Inspired by India’s rich artistic traditions, their unique design interventions make heritage crafts relevant in contemporary contexts. Their debut collection, which launched at Design Miami, Basel, in 2024, focused on India’s ancient metal-inlay technique, Bidri, bringing its practitioners together with break-away approaches and global designers.
Nolwa Studio’s founder and creative director, Rohit Naag, always appreciated good design but having grown up in an environment where careers like medicine, law and engineering were the norm, he never considered that design could be a viable career. It took for him to move back to India, after his INSEAD MBA and studies at Duke University as well as work across renewable energy, consulting and agribusiness in the US, Europe and Asia, to discover that his passion for design could become work. Immersing himself in Indian crafts, he was struck by the incredible workmanship and knew that he needed to explore the traditions in a deeper, more meaningful way.
Rohit realized that the artisanal products available failed to showcase the richness of the crafts, were out of sync with contemporary sensibilities and risked being commoditised. Rohit saw it as a design problem, not a marketing one. “Typically people think of luxury design and craft as being European like Murano glass and Italian leather,” he says. “It’s not often that Indian craft forms are considered on an equal footing. But there is no reason for us not to be playing at the same level or uttered in the same breath.”
Driven by this belief and his desire to renew appreciation for craftsmanship through the design space, he went on to study 12 clusters in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to understand their processes and limitations. Among these, Bidri, a 600-year-old metal-inlay craft from Karnataka, stood out for its intricacy and potential for contemporary reinterpretation..
Following these enquiries , Nolwa Studio invited select designers from around the world to reimagine the possibilities of this specialised artisanal form. Chosen on the basis of their aesthetic approaches, the vision was specific; to consider the craft anew and merge it with diverse contemporary sensibilities including organic forms, minimalism and geometry.
Together with Ammar Kalo (UAE), Arielle Assouline-Lichten (USA), Gunnar Rönsch and Stephen K Molloy (Germany), Nolwa Studio co-developed their inaugural collection, ‘The Bidri Collection’. The collection pioneers new applications, forms and scale for the 600-year-old Bidri craft, ultimately challenging its foundational conventions. The technique, thought to have entered India from Persia, is typically featured on 10-12 inch figurines: Nolwa Studio introduced significant design and engineering innovations to create three-dimensional pieces that are upwards of 5 feet.
Although a painstaking process, incessant optimism and joy have kept Rohit focused. “Mucchata is a term in Telugu,” he says. “It can be explained as the feeling you get when you become present to something that evokes delight or wonder, it’s the intrinsic joy that comes from pursuing that thing. This is what gave rise to Nolwa.” Only after 5-6 years of research and development and extensive prototyping with Bidri master artisan M.A. Rauf and his 8 person team, has Nolwa Studio realised their collection. As national award-winning craftsman Rauf explains, “I have always wanted to innovate the craft, and meeting someone like Rohit, who persisted and experimented for years meant we were able to overcome multiple challenges and unlock new potentials for the artform.”
The Bidri Collection comprises four unique pieces, each a reflection of Nolwa Studio’s distinctive design vocabulary that at once propels Bidri into bold and unexplored realms and enriches the contemporary design landscape. A piece like Horizon Lamp (Bidri meets Organic Forms) takes Bidri beyond its decorative roots and melds it with organic forms to make it an integral part of the lamp’s structure and function. The soft, sunken light source interacts with the inlaid brass, casting a warm, subtle glow that brings the intricate patterns to life.
Each piece in the collection makes a similarly bold statement. Monolith (Bidri meets Mathematics), an elegant cuboid standing lamp that has been shortlisted for the EDIDA Awards, is inspired by linear abstraction associated with Nasreen Mohamedi along with the dazzle camouflage patterns used during the First World War to distort perception. With the Bidri inlay applied in exceptionally tight, fine lines, the piece embraces a delightful uncertainty of spatial dimensions.
Mathematical patterns that occur in nature are the basis of the Drop Table (Bidri meets Mathematics). The form-active structure has a parabolic base inlaid with Bidri above which seems to float a glass tabletop. Seen from above, the patterning of concentric circles and sharp lines create the effect of a splash and its ripples. Equally compelling are the minimalistic details of the Facet Mirror (Bidri meets Minimalism). Diamond in shape, the half mirror panel and half Bidri are punctuated by a border of delicate detailing that guides viewers to the experience the subtle shifts of textures.
Excitingly, the collection will next be shown at India Art Fair 2025 where they will launch a new bar cabinet incorporating a design informed by parametric architecture. Nolwa Studio aims to continue to extend their vision and begin exploring other crafts and regions in the same rigorous manner. As Rohit says, “India has over 2800 craft forms, with many dying every year. Our crafts are intricate, with exceptionally skilled processes, inherited systems of knowledge and are ripe for design intervention. It has been heartening to see the resonance and interest in modern reinterpretation of craft and we’re excited to begin our next phase of exploration.”
Available at: https://www.nolwastudio.com/
