In conversation

Card and Colour

With GRANT GIBSON, JONATHAN LEVIEN AND NIPA DOSHI

Material Matters

Season thirteen, Episode four

In this episode we talk about Nipa’s relationship with colour and textiles; why card is a vital part of Jonathan’s process; growing up in India and Scotland respectively and how that affected their design thinking; living and designing together; facing prejudice; that initial project with Tefal; and working with Italian furniture giant Moroso. Yet, mostly it’s about how two people with different hinterland have come together to create a single vision.
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Card and Colour - Material Matters, In Conversation with Grant Gibson, Jonathan Levien and Nipa Doshi
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(Fig 1)

CARDBOARD PROTOTYPE HANGS IN THE STUDIO

The form language of the Impossible Wood chair for Moroso is defined through Jonathan Levien’s skilful manipulation of cardboard strips.
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(Fig 2)

BASE PATTERNS DESIGNED FOR TEFAL COOKWARE

Each cookware design for Tefal expressed a strong cultural identity through material, colour and the variant marques on the bases corresponding to different cuisines.
“I use making as part of my design process, as a way of thinking and having ideas. I love the idea that we make something and it turns into an industrially produced object. ”

- Jonathan Levien

Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien founded their eponymous design studio, Doshi Levien, in 2000. The duo, who are also real life partners and met while studying at London’s Royal College of Art in the late ’90s, came to prominence in 2003 with an extraordinary range of cookware, designed for French company, Tefal.

At the time, the pieces seemed different and more than a little exciting, a combination of contemporary European design and thinking from somewhere else entirely. In terms of form, each item was incredibly precise. However, flip the pots and pans over and, on the base, was an unexpectedly beautiful pattern.

Since then, the pair have gone on to work for the likes of Moroso, Hay, Kvadrat, BD Barcelona, Galerie Kreo, Cappellini and many others, creating textiles, furniture, glassware, shoes, lighting, and even ice cream, that deftly combines their contrasting skills, ideas and backgrounds.

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(Fig 3)

KARHAI COOKING POT DESIGNED FOR TEFAL

One of five cookware designs in the Mosaic range, combining advanced materials and production technology with cultural research and intelligence to create a distinctive product range.
“It was so exciting to work on the Tefal project. I remember it was an opportunity to create a new language in design. Apart from the cultural intelligence and research that went into the product, it was an opportunity to mix things up and create a new language that was truly hybrid. It was a coming together of different worlds. ”

- Nipa Doshi