Charpoy. Designed by Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien. Manufactured by Moroso.

The works of Indian-born furniture designer Nipa Doshi encapsulates cultural hybridization. Doshi along with industrial designer and husband Jonathan Levien set up the Doshi Levien Office in London and since then the duo are striving to translate everyday artifacts into contemporary objects.

The Charpoy is the perfect example of Doshi and Levin straddling diverse cultures but still managing to evoke visions of the Indian heartland. Seeking inspiration from the ubiquitous “Charpai,” the designer duo effectively reinterprets the almost nondescript Indian daybed and gives it an aura of internationalization. But it’s no secret that Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien bring different yet harmonizing approaches to their, work which they themselves refer to as “unity of opposites.”

How did the designer duo achieve this cultural cross-pollination in the Charpoy? Charpoy literally means “four legs” and features a mattress of cotton and silk. To give more character to the Charpoy, each mattress has been handcrafted in the bylanes of the Indian city Ahmadabad in a factory run by Doshi’s aunt. The mattresses have also been embroidered with an Indian checkered game board that was played by the Indian royalty in the days of yore. Not only that but some of the women who worked on the Charpoy have stitched their names in Hindi and reproduced their own working tools like chalk and hand-forged scissors, on the cushions.

The Charpoy also has an Italian connection courtesy of Moroso since the wood base with black lacquer finish has been produced industrially in Italy. Moroso has used materials like Solid beech, plywood and stress-resistant polyurethane foam to make the Charpoy more resilient and functional.

With the Charpoy, Doshi and Liven bring to surface the vitality and sensuality of the Indian culture without resorting to any clichés. The daybed lays emphasis on the principle of “improvisation” to appease the western mindset and according to me is the perfect amalgamation of fantasy and practicality. To me, the Charpoy is an ingenious idea as it is not often that a humble Indian daybed gets elevated to dramatic heights and lands up in the design studio of Moroso!

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