Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien met in 1995 as postgraduate design students at London’s Royal College of Art. It was the beginning of a professional partnership for the couple that has seen them create some of the most interesting work of any international design studio working today.
Both designers have an affinity for making. Nipa has a knowledge of textiles and materials, and a talent for colour and love of visual culture that are an innate part of what she terms her “plural upbringing” in India. Jonathan, having grown up in Scotland where his parents had a toy factory, is more of an industrial designer with an understanding of production, manufacture, materials and form. He is also a maker, having trained as a cabinetmaker.
My Beautiful Backside, a cheekily named sofa designed for Italian furniture brand Moroso, is a good example of how Nipa and Jonathan’s skills coalesce. From the back, the piece is designed to look like three floating cushions on a base, but from the front, a range of differently sized and shaped cushions create a layered effect. The piece was initially inspired by a miniature painting of an Indian princess surrounded by cushions, with textiles and detailing designed by Nipa. Its shape and construction are Jonathan’s. “He has a really sculptural approach to design,” says Nipa. “He has an understanding of form. If I have a good idea, he says, ‘Don’t worry, there’s always a way to make a good idea.’”
Le Cabinet sketches, for Manufacture nationale de Sèvres.
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Image courtesy Doshi Levien
The Quilton sofa, designed for Danish brand Hay, explores textiles as a unified block. The quilting creates a softened, comfortable form, while the seat is slightly lifted from the floor. “It’s engineered, it’s tailored, it’s sensual; it’s a landscape to live on,” says Nipa.
Nipa’s flair for shapes and colours comes into its own with Earth to Sky, a sculptural lighting piece. The design is made using a metal-shaping process normally used to restore vintage cars – testament to Jonathan’s research into fabrication. Through this process of research and design, usually taking around two years, a sketch or collage in one of Nipa’s notebooks takes three-dimensional shape.
Le Cabinet is a limited-edition piece with exquisitely crafted porcelain detailing by the master craftspeople at historic French porcelain factory Sèvres. Nipa was inspired by the shapes and silhouettes of modernist architect Le Corbusier’s work in Chandigarh. The piece is so beautifully handcrafted that Sèvres only creates around one per year. “There’s layers of skill that go into making it,” says Nipa. “The French definitely have the savoir faire and the know-how. These makers are civil servants, which is great because they don’t have to earn money from [their craft]. It’s there for the sake of preserving and promoting the skill.”
Doshi Levien’s works are the result of extensive research, the finished objects underpinned by multiple levels of storytelling that create a real emotional connection with their users. And this only adds to the life of the object: “None of our work is fast furniture,” says Nipa. “We hope you will never throw it away.”
Moroso is stocked in Australia by Mobilia. Hay is stocked in Australia by Cult. doshilevien.com
