If you’re looking for regular furniture, you’ve probably come to the wrong place. For, there’s nothing regular or streamlined about the ware of White Studios. A table shaped like an angular cube with each facet in a different colour. A curved chair with a rounded shelf at the bottom for stacking books. Nothing is as it should be, yet everything is as it needs to be.
That’s the beauty of Gitesh Mehta’s design style, the brave new designer who, at 24, is already making waves in the décor world. Going beyond mere utility, he creates by bending wood, integrating mixed metals and, above all, going where no furniture maker has gone before. Little wonder then, that in just six months since its inception, the brand is being singled out for its quirk quotient.
The idea behind White Studios, Mehta says, is to create experiences inspired by art that has always been around us, and to look for ways to merge it with design. “How can a piece be entirely unique and original? How can we stand out from the rest? What if a chair or table looked like this?”
These, he says, are the questions that drive his creativity.
“My design process also includes market research, seeing what’s out there, making a list and tossing it away. That makes me understand what not to do in order to stick to our philosophy,” he adds.
The aim is to give the Indian market a fresh approach to furniture, something that he recalls was appreciated right from the brand’s inaugural show in May 2022 at the India Design Fair.
“We are trying to break the monotony of what a piece of furniture is and what it can be. While designing a product, the material is not a limitation for me. It’s not even one of the first things I consider while sketching. I follow a process I learnt in college, where CMF (colour, material, finish) come at a later stage,” he says.
Currently working with natural and engineered wood, metals, gemstones and resin, he says he spends more time in the surface finishing phase.
“See, we often say something can be painted yellow. But what kind of paint? Gloss or matte? How much gloss? A thick coat or a thin one? Any special finish paint or a plain colour coat? All these questions are for just a simple line ‘Paint it yellow.’ There are many materials and finishing options. Playing with them, trying different permutations and combinations, and making swatches are what I do before finalising something,” he adds.
Originally from the Brass City, Moradabad, where his family has a trophies and awards manufacturing business, Mehta grew up surrounded by artisans whose craftsmanship he hugely admired. His artistic bent led him to enrol at the United world Institute of Design, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
When he returned to his hometown after graduation, he decided to start his studio there itself––a fully equipped facility where he works with his team of designers and ustaad artisans armed with centuries-old skills. “From ideation to design to fabrication, everything is done here. We outsource only the parts that have some traditional craft used in them,” he says.
Finally, when colour plays such an integral role in his designs, why the name White Studios? “White is a pure colour. You can mix yellow and blue to make green, but you can’t make white. It stands
by itself, signifying purity, originality and uniqueness. Exactly what we stand for,” he says.