Doshi Levien takes to the high street
Home & Design Editor Charlotte Luxford meets Jonathan Levien – one half of acclaimed design duo Dosh Levien – to discuss the London studio’s new ground-breaking furniture collection for John Lewis.
Press
Home & Design Editor Charlotte Luxford meets Jonathan Levien – one half of acclaimed design duo Dosh Levien – to discuss the London studio’s new ground-breaking furniture collection for John Lewis.
“For me, the beauty of an object is in the way we use something….there is a lot of beauty in the actions around design.” Nipa Doshi.
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 Home came to us….
Four of the biggest names in Indian design give an insight into the places, products, people and food that made the week memorable for them.
Portraits by Ashish Sahi
“I think as a designer you’re always working within the context, including where you live,” says Nipa. “Design for me is very much about caring about our everyday environment and how I do things, whether it’s how I lay the table, how I make the bed, or even enjoying the simple gesture of cooking. Design seems to permeate everything we do.”
Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien share how their pursuit of beauty guided them to provide the art direction for Bolon’s bespoke Bolon By You collection.
Half of Indian-British studio Doshi Levien, the Mumbai-born designer is this autumn creating new furniture, textiles and lamps for B&B Italia and Galerie Kreo
”Nipa est formelle : ” Les gens ne parlent pas assez de ce que la beautée représente pour eux.” Pour le couple de designers, le sentiment de la beautée règne en grand jusque dans l’infiniment petit. ”Plus vous voyez ces objets, plus vous les comprenez, et plus le temps passe, plus ils sont beaux.” C’est comme avec Doshi Levien. Plus on les voit, plus on les apprécie.”
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
“Materiality is at the core of everything that Doshi and Levien embrace and that extends to their home: a well-lived space with a host of objects, each telling a unique story.”
Doshi Levien wins Designer of the year on the 13th edition of the EDIDA Awards
“I premi sono un faro nel lavoro quotidiano: la visibilità aiuta a entrare in contatto con nuove realtà produttive e ci permette di proseguire nel nostro cammino.”
‘Rabari 1’ rug designed for Nanimarquina wins the Floor covering EDIDA Award
“Il nostro lavoro è una sintesi di industrial design e altro artigianato. Due mondi diversi che parlano una lingua unica senza scadere nei cliché.”
Styling by Sissi Valassina
Photos by Filippo Bamberghi
Doshi and Levien’s work combines influences from their respective Indian and European backgrounds. “Our approach is not a purely European design approach,” Doshi explains.
Jack Meijers delves into the process behind the creation of the Almora armchair designed by Doshi Levien for B&B Italia.
“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.”
Nipa Doshi. “It’s natural for aspects of the material environment that I have grown up with to seep into my work. But also, I love Indian culture – not just for the visual side, but the values and attitude towards the material environment.”
At the crossroads between technology, crafts, history and industrial design, Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien ignore the idea of boundaries. Combining their roots, their work celebrates the cultural hybrid…
My Beautiful Backside sofa designed for Moroso wins an award! See more about this project
The best of both worlds – Die Errungenschaften der asiatischen und europaischen kultur versucht das londoner paar Nipa doshi und Jonathan Levien in seinen objekten zu vereinen. Das Macht sie zu vielversprechenden newcomern der designszene und findet auch die wertschätzung von A&W designer des jahres 2008 Tom Dixon.
“What attracted Moroso, as well as hard-nosed design critics and hard to please buyers in Milan, was Doshi Levien’s cultural cross-polination with a contemporary edge.” Words by Caroline Roux, portrait by Kate and Camilla inc.
This feature in Wallpaper happened a while ago but it’s a favorite. We spent an afternoon in the half built New York Times Building by Renzo Piano being photographed by Leigh Johnson as we did various balancing stunts.
Strange and wonderful objects – a transparent medical bag, a mutant stethoscope – abound in the east London studio of Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien. They’re all part of an idiosyncratic approach to design which marries rigorous utilitarianism with exuberant style of Doshi’s native India.
“I am inspired when an East London Bangladeshi girl dresses in her traditional salwar kameez and wears trainers, speaking a mix of Bengali and cockney. That to me is rich and that pushes me on..”