Category Archives: Interviews

Architecture, Design Thinking, Dialogues, Interior Design, Interviews, Praxis

Design & Décor

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With Canna Patel (HCP Interior Design Pvt Ltd),
Sandeep Khosla (Khosla Associates), and
Ambrish Arora (Studio Lotus)

This three-point discussion sought perspectives and viewpoints on the perceivable aspects of interior design and the emerging tangential domains of the discipline – interior decoration / visual décor and styling.

01.
INTERIOR DESIGN PRACTICE IN THE CONTEXT OF INDIA

Canna Patel:
An interior design practice when placed in the Indian context gets tied to not just our culture and aesthetics but more importantly, to how it is practised. In India, interior design has not been separated from architecture as a result of poor or no legislative or licensing control. It has, therefore, become a profession that architects adopt to create liquidity more often than not – an intermediary ball to keep rolling between architecture projects.

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Architecture, Contemporary Practice, Interviews, Praxis, Studio

Material Immaterial Studio

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Founded by Nitin Barchha and Disney Davis with their shared passion for design, the Mumbai-based practice ‘Material Immaterial Studio’ indulges in the sheer joy of crafting and the process of experimenting with the character of materials. The studio forges unconventional handmade curiosities which appeal to the architectural intellect as reductions of spatial scale by “exploring the bare beauty of materials”.

Every once in a while, one entertains an idea of a peculiar venture; the grounds of which tend to be less pragmatic and more whimsical. While these ideas end before they take off, Nitin and Disney fostered their fascination with materials into a unique endeavour which celebrates craftsmanship. Continue reading Material Immaterial Studio →

Contemporary Practice, Interviews, Praxis, Studio

STUDIO: Pratyush Shankar

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Studio culture – as with all manifestations of the human intellect – is the embodiment of a pattern of work that nurtures the craft of building. Architecture workspaces are especially readable in this context as architects are, in this case, designing for themselves. With every workplace as distinct and specific as the work it produces, the people who design and work in these environments reveal their ideas about space-making.

In this edition of the STUDIO series, we enquire about the processes, approaches, work ethics, and the trajectory of a Baroda-based multi-disciplinary practice led by academician and architect Pratyush Shankar.

Q: Tell us a little about the initial years of your practice. Continue reading STUDIO: Pratyush Shankar →

Contemporary Practice, Design Thinking, Dialogues, Furniture Design, Interviews, Praxis

Design of the Idea with Ajay Shah Design Studio [ASDS]

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Industrial Playground (now a part of Rubberband) – a furniture design initiative by Ajay Shah Design Studio [ASDS] – juxtaposes playful formal and visual qualities of the objects they make with process-driven industrial manufacturing for characteristic precision and uniformity. Their contemporary aesthetic is derived from the intrinsic quality of materials they work with and the nature of this specific process.

Design, in a context like that of India, can mean many things. From improvisations on existing situations to ideas that are points of the genesis of the new and unexplored avenues; the context of a developing nation enables one to deal with a range of unprecedented challenges. In 1990, Ajay Shah, then a young NID graduate, founded the Circus Design Company after a few stints of working as a designer and a furniture producer. This new company was imagined to be a multi-disciplinary design firm that dealt with design as the process of thought rather than a professional service. The conceptual framework of the present-day Ajay Shah Design Studio can be traced back to this office. Continue reading Design of the Idea with Ajay Shah Design Studio [ASDS] →

Architecture, Design Thinking, Dialogues, Drawing to Find Out, Interviews, Visual Culture

DRAWING TO FIND OUT [06]: PERCY ADIL PITHAWALA

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Percy Adil Pithwala’s practice moves through intersections in art and architecture. While analysing his work at the Red Studio in Vadodara, we discuss and discover his way of looking at drawing – the abstract and the architectural. 

Images and Drawings: Courtesy Percy Adil Pithawala
Author: Vedanti Agarwal
Curation & Film: Matter

Percy Pithawala has developed a unique approach to architectural practice over the years. Situated between pedagogy, art and architecture, his practice forages for intersections, unions and relationships between the three fields with ideas moving fluidly between the three. Percy Pithawala transitioned from working on conventional architecture projects to testing new grounds in competitions, abstract explorations and experimental pedagogy. While growing into both an artist and an architect, Percy closely engaged with ‘drawing as art’ from his schooling years at Pratt University, New York. His process engages with various modes, methods and mediums of drawing, some meant to bring about resolution in thought, while others: a vivid intuitive activity; each one producing expressive outcomes. Continue reading DRAWING TO FIND OUT [06]: PERCY ADIL PITHAWALA →