Yanko Design’s new podcast, “Design Mindset,” is quickly making waves across the creative world. Now in its sixth episode, the show is carving out a space for conversations that go beyond the surface, tapping into the ethos, mindset, and lived experiences of the world’s leading designers. Each episode, which premieres every Friday, explores how design thinking shapes products, brands, and even the future of culture itself, offering both inspiration and insight to listeners ranging from students to seasoned professionals.
Episode 6 brings a compelling guest to the mic: Pratap Bose, Chief Design Officer at Mahindra Group and a trailblazer in Indian automotive design. Bose’s resume is formidable; he’s led design at Tata Motors, shaped Mahindra’s global aesthetic, and developed a design philosophy that melds Indian identity with global relevance. In a candid and illuminating conversation with host Radhika Seth, Bose explores how authenticity, cultural intelligence, and collaboration are transforming what it means to design for the world from India.
Designing Without Apology: Embracing a Bold Indian Identity
Pratap Bose speaks directly when he describes the crossroads faced by Indian automotive designers. “You can create Indian cars that sort of are almost an apology for being Indian or you can create cars that were proudly Indian, confidently Indian, as good or better as anything else you find in the world.” This represents more than a matter of style; it’s a mindset shift that challenges decades of design tradition. For much of its history, Indian automotive design was informed by a sense of catching up, of blending in with global trends rather than setting them. But Bose’s approach is to flip that narrative, creating vehicles that are unmistakably Indian in spirit yet world-class in quality.
What sets his philosophy apart is an insistence on substance over superficiality. Bose warns against the temptation to rely on obvious or stereotypical motifs to signal “Indianness.” He points out, “It’s not about painting something yellow, even though everyone says India is such a colorful country. In vehicles, it’s white and silver. That’s it.” The challenge lies in understanding why certain cultural elements resonate and how they can be woven seamlessly into a product’s DNA, rather than tacked on as afterthoughts. The result? Cars that exude confidence and authenticity, resonating just as deeply with global customers as with Indian ones.
The Designer’s Dilemma: Navigating Cultural Identity at Home and Abroad
Bose’s insights stem from personal experience rather than theory alone. He recounts a pivotal moment during his stint at the Mercedes-Benz advanced design center in Japan. As a designer steeped in Indian culture, working for a German brand in Asia, Bose found himself grappling with the question: Was his work “German enough?” The pressure to conform to a brand’s national identity can be immense, especially in globally recognized companies where heritage is both a strength and a creative constraint.
This anxiety, Bose explains, is a microcosm of a broader challenge faced by designers everywhere: how to honor the DNA of a brand or culture while avoiding cliché or appropriation. The temptation to “rely on stereotypes” is real, particularly when time is short and expectations are high. But Bose’s career is a testament to the power of pushing past these easy answers. By confronting these dilemmas head-on, he’s learned that the most meaningful design happens when you move beyond surface-level decisions and dig into the deeper narrative and values that define a brand or culture.
Heritage Over Hype: How Brand Provenance Shapes Authentic Design
One of the most nuanced sections of the conversation addresses the difference between brand ownership and provenance. “Jaguar Land Rover is Indian-owned, it remains a British company, and Volvo, owned by Geely, is still Scandinavian,” Bose explains. For him, Mahindra’s identity is bound up in its Indian heritage, but authenticity comes from embodying the company’s role in India’s growth and nation-building, letting those values naturally infuse every design decision.
This perspective is especially relevant in an era when multinational ownership blurs the lines of national identity. Bose is adamant that authenticity has more to do with a brand’s intrinsic values than with overt symbols or marketing campaigns. “It is more important for products to reflect the brand’s intrinsic values rather than superficially representing its country of origin,” he notes. For Mahindra, this often means letting Indian identity emerge organically, rather than forcing it; an approach that, ironically, makes the connection to home all the stronger.
Breaking the Mold: How Local Context Drives Global Innovation
India’s automotive market is famous for its unique challenges, most notably the sub-four-meter tax rule that incentivizes compact vehicles. Many see such regulations as obstacles, but for Bose, they are opportunities for innovation. “India’s unique market conditions, such as the sub-four-meter tax rule, have spurred innovation, leading to the creation of vehicle types (like sub-four-meter sedans) that are unheard of elsewhere and pose significant design challenges.” These constraints have forced designers to rethink proportions, engineering, and even the very definition of what a car can be.
This drive to solve for local realities often results in products that are better suited to India and surprisingly relevant to global markets as well. The process of working within and around these constraints becomes a crucible for creativity, pushing Indian designers to develop solutions that are both original and exportable. For Bose, this is the real magic of designing in India: “What works for India usually works in global markets, but it’s not the other way around.”
Beyond Stereotypes: Building Authenticity Through Collaboration
Bose is a vocal advocate for collaboration as a path to authenticity. He describes his partnership with South African designer Thula Sindi as a model for how cross-cultural projects should be run: by working side by side to truly understand and express the local context, rather than applying familiar patterns or motifs. “Collaborating with local designers creates authentic products, which is much more meaningful than superficially applying cultural stereotypes, such as zebra prints or misusing traditional designs like the Kolhapuri chappal,” he says. The key, he believes, is to capture the “essence” of a culture, which is often felt rather than seen.
This approach extends beyond aesthetics. Bose points out that a German car’s “solid engineering feel” or the “sense of British luxury” in a UK-made vehicle are less about explicit references and more about the deep-seated values and craft that define those cultures. By focusing on these intangibles, designers can create products that feel authentic to both local and global audiences, celebrating cultural richness while sidestepping the pitfalls of appropriation.
The New Measure of Success: Designing With Cultural Intelligence
In the automotive world, every detail is loaded with cultural meaning, from the curve of a panel to the color of the paint. Bose insists that the only way to navigate this complexity is with cultural intelligence: a deep, ongoing engagement with the communities and histories that shape the market. “How authentic are you being, versus how superficial is something in its appearance. Authenticity is what culture truly is. And if you respect that culture and want to be authentic, then I think that’s top of mind,” he says. For Bose, the question centers on what something means and how it fits into people’s lives, rather than just what it looks like.
He encourages designers, whether in automotive or any creative field, to “research the roots, understand the meaning, engage with the communities, immerse yourself there and always ask whether your work contributes to the cultural appreciation or is just an extraction.” This mindset represents good ethics and good business, driving lasting connections and global success for brands that dare to go deeper.
Tune in to Design Mindset every Friday for more conversations that challenge, provoke, and inspire, showcasing the world’s top designers as they redefine what it means to create with purpose, passion, and a deep respect for culture.
The post Cultural Neutrality is Dead: Why Pratap Bose Says Cultural Intelligence is the Future of Design first appeared on Yanko Design.