I bet you were starting to wonder if I had forgotten them.
Prakti is a design lab, and we love Research and Development – but our main focus is to design for change. We are therefore very happy to be GTZ Partners on this R&D program based on the experience gained in the field while aiming at making the technology implementation more efficient and rigorous – and, at the same time, to pay a tribute to Michael Jackson by whistling a nostalgic tune in the smokeless air:
“Heal the world, make it a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race...”
Julien
