EDIDA 2015: And the winner is...

by Aditi Gaitonde & Tasneem Merchant Dec 15, 2015

Our annual round-up of the innovative and the inspirational; the simple and the superlative; the movers and shakers of tomorrow. Presenting winners of the 14th ELLE DECOR International Design Awards (EDIDA) India 2015.

Designers of the Year: Gautam Seth & Prateek Jain
Over the past decade, the New Delhi based duo of Klove Studio have made an indelible mark on the Indian design industry with their larger than life hand blown glass creations. Their notable works this year include the majestic Swarovski crystal embedded wedding gazebo called Mandapam, the Tree of Life akin to an inverted plant with perched birds and the extensive Mid Century Modern series inspired by Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh. 
Website: www.klovestudio.com

Young Talent (Joint Winners): Lekha Washington and Matteo Cibic for Scarlet Splendour
For Lekha’s studio Ajji, her designs are proudly fun, odd and unique. The Mumbai based creative’s signature piece, the Dot chair, looks like a giant dollop of paint; its most recent version being the Moon Art cover. The Kiku light in suspended and floor standing options evoke the image of Medusa’s wild snake-like hair with its long flexible arms. As for Matteo Cibic, the classic yet fun Vanilla Noir series, manufactured by the Indian company in Kolkata, is reminiscent of the silent movie era. Characteristic of the Italian designer’s style, the 12 pieces in this line are eclectic, unconventional and elegantly simple, all at the same time.
Website: www.ajji.in, www.scarletsplendour.com

Fabrics: Simone Arora for D’Decor
Mumbai entrepreneur Simone’s keen eye for design has given rise to numerousfabrics, particularly this glamorous piece manufactured by D’Decor. Metallic foil and dyed velvet come together to create an exceptional textile for her label Simone…Naturally Inspired.
Website: www.simone.com 

Bathware: Foley Designs for Artize
The Bengaluru firm bravely moves away from the conventional form of a tap to imagine a rare piece of function and art. Envisioned for Jaquar’s luxury bath brand Artize, Tiara is a sculptural faucet. The inner oval ring turns to spout water at a speed determined by its angle.
Website: www.foleydesigns.com 

Bedroom: Chinar Farooqui  
Her sophisticated linen lines, under her label Injiri, employ the skills and ingenuity of local artisans. Made from organic cotton, the blue and white Asmaani collection uses traditional Bhujodi weaving techniques from a village in Kutch. Proving her refined and minimal aesthetic, Jaipur based Chinar interpreted the textiles of the Rabari clan to suit modern day decor.
Website: www.injiri.co.in 

Wall finishes and Coverings (Joint Winners): Nuru Karim and Rajiv Parekh
The digitally designed MathSurf surface (above), by Nuru for Mumbai’s NU.DE Architecture, is cast in DuPont Corian. The future forward architect used complex machinery to fabricate the panels. For Mumbai collective RED Architects, Rajiv created Hexagonal oak wood wall covering (below) inspired by computer generated pixels for its form. The gentle undulating wave thateven hides the door is visually captivating.
Website: www.nudeoffices.com; www.redarchitects.in 

Furniture (Joint Winners): Asim Merchant and Krea Design Team
Asim’s knack for manipulating timber to make sculptural furniture is exemplary. For Red Blue & Yellow, he made an ergonomic Burma teak seater (left) fashioned as a sit around for friends. Team Krea effortlessly fused a quintessentially Indian motif with modern sensibilities to envision the appealing Ikat dinner table (above).
Website: www.redblueyellow.in; www.kreaworld.com 

Table Top: Saif Faisal
Blub - Vide Poche is a container in ceramic or aluminium that easily screws onto a wooden base. The young Bengaluru based designer’s appreciation for Japanese and Scandinavian sensibilities are evident in this serveware.
Website: www.saif-faisal.com 

Flooring (Joint Winners): Anjali Rana and Zoha
Crafted for Anjali’s own brand Mohabbat, the Baugh collection of soft and plush merino wool carpets were hand felted by skilled Kashmiri artisans. Her meticulous eye for art resulted in a line inspired by spring blossoms and Mughal art. Zoha’s Nova rug explores a simple but thoughtful possibility of using both sides of the carpet. They approached unemployed Banarasi sari loom weavers to produce these handwoven viscose pieces.
Website: www.anjaliranadesign.com; www.zoha.in 

Kitchen: Parul & Mooshir Vahanvati
The Urban Tweeter drinkware line, created for their Pune based brand Rayden Design Studio, borrows from the Indian robin. Their clean and minimal aesthetic combined with impeccable finish is noteworthy. 
Website: www.raydendesign.com

Lighting (Joint Winners): Rooshad Shroff and Gunjan Gupta
Turning the idea of the fragile bulb on its head, Rooshad designed Marble Bulbs that are handcrafted in white Makrana by Jaipuri craftsmen. Each was chiselled out of a single block and carved with patterns. Gunjan’s Rock Chandelier is made of wood and stone veneer. The New Delhi based creative contemporises a crude structure of a boulder into a luxury light fixture.
Website: www.rooshads.wix.com/rooshadshroff; www.wrap.co.in 

Student of the Year: Srishti Gupta (winner) and Riddhi Jain (runner up), both from NID 
A Master’s student specialising in lifestyle accessory design, Srishti’s Mineral Collection is inspired by concentric lines of Agate stone. We love the way she employed undulating wooden waves to make small objects. The runner-up is postgraduate student Riddhi – her indigo textile was created using controlled dye techniques of pole wrapping and resist dyeing with natural colours. 

Also read: The big EDIDA presentation and party in Mumbai