Studied architecture but drawn to making objects? How one architect moved from buildings to product design.
Many students finish B.Arch without knowing how far their training can travel. Listen to hear what it takes to move into product design, what working closely with a material like concrete teaches you, and how to keep your own voice while finding buyers.
Ar. Nitin Barchha began his career in 2002, worked across architecture and interior practices, and founded Material Immaterial Studio in 2015. His interest in transition spaces led him to products as a way to freeze an experience; his first collection, Spaces, was made only as gifts for friends and family until someone suggested selling it. The studio's name sums up his view: "It's the design which is primary, and material is immaterial."
In this episode:
- How an interest in transition spaces and the in-between led him from architecture to products
- Why concrete felt personal and forgiving, and how time spent understanding it led to walls just 2 mm thick
- Why he says no big mindset shift is needed, as long as you refuse to wake up from the romance of architecture
- How personal expression finds a wider audience, and the collectors who own nearly all his work
- Why knowing how to think matters more than knowing every technical detail of a material
- Why people buy experiences and "impossible spaces", and his habit of asking whether he has given 100%
Listen if you are a fresh graduate exploring alternative careers for architects, such as product design, a B.Arch or M.Arch student who loves making things outside studio, or anyone curious about how architecture can live in an object.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:36 From architecture to product design
03:52 Concrete, and why material is immaterial
07:00 The mindset for moving beyond architecture
09:02 Personal expression and a wider audience
13:10 Collectors and the people behind the products
15:29 Learning how to think about materials
17:40 Giving 100% to every piece
19:45 Memories, impossible spaces and who buys
24:56 A more aesthetic world
If you could turn one space you love into an object, what would it be? Share this with the friend in your batch who is always making things outside studio.
Design Dialogues by Mu.S.Ex.: honest conversations with India's architects, educators and students about studying architecture and building a career in it. Hosted by Ar. Devikka Biyani, produced by Ar. Nikita Sheth.
Watch the full conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IqpSteSd_Co
For architecture students: https://www.musingspatialexperiences.com/for-students/