Interview
Anusheel Gurjar and Srajan Jain –
Founders of House of Katha

What sets Indian design apart from other global styles?

Our culture has a duality. We have managed to balance order and chaos, nature and culture and other such dualities in a profound way. For example, Indian temples have a lot of motifs, sculptures, and hidden stories in the architecture. Such intricate carvings and structures are usually regarded as ‘maximalism’.

However, if you notice, most of the temples are made of a single-color stone. This duality of complex surfaces paired single color material introduces a delightful harmony, a balance untainted by the idea of maximalism and minimalism. The same ideology can be seen in our textiles, jewelry and other crafts. We believe India is the master of it.

How does traditional Indian design influence your work, and are there other cultures or styles that have inspired your creative approach?

Over time, we have realised that traditional Indian design has a logical way of creating, similar to creative coding. For example, we made an in-house experiment called Textile Rhythms. It blends poetic rhythms and Indian motifs to generate patterns.

These patterns were then printed onto fabrics, resulting in clothing sets that are individually distinctive and at the same time harmoniously connected through a shared visual language.

Over time, we have realised that traditional Indian design has a logical way of creating, similar to creative coding.

Japanese culture is a big inspiration. The way they embrace modernity while proudly holding onto their tradition is admirable. I also love the fact that they call it ‘open space’ to what we call negative space or white space in the design world. It’s a simple switch of words with a huge shift in perspective.

Do you find that clients have become more willing to make bold design choices over the years? How do you encourage them to embrace innovative design?

I think we are quite new in the industry to be able to comment on that. However, we think that if a creative company like ours, run by two young boys in Indore can have clients of various scales across the country, then clients have become bolder. We have been told by a lot of people that they see a freshness or newness in our work and quite frankly we have no clue why.

It’s magic even for the clients when they see a tech-based solution derived from the lens of an artist.

Our ideology of working at the intersection of art, design and technology has been a great way to encourage clients with bolder and innovative design. It’s magic even for the clients when they see a tech-based solution derived from the lens of an artist.

When approaching a project, do you prefer the clarity of a set brief or the flexibility of creative freedom? What makes that balance important for you?

Both are different, both are great when provided with the right context. We believe there’s a beauty even in set briefs. For a moment, think it’s the inception of the universe and you are an architect working with God as your client. At this moment, you have been tasked with creating a ‘tree’.

God has defined that the idea of a tree consists of roots, trunk, branches, leaves or flowers and we need thousands of variations. How do you create so many trees with just these few elements? Answer: Rather than creating several trees, you create a dynamic system within the limitations.

How do you create so many trees with just these few elements? Answer: Rather than creating several trees, you create a dynamic system within the limitations.

You introduce factors like wind direction, soil quality, heat intensity, leading to variations in texture, colour, branch thickness, leaf arrangements and more, which then lead to the creation of thousands of beautiful trees. In the creative coding world, we have this idea of a programmatic way of making.

It’s great when the client trusts you with this part when defining the brief. The ‘how’ part of things.