Postcards from the studio

Our home in the Barbican featured in Elle Decoration China’s November issue out now (6)

A Room of My Own Sketches

(15.6.25)

Nipa Doshi’s first drawings for A Room of My Own, a multifaceted cabinet that serves as both a shrine and dressing table. Inspired by the tradition of the kavad, a portable Indian shrine, the cabinet creates a space for personal ritual while also paying homage to the multigenerational women who have influenced Doshi.

Investiture Ceremony

(14.6.25)

Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien’s Investiture Ceremony at Buckingham Palace with His Majesty The King. They were both awarded MBEs for services to design.
Our home in the Barbican featured in Elle Decoration China’s November issue out now (4)

Cala Wire Model

(13.6.25)

A first exploration of the Cala armchair for Kettal, shaped entirely in thin metal wire. By bending and guiding the wire by hand, the natural tension of the material revealed the curves that would later define Cala’s tubular frame. The design began with the idea of a high-backed armchair with a majestic, spatial presence – a contemporary response to the iconic Emmanuelle armchair.
Our home in the Barbican featured in Elle Decoration China’s November issue out now (2)

The Human Clay

(12.6.25)

Jonathan Levien revisiting The Human Clay: An Exhibition Selected by RB Kitaj, 1976. The exhibition was pivotal in championing the School of London, which featured leading artists such as Bacon, Freud, Auerbach, Kossoff and Hockney, and underscored the central importance of the human figure and drawing in mid-20th-century British figuration.

Object as Space

Ritual, Gesture, Architecture

In Conversation
“Each of these objects carries a story through its design, materials and use. Chandlo reflects the daily ritual of dressing and grooming, elevated into something architectural. Armada explores seclusion within openness, creating a place to pause within a larger space. Almora balances retreat and engagement, showing how we inhabit thresholds between private and social.”
—Jonathan Levien
Chandlo 3 2 1
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In Doshi Levien’s Das Haus installation, the boundaries of the home were defined by objects and activities, rather than walls. The name Chandlo refers to the bindi, the coloured dot traditionally worn by Indian women on the forehead which offers a simple yet powerful symbol of identity and ritual. In a similar way to how Lilly Reich staged acts of living through her environments, Chandlo frames the daily act of dressing by giving this essential ritual a dedicated stage.