Unboxed and unbounded

What does it take to be distinct in design? Farah Ahmed and Dhaval Shellugar of FADD Studio throw light on how they work their way around their ‘style-free style’

- FARAH AHMED AND DHAVAL SHELLUGAR

It would be easy to slip unknowingly into a style that becomes our firm’s identity. But we fight it. The easy way.

– Farah Ahmed, Co-founder, FADD Studio

“Think outside the box” is a cliché we’ve all come to know over the years. As designers, we’ve all used it, and as students, we’ve all been advised it. However, at our studio, we’ve come to believe and design with the notion that there is no box!

Whether it’s a client or a journalist, the first question we’re always asked is, “What is your style?”. Our reply is always, “We don’t have one!”. We do not work in just one direction, or with just one set of materials, or only with a certain colour palette, or design a singular style. It would be easy though, to do so; to cut and paste a certain set of rules from one project to the other. It would be easy to slip unknowingly into a style that becomes our firm’s identity. It would be easy to stagnate. But we do not. We fight it. The easy way. And now it’s become our nature, and it’s almost effortless. We take our direction from the client’s preferences because its ultimately something that they will live with or experience day in and day out. From there, with our stubborn sensibility, desire to be authentically original, and reluctance to repeat, we curate a design aesthetic that is singular and bespoke for them. We’ve strived to do this from the very first day we decided to create FADD Studio.