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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. 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. 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. 

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.

In this episode we talk about Nipa’s relationship with colour and textiles; why card is a vital part of Jonathan’s design process; growing up in India and Scotland respectively and how that affected their design thinking; living and working together; facing prejudice; that initial project with Tefal; and how working with Italian furniture giant Moroso changed their career.

Yet, mostly it’s about how two people with different hinterland and ways of working have come together to create a single vision.