Rayden Design Studio is a combined vision of me and Mooshir. We have been married for over 6 years and have known each other for almost a decade, so collaborating for Rayden has been a more personal than professional choice for us.
Born in Indore, I went on to pursue industrial design after an undergraduate stint with architecture. After completing my Masters in Industrial Design, I worked with a number of small firms in Mumbai and New York since I was highly allergic to corporate environments where the likeness of design sense was not ambivalent.
While I was engaged in industrial design, Mooshir was knee deep in computer science (despite cosmic efforts driving him towards the medical profession). However, after completing his Bachelors in Computer Engineering he realised design was his true calling and he went on to pursue a Masters in Visual Communication and Masters in Interactive Telecommunications Program from the New York University.
Additionally he is an Inlaks scholar and his works have been displayed across many galleries in New York, Barcelona and Ireland. Mooshir is also passionate about teaching and contributes to Interaction design course at Industrial Design Centre at IIT Mumbai.
Using inspiration from material, processes, experiences, context and people, we at Rayden strive to create objects and experiences, which lean towards minimal aesthetics. We try to design products which gratify the Indian design sensibility and potray some inspirations from our limited travel experience and small international exposure.
With Float and 4pie we were working towards exploring sheet metal as a material to make simple objects. Float is a direct outcome of exploring different methods used in fabrication whereas in case of 4pie we wanted to use laser cutting to etch traditional forms.
After designing products where simplicity is the key co-ordinate we decided to create products where the functionality and the looks were endearing. In the words of Darwin the simple DNA strand became a part of a complex mechanism. Maximus belongs to this league.
Envisioned as a pet robotic table lamp with a personality, Maximus retains the form of a lamp but exhibits behaviour and emotions. He is also a personification for finding personalities in everyday objects. Table lamp being a close personal object, allows for such an opportunity.
When it comes to lamps we must make a mention of the prequels which have arrived earlier, Amaltas and Marigold our explorations on modularity arrived prior to Maximus. The modules can be combined in different ways to create different forms and sizes of lamp-shades. They try to mimic flowers and petals and weave into one another and do not require any joinery.
Our products have been driven by the thought processes which have invaded our grey cells but there have been moments when we have let our hair down to do something just for the fun of it and Timestamp is a result of the same. We were exploring how the clock can become an integral part of the wall but however realised that the organisation of the numerals alone can define its visual structure.
We are currently working on another fun project, which is inspired by our recent escalated role as parents, and revolves around creating small tabletop objects with an overdose of playfulness!
Apart from growing our brand of products, we hope to indulge more in products and installations that use physical computing; there is nothing more fun than seeing an inanimate object respond to human actions.
Contacts
web: www.raydendesign.com