Yog Headset
A speculative souvenir from the future
The Global Futures Lab is a series of international workshops that aims to counteract the bias and stereotypes of so-called “Western futures” and foster different futures linked to specific geo-cultural locations.
Global Futures Lab touched so far 5 locations involving more than 60 students from 6 different art, design and architecture Universities. One of those locations was the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.
Team: Vyoma Haldipur, Aniket Kunte, Shilpa Sivaraman, Subhrajit Ghosal


Envisioning the future
The process started with teams writing stories of a possible future specific to the context of our country.
Me along with my team chose the theme of over population and fear of loosing our job as the basis of the future.

In Search of Peace
Mahesh emptied his cup of coffee and packed his bag since the day’s work was done. But as soon as he looked at his watch, he realised that this day was no new and it had already been too late.
On the way back home, he gives a call to his mother, discussing about his work and how it had started getting hectic.
“Son, I hope you pray regularly, it will calm you down.” (suggests his mother).
“Yes, mom I have figured a way out.” Reaching home, Mahesh quickly puts on his ‘Yog Headset’ and soothing chants begin to play and he soon drifts into a world of spirituality. The ‘Yog Headset’ calms him down and he leaves behind his worries of the day. This calming pause is the only thing that Mahesh looks forward to now, as it keeps him prepared for the next day.
Visualizing the future
The next process was to visualize the story to allow readers to understand and feel it better.
This process would also allow us to think up possible souvenirs that would exist in such a scenario.


Ideating the souvenirs
Possible products that we could use and interact with in such a scenario were explored and ideated.
A meditative headset which would allow a person to be taken into a world of calm was chosen.
Exploring local crafts
The souvenir would have to be a reflection of local traditions and crafts.
We explored several crafts and chose the cane craft for our headset.

Prototyping the souvenir
We prototyped the VR headset using cane craft and local leather work.







Testing
The headset was tested for ease and comfort of wearability.

Yog VR Headset


Exhibited at