Myth and Material: Modern Furniture Meets Indian Culture

The Moroso/Maharam showroom in NYC has brought together two London-based designers for a show of new furniture and fabric designs inspired by Indian culture and Italian craftsmanship. The fabrics and seating collection is the work of Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien who contributed distinct yet complimentary approaches to design. Nipa draws strong influence from native Indian visual culture. Jonathan offers an industrial design process. The resulting work merges a cultural perspective, and storytelling with modern manufacturing and high tech materials.

My Beautiful Backside is a seating collection inspired by seating arrangements in India. The sofas have a composition of floating cushions in celebratory colors and shapes rather than a solid back. The Principessa daybed consists of many thin mattress layers with the topmost covered with a silk jacquard depicting the objects belonging to a contemporary Indian princess. These pieces merge the skilled workmanship of Indian seamsters with Italian industrial production.

Seeing this work brought to mind historical furniture movements that drew from a cultural reference. Shaker furniture is an example. Modern furniture design is really a global style that has lost a distinct cultural voice. The Myth and Material collection brings two seeming unrelated cultures together in an interesting blending experiment.