TRADITION WITH A TWIST
RANJAN BORDOLOI, 28 FOUNDER AND DESIGNER STUDIO BORDOLOI, GUWAHATI INFO@STUDIOBORDOLOI.COM
Back in 2015, Assam-based Ranjan Bordoloi was busy putting the finishing touches to his graduation collection at the Department of Design, IIT Guwahati. One of his designs, the Pitoloi Chair, caught the attention of judges (from Elle Decor India and The Park Hotels) and he won The Park Elle Decor Student Award 2015. The result, he was given a chance to exhibit the chair at India Design ID 2015 in Delhi. Here Giulio Cappellini, the Art Director of Milan-based furniture giant Cappellini spotted it and offered to showcase it at Cappellini Next in Milan’s Salone del Mobile 2015. The global attention pushed him to start Studio Bordoloi the same year. “Since its inception, we have been collaborating with the artisans practicing a dying craft of brass utensil making in Assam,” says Bordoloi. WINNER’S CIRCLE From Red Dot Design Award 2017 in Singapore to the EDIDA 2018 in India, the studio has won several awards. In 2016 Bordoloi was one of eight young designers to be selected by Godrej Interio, where he developed a chair called Kaathfula in collaboration with their engineers.
MUCH AWAITED Currently the studio is working on a project in collaboration with NIFT Bangalore called USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development) sponsored by Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India. “We are exploring possibilities of using age old crafts such as rosewood inlay of Mysore and toy making craft of Channapatna,” explains Bordoloi. He is also planning a solo exhibition in Mumbai for his self-produced works.