Celebrating Indian design in American hardwoods

INDO-, an award-winning contemporary furniture and home ware design studio based in Providence, Rhode Island (US) and New Delhi, was founded by Urvi Sharma and Manan Narang, both of whom grew up in the Indian capital and met while studying at the Rhode Island School of Design.

INDO- came about as a product of their inquiries into identity and craft. Urvi was working on how to create an interaction between Indian and American furniture, while Manan was focused on how to apply craft in new and interesting ways to revive dying art forms.

Manan, an architect, furniture designer and maker, completed his B.Arch from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, before doing his MFA in Furniture Design in the US.

Urvi is a furniture and product designer based in Providence, who completed her BFA in Furniture Design at the Rhode Island School of Design and has worked with several furniture and product design companies in the US, UK and India.

India effect

Through their designs, Urvi and Manan have used Indian craft to put a unique spin on a range of furniture pieces, including barstools, tables, benches, chairs, rugs and other items.

The duo has successfully created modern furniture pieces that reference traditional dyeing and weaving methods, and designed nine different products across four collections.

Experimenting with traditional craft processes and modern manufacturing methods to create contemporary objects, they produce work that is both innovative and acknowledges the places and people who inspire it.

Through INDO- the duo has embraced the Indian qualities of things being handmade, meaning each piece is one-of-a-kind, and merged it with the forms present in contemporary American furniture.

They also understood the importance of creating an identity and origin for each of their products, given that quite a lot in Indian design and the products made are related to the places and people who make them.

The Collection