soft-geometry
California-based Utharaa Zacharias and Palaash Chaudhary, the duo behind soft-geometry, are redefining the way we look at design by exploring new mediums and reimagining traditional processes.
Photography: Courtesy of soft-geometry
‘Partners in professional and personal life’ is a good description for whatever we’re doing together — which is basically everything.” shares Utharaa Zacharias. Photo - Alanna Hale for AD.
The recently launched Elio Lamp, designed by soft-geometry. Photo - courtesy of soft-geometry.
Hello Utharaa and Palaash, what are you working on at the moment?
Palaash: We’re pouring candy coloured resin into silicone molds, setting kitchen timers to 30 minutes, casting and stacking frosted jelly forms all day! We recently launched a series of hand-cast, resin smart lamps, called Elio, which is what is keeping our hands full at the moment. It's always chaotic after a launch, so we’re working on finishing back orders.
Utharaa: In between casting batches, we’ve been revisiting some of our initial notes, sketches and scribbles for Elio. The texture and translucency were first inspired by an informal photo study of light glowing through dusty panes, skin and water. We were far from deciding on a lamp or any object at that stage, it was more an abstract exercise — it's been interesting to travel back to those studies and draw more from them.
When did you first discover your love for design?
Palaash: I had a destructive streak as a child, I pulled things apart constantly, toys, watches, bikes — just about anything I could get my hands on. Predictably I got into trouble for it and I'd have to put things back together and fix them. I didn’t think much about it then, but clearly I enjoyed this process and when I had to decide what I wanted to do for college, I figured it would be cool to learn how things are built.
“I wasn’t even very aware of ‘design’, I only knew I liked pulling things apart and figuring out how they went back together. When I started studying product design, I just kept wanting more.”
Utharaa: My parents were architects. I grew up in Kochi, in India and often felt like the only kid in class who genuinely believed her parents had cool jobs! They had separate architecture and design practices, with slightly different philosophies and vastly different projects. My sisters and I grew up consumed by it — the after school trips to construction sites, the waiting in their offices as they finished a presentation and the pride of being in spaces created by them. We would accompany my mom late at night to finish up a site, staged and ready for a move in or inauguration the next day. There would always be a lot left to do, but she would have this kind of infectious positive energy that had everyone on her team pumped up and finishing things off a checklist. She’d let us help - I’ve cleaned mirrors, made beds, fluffed pillows, arranged flowers and even laid tiles!
“That was my introduction to design — my parents and their love for what they do. ”
Where do you mostly gather inspiration for your work?
Utharaa: From things that are shapeless — conversations, interviews, books, biographies, moods, colours. It’s endless. The Elio series was inspired by photos of light diffusing through uneven transparencies. Our 2019 collection was inspired by dessert and how we could translate the taste of sweetness into a visual or tactile feeling.
The SW Side Table, designed by soft-geometry. Photo - courtesy of soft-geometry.
The Elio Lamp designed by soft-geometry. Photo - courtesy of soft-geometry.
What’s the process to making one of your pieces?
Utharaa: When we grew up in India, craft and craftsmanship were all around us. Some of the most utilitarian objects in an Indian home are hand-made, step stools in bamboo with a distinct colour pattern, block-printed bedding, hand-carved wood boxes, handloom cotton clothes and endless terracotta pottery. Granted, they barely ever matched, didn’t belong to a style or palette, they were not ever modular, or stackable or ‘easy to clean’, but they just worked and were beautiful. Most importantly these objects permeated class — they were for everyone.
“Unfortunately, like most people in India, we didn’t see how poetic this life and object culture was, until we left it. ”
This mixture of admiration, pride, guilt, and missing home, was fodder for when we decided to learn how to weave cane. Abundantly common in India, we’d both seen firsthand the speed and skill of artisans who weave cane lattices for chairs, stools and baskets. The first time we attempted it, it took weeks and it physically hurt. When we finally finished we were exhausted but so exhilarated, and we felt the weight of what it meant to us.
The Donut Coffee Table in Caramel, designed by soft-geometry. Photo - courtesy of soft-geometry.
The Elio Lamp. was inspired by photos of light diffusing through uneven transparencies. Photo - courtesy of soft-geometry.
What does a normal day working in the studio look like for you?
Utharaa: Between us, I’m the morning person. I wake up around 5:30am and spend some time with an art book, this is just insurance so at least the first hour of my day is serene. I then get in about an hour of e-mails and this is usually when, what we like to call, the ‘problem of the day’ emerges. It could be something big or something small, usually has to do with shipping or paperwork — stuff we love to hate, but there is always that one thing that needs solving.
“There isn’t an assigned time for ‘design’ because that happens parallel to everything. It seeps into the cracks between all the other things we do and takes over when it has to. It just happens.”
What’s the best part about finding your professional and creative design match?
Utharaa: The conversations, the intention building, the thought trains we share behind every object. Also the terribly silly things we can do when it is just us.
Palaash: One of the cool things about us is that we design together, it’s in sync — it’s not staggered or a tag team model, we design truly and completely together. This is possible only because almost everything we make first starts as the result of a conversation had months ago on an evening walk or car ride. The dialogue is where our ideas are born. It’s the most invisible part of our work and the most beautiful part of building together.
What’s coming up for soft-geometry in 2021?
Palaash: This year, somehow even with the chaos of the lockdowns, we made an exciting foray into a new material, texture and mood with the Elio lamps. We’ll be thinking of exploring the depth of that idea more and expanding the series. We also have little minion projects at the experimental stage right now, some glass, some inlay crafts, some castings and so on. Usually as we work through them, the fog clears and there is one or two that emerge to be compelling and we steer that way. It’s still too early to tell!
Utharaa:One of the highlights of this year was an imaginary gallery called ‘Imagined, for uncertain times’, that we curated, as a response to the cancellation of art and design exhibitions everywhere. We created it with artists and design studios from nine different countries around the world, featuring 10 imaginative pieces inhabiting a make believe gallery in the middle of a lake. To turn the biggest disappointment of 2020 into an international collaboration between some of our favorite artists was incredible. I hope we end up making our own piece from the show, a stool of holes, for real, but whatever 2021 has in store, we look forward to more with our community.