The KADALUM collection by TAROCOLLECTIVE is one of six projects that emerged from the mentorship of the Godrej Design Lab Fellowship in 2025. The fellows exhibited their projects and processes at the Concious Collective in December 2025.
Composed currently of seven products – Lounge Chair, Footrest, Chair, Dining Table, Low Footrest, Low Armchair, Low Table – elements in KADALUM arise from custom moulds and extrusions developed for furniture applications. The manufacturing process is a philosophical extension of the studio’s industrial design ethos.
A custom high-stability aluminium extrusion was engineered to echo the refined profile and elegance of the Kadam collection while simultaneously outlining structural lightness and outdoor durability. Achieving the requisite precision led to the integration of machining to ensure a crafted advantage for foldability, mobility and versatility for sustained outdoor usage.
The origins of KADALUM lie in the Tarocollective’s preceding Kadam collection, which drew its rootings from the historic Tripolina chair, long associated with Italian craftsmanship. Kadam was developed to address the practical needs of their interior projects, particularly requirements for foldable, agile, and modular furniture suited to a nomadic understanding of domestic space. This ethos of being stands at the centre of the studio’s practice. Its founders describe themselves as inherently nomadic, referencing that home is not a constant for all three, an idea that continuously informs their approach to both interiors and product design.
The earlier wooden construction limited full outdoor use, prompting an evolution towards a more durable, weather-resistant alternative.
This need became the conceptual and technical foundation for KADALUM, a collection envisioned as fully in aluminium so that it could be placed in external contexts; for example, patios, seaside resorts and private terraces, representing the studio’s most ambitious attempt to merge Italian design sensibilities with Indian climatic realities. Conceived during their Fellowship programme, the collection embodies the studio’s commitment to research, technical experimentation, and collaborative exchange. These conversations affirmed their belief in design as an iterative and component-driven practice.
Initiating with standard window-frame aluminium cross-sections, they attempted to translate the formative geometry of Kadam into aluminium. This process revealed that a one-to-one material swap was untenable; the shift from solid wood to hollow aluminium required a rethinking of hardware, structure, and mechanisms.
The collaboration with Godrej Design Lab was pivotal, allowing development of a custom extruded profile, one unique section of aluminium, that would serve as the basis for the new collection. This single-section strategy produced a coherent structural language and a shared joinery system, enabling a family of products to emerge from one extrusion.
The manufacturing is deployed over a sequence designed to maximise precision and longevity. After extrusion, aluminium bars undergo pipe-laser cutting to achieve millimetric accuracy. All auxiliary components are laser cut from stainless steel sheets. The design extended to detailing the minutiae – as miniscule as screws, ensuring assembly and disassembly remain efficient and intuitive.
Made from 6063-T6, a structural aluminium alloy of the same family of materials used across aerospace interiors, architectural systems and transport engineering, the framework foregrounds structural lightness, corrosion resistance, and suitability for outdoor contexts. Each pipe receives a seven-stage powder-coating treatment, ensuring durability and a chromatic range. Following coating, components are assembled using in-house hardware and paired with imported outdoor fabrics stitched for weather resistance.
The result is a collection that maintains its signature foldability while added resilience and performance refined over time.
KADALUM is a study in endurance in form. Each product comes together as a precise assemblage rather than a monolithic object. Its strength lies in this amplified harmony of material, geometry, and mechanism, developed to withstand change, adaptation, and iterative engagement, indicating that endurance is about sustaining purpose, aesthetic resilience, and utility across time ♦
Tarocollective is a thoughtful and thorough brand founded over a chance discussion on what it means to live in a pleasurable way. Based in Bengaluru and Milan, the brand is less about products and more about balancing their interactions with the environment.
There exists in their collections an intentional harmony between Italian design aesthetics and Indian context. Having worked in the design field for over fourteen years, Shikha Rentala, Marco Grimandi, and Federico Fraternale’s expertise collide to create contextually relevant products. Engineering and technical accuracy are part of their foundational thought, as are historical references and research: ‘our future comes from the past.’ They design with a mindset that incorporates longevity, timelessness, and movement.
Shikha Rentala brings a global perspective shaped by her work across multiple cities and design cultures. She weaves storytelling with spatial and textile sensibilities. Her work ensures that every project feels emotionally grounded, brand forward and visually resonant.
Marco Grimandi works through detail and brings precision to the smallest decisions. Defining how a piece feels and functions. His approach blends engineering discipline with an instinctive understanding of materials. He refines each element until the design carries a sense of quiet completeness.
Federico Fraternale guides the studio with a quiet sense of balance. His work draws from European design rigour and a deep understanding of the Indian design landscape, informed by nine years in India. He brings clarity to ideas, gives structure to concepts, and leads the team toward a shared creative purpose.
Website: www.tarocollective.com
Email: info@tarocollective.com
Instagram: @taro_collective
A structured, one-year, non-residential initiative, the Godrej Design Lab Fellowship Program supports emerging design talent through grants and mentorship. It provides a platform for creative practitioners to develop projects that demonstrate technical proficiency, innovation, and societal impact, contributing to the evolving discourse on design in India. The program encourages experimentation across different design fields and supports practitioners working with interdisciplinary thinking, sustainable approaches, and new methods.
Website: designlab.godrejenterprises.com/fellowship
Matter curated and designed the Godrej Design Lab Fellowship exhibition at Conscious Collective 2025.
Film by Matter. Shot and edited by Gasper D’souza, White Brick Post Studio.
Images: © and courtesy Tarocollective, & Rishul Bangar
Drawings: © and courtesy Tarocollective
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