Idiom charts independent path for design unit

BANGALORE: Bangalore-based Idiom Design and Consulting, which has designed the visual identity and branding for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, is hiving off its recently formed product design unit into a separate company.

The product design company will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Idiom. The Rs 20-crore Idiom Design is promoted by Kishore Biyani, in his individual capacity, along with other promoters.

Idiom Design and Consulting was formed in 2005 as a result of merger of two design firms, Tessaract and Esign. The merger was the brainchild of Kishore Biyani. The company has been doing design work for various retail formats of the Future Group.

“The product design company will be launched in three-four months. We will design the products and the intellectual property of the product will be owned by us but manufacturing will be outsourced,” said Girish Raj, Founder Director of Idiom. To start with, the proposed product design company will design products such as general home merchandise, electronics, home appliances and furniture.

The product design company will see an initial investment of Rs 5-8 crore, which will be funded by internal accruals. The company will scale up the head count from current 20 to 100 by the year end. Meanwhile, parent company, Idiom, is also aggressively targeting increased business from other sectors such as hospitality, health care, financial services, government infrastructure projects and aviation.

At present, retail accounts for 60% of company’s revenue. The company will add 100 people this year to its current headcount of 250. Customers of Idiom Design include Godrej, Levis Signature, SF Jeans, Proline, Siyaram’s, Titan, Infosys, Cisco, Parryware, Tata Indicom, Royal Orchid Hotels, and The Manipal Group. Another subsidiary of Idiom is Third Eye, which is into implementation of design process.