While traditional crafts are an integral part of almost every culture, many will argue that some of the practices like weaving have become obsolete or are not in use today.
Two Rhode Island School of Design graduates are hoping to change this perspective as they use contemporary craft and artwork as the overarching theme behind their furniture company.
INDO- is a furniture design studio based in Providence and New Delhi, India, which experiments with traditional craft processes and modern manufacturing methods to create innovative furniture.
INDO- Founders Manan Narang and Urvi Sharma came up with the concept behind the company while studying at RISD, and have used Indian craft to put a unique spin on a variety of furniture including barstools, tables, benches, chairs, rugs and other items.
“The furniture we have made has become an outlet for practitioners of that craft to continue forward,” Narang told Rhode Island Inno. “The same example can be extrapolated to apply to other crafts with the whole premise of pushing craft forward as a source of inspiration.”
"We are using traditional techniques and knowledge and skills that have untapped potential ... "
Since launching 1.5 years ago, INDO- has accomplished a lot.
The company has designed nine different products to start and is already gaining some traction. INDO- has featured its products at several trade shows, including the Architectural Digest Design Show in New York City and the International Furniture and Interiors Fair in Germany.
The trade shows, along with some online galleries that display INDO-’s furniture, have generated enough business to keep the company going, and also produced some pretty large orders domestically and internationally.
One order the company is currently working on is for 40 rooms at a luxury hotel in Sri Lanka.
INDO- also got a boost earlier this year when the company was named one of nine winners of the 2019 Providence Design Business program led by DESIGNxRI, with funding from the City of Providence’s Department of Community Development and Real Jobs RI.
The program awards grants between $10,000 and $20,000 to each of the companies selected.
As INDO- has started to bring in more orders from all over, Narang and Sharma have had to start thinking about the manufacturing process.
Up until this point, they have been filling the order themselves.
But as the company has scaled, they have been talking to vendors in and around Providence that serve design businesses so they can maybe assemble about half of the work on their own and then get assistance on the rest.
For work that is far away in Sri Lanka, it makes more sense for Narang and Sharma to do the work from India and ship it from there as well. Both go back to Delhi frequently to visit their families and Narang actually worked in the furniture business for five years in India before coming to RISD.
Going forward, Narang said he hopes the company can continue to design new products and bring in new work every year that helps INDO- stay relevant and keeps its audience engaged.
In addition to doing more trade shows and galleries, INDO- is also focused on getting its furniture more mainstream in the interior designer community. Interior designers are a huge avenue of business for furniture companies, but it often takes a few years until interior designers will use a new company more consistently.
For now though, Narang and Sharma are happy to see their business growing, while also supporting traditional crafts.
“We are using traditional techniques and knowledge and skills that have untapped potential, and seeing how we could provide techniques in new and different ways to create more contemporary objects for younger audiences and consumers,” said Sharma.
