Cooper Hewit NYC - Portrait by Kate and Camilla
Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien met as design students at London’s Royal College of Art in 1995. Nipa, who was born in Mumbai and raised in Delhi, recalls being shaped by an appreciation for modernist design ideals and the importance of craft, while Jonathan, who was trained in fine cabinetmaking and industrial design, spent much of his childhood learning how things are made in his family’s factory in Scotland. Though somewhat opposing, this plurality of influences and cultural experiences proved a great force. Today, their celebrated studio Doshi Levien is defined by a hybridised mindset bringing technology, craftsmanship and industrial techniques to the fore across furniture, textiles and product design.
Over the course of their shared lives and careers, the pair have “created a universe” for themselves in London. Their studio of 14 years is a former 19th-century furniture workshop on Columbia Road in the East End, where their small team makes models, sketches and mixes colours across the studio, colour lab and gallery space.
Given Nipa and Jonathan’s diverse upbringings and propensities, it is unsurprising to see cross-cultural perspectives continually emerge in their work. My World, one of their earliest commissions from the British Council served as a manifesto in their formative years. “We wanted to bring different worlds together in our work – not as an aesthetic language but more as a philosophical approach and a way to consider globalisation as a positive process of the exchange of cultures, values, materials and production methods,”
This cross-cultural lens has become an unwavering undertone of the studio’s approach, In the past two decades, guiding their work for Moroso, Cappellini, Hay, Kettal, Nanimarquina, B&B Italia, Arper, for prestigious international museums and cultural institutions (notably Sevres – Cité de la Céramique and The Grand Hornu), and for their Paris-based gallery: Galerie Kreo.
Much like the foundations of Nipa and Jonathan’s partnership, the plurality of the Doshi Levien portfolio is significant. It is rich, not solely because of the pair’s wide-reaching strengths in the field of design, from colour and textiles to form and structure but because there is a generous dose of each of them in every project. It is their contrasting cultural experiences and creative attitudes – evidently magnetic from their very first encounter – which imbue the Doshi Levien universe with endless eloquence and joy.
Words by Millie Thwaites
Milan - Portrait by Jamie Morgan
49 Columbia Road
London
E2 7RG
United Kingdom
+44 (0)20 7739 3631
For all enquiries, please use the following email. If you are enquiring about an internship or employment, please address your email to Jonathan Levien and include examples of your latest work. We look forward to hearing from you. mail@doshilevien.com
Doshi Levien studio - Portrait by Annica Eklund
Portrait by Jonas Lindstroem
Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien have been awarded Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to design.
Doshi Levien are awarded FX product designer of the year
‘Nipa évoque les différences d’univers culturels comme une Frontiére invisible”
We work so much with big brands overseas and I thought it would be great to bring the same level of design to the British high street. This idea of Open Homecame to us…. 
Nipa Doshi “As a child I wasn’t aware that design existed, but I was fascinated by my environment.”
Words by Dominic Lutyens Photography by Filippo Bambergh/ Fotofyer
Styling by Sissi Valassina Photos by Filippo Bamberghi
Jonathan and Nipa present the Almora Chair at the B&B Italia showroom. Interview with Jovier Chen. 
“Doshi Levien is proof that the perceived dangers of global design—ubiquity, the abandonment of local color, craft, and culture—are not an inevitable threat to variety and beauty in the modern world. Design can be at once local and global, employing age-old customs, patterns, and ways of working along with the latest in materials, technology, manufacturing, and marketing.”
My Beautiful Backside sofa designed for Moroso wins an award! See more about this project
Portrait by Leigh Johnson made in the semi built New York Times Building by Renzo Piano.
Portrait by Jonas Lindstroem
Cooper Hewit NYC - Portrait by Kate and Camilla
Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien met as design students at London’s Royal College of Art in 1995. Nipa, who was born in Mumbai and raised in Delhi, recalls being shaped by an appreciation for modernist design ideals and the importance of craft, while Jonathan, who was trained in fine cabinetmaking and industrial design, spent much of his childhood learning how things are made in his family’s factory in Scotland. Though somewhat opposing, this plurality of influences and cultural experiences proved a great force. Today, their celebrated studio Doshi Levien is defined by a hybridised mindset bringing technology, craftsmanship and industrial techniques to the fore across furniture, textiles and product design.
Over the course of their shared lives and careers, the pair have “created a universe” for themselves in London. Their studio of 14 years is a former 19th-century furniture workshop on Columbia Road in the East End, where their small team makes models, sketches and mixes colours across the studio, colour lab and gallery space.
Given Nipa and Jonathan’s diverse upbringings and propensities, it is unsurprising to see cross-cultural perspectives continually emerge in their work. My World, one of their earliest commissions from the British Council served as a manifesto in their formative years. “We wanted to bring different worlds together in our work – not as an aesthetic language but more as a philosophical approach and a way to consider globalisation as a positive process of the exchange of cultures, values, materials and production methods,”
This cross-cultural lens has become an unwavering undertone of the studio’s approach, In the past two decades, guiding their work for Moroso, Cappellini, Hay, Kettal, Nanimarquina, B&B Italia, Arper, for prestigious international museums and cultural institutions (notably Sevres – Cité de la Céramique and The Grand Hornu), and for their Paris-based gallery: Galerie Kreo.
Much like the foundations of Nipa and Jonathan’s partnership, the plurality of the Doshi Levien portfolio is significant. It is rich, not solely because of the pair’s wide-reaching strengths in the field of design, from colour and textiles to form and structure but because there is a generous dose of each of them in every project. It is their contrasting cultural experiences and creative attitudes – evidently magnetic from their very first encounter – which imbue the Doshi Levien universe with endless eloquence and joy.
Words by Millie Thwaites
Milan - Portrait by Jamie Morgan
49 Columbia Road
London
E2 7RG
United Kingdom
+44 (0)20 7739 3631
For all enquiries, please use the following email. If you are enquiring about an internship or employment, please address your email to Jonathan Levien and include examples of your latest work. We look forward to hearing from you. mail@doshilevien.com
Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien have been awarded Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to design.
Doshi Levien are awarded FX product designer of the year
‘Nipa évoque les différences d’univers culturels comme une Frontiére invisible”
We work so much with big brands overseas and I thought it would be great to bring the same level of design to the British high street. This idea of Open Homecame to us….
Nipa Doshi “As a child I wasn’t aware that design existed, but I was fascinated by my environment.”
Words by Dominic Lutyens Photography by Filippo Bambergh/ Fotofyer
Styling by Sissi Valassina Photos by Filippo Bamberghi
Jonathan and Nipa present the Almora Chair at the B&B Italia showroom. Interview with Jovier Chen.
“Doshi Levien is proof that the perceived dangers of global design—ubiquity, the abandonment of local color, craft, and culture—are not an inevitable threat to variety and beauty in the modern world. Design can be at once local and global, employing age-old customs, patterns, and ways of working along with the latest in materials, technology, manufacturing, and marketing.”
My Beautiful Backside sofa designed for Moroso wins an award! See more about this project
Portrait by Leigh Johnson made in the semi built New York Times Building by Renzo Piano.
Doshi Levien studio - Portrait by Annica Eklund
Portrait by Jonas Lindstroem
