Architects Druhan Chhugani and Amrit Nagpal are rewriting the rules of furniture design in Mumbai, where traditional craftsmanship merges seamlessly with contemporary aesthetics. Their venture, Urban Artisans Collaborative (UAC), represents a bold intersection of architectural precision and artisanal mastery, bringing fresh perspectives to India’s furniture landscape.
Chhugani’s journey began unusually early – as a child, he was already exploring various art forms and creative expressions. This artistic foundation, combined with his architectural training at Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture (KRVIA), laid the groundwork for his distinctive design philosophy. His subsequent work with Rahul Mehrotra Architects and Malik Architects only sharpened his vision for furniture that challenges conventional aesthetics.
Nagpal, his co-founder and fellow KRVIA alumna, brings a meticulous eye for detail and process to their partnership. Her experience with prestigious firms like Collective Project and Devika Narain and Company has infused UAC with a sophisticated understanding of aesthetics and client relationships. Together, they’re bridging the gap between traditional Indian craftsmanship and contemporary design sensibilities.
Urban Artisans Collaborative (UAC)
UAC’s approach is distinctly different – each piece draws inspiration from both science fiction’s boundless imagination and nature’s timeless patterns. The studio collaborates with Mumbai’s skilled artisans, hence the name “Urban Artisans Collaborative,” creating pieces that serve as more than just furniture. Their work aims to be “accent pieces” – conversation starters that elevate spaces through a delicate balance of innovation and timeless design.
After cutting their teeth at renowned architectural firms and working closely with established furniture studios like Blueloft, where they were mentored by Kahan Chandrani, Chhugani and Nagpal are now at the forefront of furniture design innovation. Their pieces reflect an understanding that furniture isn’t just about utility – it’s about creating moments of wonder in everyday spaces.
Q. How would you describe your signature design aesthetic, and how has it evolved while working in India?
Druhan Chhugani and Amrit Nagpal: Our design aesthetic is a skilful combination of materials, mainly wood, marble and stainless steel. Being born and brought up in Mumbai, we have been exposed to globalisation at its roots. Our designs have grown with this idea and will keep growing according to where we establish its roots.
Q. What influences and inspires your current work? Could you share some movements, designers, or elements of Indian culture that have shaped your practice?
Druhan Chhugani and Amrit Nagpal: Our signature design aesthetic comes from the idea of familiarity. Most of our concepts are derived from everyday things, everyday interactions and nostalgic feelings. Our growing inspiration comes from the urbanised cities of India. As architects, we are forever observing the spaces around us and the way we interact and evolve with them. To match this evolution and modernisation, we have made our designs reflect the spaces that we love residing in.
Q. Could you walk us through your creative process? How do you move from initial concept to final execution?
Druhan Chhugani and Amrit Nagpal: To be honest, the creative process is us just basically stalling our thoughts and letting time pass until suddenly something just strikes. The more thought we put into something, the more we end up overthinking its conceptualisation. The key to the forms we create is the patience and the buildup behind it. Once we strike that jackpot, it’s just a matter of putting it down on paper and excitedly working out its proportions until we believe it cannot be pushed further.
Q. Your work often involves collaborations with artisans and other creatives. What draws you to these partnerships, and how do these collaborations enrich your design practice?
Druhan Chhugani and Amrit Nagpal: We believe that every professional is unstoppable as long as they focus and hone one of their crafts. We are honing our skills and design, and we believe that there are others out there with their own professional priority. Combining the 2 strengths can only create something of exponential value. In addition to this, collaborating opens up the mind to newer ideas and multiple new permutations. As designers we cannot say no to such a privilege.
Q. Looking back at your portfolio, which project represents a significant turning point in your career, and among your recent works, what project are you most proud of and why?
Druhan Chhugani and Amrit Nagpal: This was during the conception of our brand. We wanted to create something completely new, something so extraordinary, that people would have to stop by and take a second look at. So we put together our architectural skills to create a design even we didn’t know would physically stand or not. This design is by far one of our most challenging designs to date. The amount of prototypes it took to make this stand was crazy. This was our spider chair, and it was made to look like it defied physics. But overcoming this feat got us to keep pushing our limits with our designs. That’s what makes us more and more different from the others.
The project we are most proud of is our origami collection. We aimed at creating origami out of metal, but without actually folding metal sheets. We trained one of our urban artisans to create near seamless welds between multiple sheets. As this collection required us to develop a technique, we get to use it in as many forms as we like and we are excited to see where we can take this.
Q. What unique challenges and opportunities have you encountered as an emerging designer in the Indian design industry, and how are you working to overcome these obstacles?
Druhan Chhugani and Amrit Nagpal: Space. Mumbai specifically. Spaces are scarce and hold more value in the urban setup. Designing something that stands out as well as optimises the use of that space is what we find extremely challenging.
The biggest challenge in design is finding the right demography to showcase your work. Design can either be functional or aesthetic, sometimes a mix of both. Taking all this into account, we can safely say that no design is universal due to its extremely subjective behaviour. Having an amazing design is one thing, but more than that is finding a niche market that appreciates that design as well.
Q. How do you approach sustainability and eco-friendly practices in your designs, particularly considering India’s traditional wisdom and contemporary environmental challenges?
Druhan Chhugani and Amrit Nagpal: The sustainability we practice is in the recycled teak wood we use.
Q. What’s your most exciting recent design or art discovery that’s influencing your current thinking?
Druhan Chhugani and Amrit Nagpal: Currently we are working amongst the mines in Udaipur. We are living amongst the different rocks and discovering all the possible ways to transform this into unique designs.
Q. How do you build visibility and reach out to potential clients and what are the crucial dos and don’ts for young designers trying to establish themselves in India?
Druhan Chhugani and Amrit Nagpal: Putting yourself out there is the scariest but most crucial of the steps one needs to take, everyone in your circle should know what you’re doing and bring up your name when an opportunity arises. It’s about building a small fan following amongst close people and having word of mouth take care of the rest. Design exhibitions provide a great platform for people to come see your work firsthand, social media showcases works for a lot of products, but ergonomics are not something that can be trusted just on paper. There are a lot of upcoming online platforms for young designers, allowing designers and customers to browse and purchase. Even so, everything comes with an investment and if not careful, anyone can end up investing more than they are going to gain from. Sometimes giving up on a concept is a better way to move forward, rather than obsessing over a design that you keep reinvesting in with no returns. There is a lot of trial and error and that needs to be accepted as part of the process.
Q. As you look ahead, what kind of projects or directions would you like to explore?
Druhan Chhugani and Amrit Nagpal: In the current market, we are exposed to so many materials and so many ways to use them. We still need to come across so many new methods and so many awesome techniques that the sky’s the limit.
We want to be able to keep creating never-seen-before objects and help make their way into the everyday lives of people.
Q. For aspiring designers looking to make their mark in India’s design landscape, what wisdom would you share from your journey?
Druhan Chhugani and Amrit Nagpal: For starters, Design is about being bold with what you believe in. We usually get stuck in this rut of commercialising our work that we, very often, stay away from our actual creative instincts. Although it is most important to make your work sellable, it is also important to keep creating things that you value most on the side, for only if you value your creations immensely, will others start to see it as well.
Courtesy of UAC
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