Fine carding machines

Design Directions has created a new look for cotton carding machines made by Loyal Engineering Ltd. of Coimbatore. The company's cotton carding machine looked like a typical hand-fabricated outfit, with a profusion of external components. After Design Directions reworked it, the machine were turned out with a smooth white and pink finish with clean and rounded edges resembling the material it was being used for: 'soft, fluffy cotton'. DD also reworked some of the mechanisms in the machine, making it, they claim, the world’s fastest carding machine in that class.

The machine made waves at the International Textile Machinery Exhibition in 1992-93, and got the Good Industrial Designer Award from the Designers’ Guild for Design Directions. It also brought in royalties. "We still get a percentage of the royalties paid by Rieter of Switzerland to Loyal Engineering for this machine," says Design Directions' Satish Gokhale. Loyal also succeeded in raising the number of machines from five to 37 a month, thanks to the redesign.