Shah’s tastes span centuries and continents. Blending a futuristic character with handcrafted creativity, his works gravitate towards geometry and materiality. He embraces the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, which celebrates the beauty of imperfection, impermanence and incompleteness. As a curator of art, craft and design exhibitions that bring together the best of Indian talent, Shah’s keen interest in the visual arts informs and nourishes his own design practice.
The designer launched Atelier Ashiesh Shah in 2017, a design firm that handles various projects in India and beyond. Born from a vision to blur the boundaries between art and design, the studio amalgamates experimentation, craftsmanship and technique into a creative ecosystem for collaboration and development. Empowering the karigar (artisan), Shah works alongside craftspeople from across India to create work that honours their artisanship – whether longpi pottery from Manipur, channapatna toys from Karnataka or dhokra metalwork from Chattisgarh – with contemporary flair.
In 2018, Shah participated in curating D/code, an exhibition in Mumbai showcasing design from around the world. In 2019, he presented his interpretation of Mahatma Gandhi at New Delhi’s National Gallery of Modern Art. In 2022, he displayed Naga weaves and hand-embroidered Nakshatra rugs at the Sutr Santati exhibition at the National Museum in New Delhi. In 2023, his exhibition Sustain: The Craft Idiom was exhibited at the Kala Bhoomi Odisha Crafts Museum in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
Shah was named Elle Décor India’s Designer of the Year in 2016 and is one of Architectural Digest’s 50 most influential names in India. He has also been a jury panellist for the JSW Prize for Contemporary Craftsmanship in association with Architectural Digest. In 2020, Shah launched The India Design Fund (TIDF), a body bringing together voices from across the industry to support the transformation of lives and livelihoods in design.
