Akaya - a sustainable lifestyle brand, founded by a young designer, Akanksha Atri. TLD chats with her about her journey and inspiration she could provide to such young dreamers.
Hi Akanksha, Can you tell us about your brand - Akaya? What is it about? The meaning behind such a beautiful name?
Akaya is a constructive design studio focusing on sustainable lifestyle. We deal in lifestyle products ranging from home, fashion to lifestyle. Akaya means “energy” . Our aim is to focus on the light of eco-life, encouraging sustainable handmade products that are made ethically in India.
Please take us through your journey from being a student at NIFT to owning your own sustainable lifestyle brand?
Well, the journey began during college, where my love for handmade crafts developed. I understood that the concept is bigger than the kind of product you are meaning to produce. we, at Akaya, believe in setting a sustainable approach across all our products. My journey has been full of learning, from design college to Akaya and I wish to learn more.
What is your design philosophy? And What Inspires you?
Being a prototype driven person I love to explore the endless colours, shapes, textures and patterns. By nature, I am full of curiosity and I love to explore different forms of art, design and experiment with whatever that appeals to me. My inspiration comes from unusual happenings, nature, music, culture, travel and architecture. Although my work mainly focuses on creating home textile design, I enjoy painting, drawing, sewing garments and singing. I wouldn’t call myself an artist or a designer because I’m a little bit of both. Every skill I’ve learned has helped me get my hands on just about anything , which results in developing my own embellishments to incorporate patterns that I create combining all those in my designing language.
How has being a millennial affected you in your space of work?
Having a distinctive design language and love for natural art has helped me to bring a fresh approach in my work using traditional forms. As a millennial myself, its easier to connect with clients coming from the same generaton. Designing is a process where you need to connect with your client's mindset, it gets easier when the client is coming from the same thinking arena.
What questions do you typically ask your clients before getting to work, and how do the answers factor into your design decisions?
Generally, clients come from different approach towards their project. Each client has its own individuality and ideas. We understand the requirements and curate a proposal after understanding their needs and budget. Akaya always strives to bring in the best approach possible which fits in the client's budget and requirements. Some typical questions would be about the colours they like, the prints or designs they are fond off, the questions always depends on the kind of project.
Which was your favourite project to date and why? Difficult to pick one. I chose my career as related to art and interiors, so I love working around it. Recently, I worked for a family's vacation house in Pune, I think it was so far, a very interesting project. I loved working on their terrace garden setup, as I love being associated to nature, and absolutely enjoy when clients seek for similar ideas.
Recently, we came across your blog on styling the space with one’s zodiac sign, Can you tell our readers something about it?
Everything in the universe has some sort of design language, we strive to focus on the style and direction from nature and human language, to focus on design thinking or any product or space. I love sharing similar insights from the arts and designing fields, you can keep a track on my website for such intersting blogs.
What according to you is a must buy investment decorative article?
Buy things which you are in need of. While buying from any brand, focus on materials which make life and the planet a happy place to live in. Support home grown brands, shop eco. Generally, decocrative items such as lamps or show pieces are something you can prsereve, even if you keep changing houses, so such articles could be good investments.
If a student wanted to enter the field, what advice would you give them?
Design is a beautiful language to learn. Explore different ethical forms and learn the art to sell them. We are blessed as a generation for all the digital platforms, I could only suggest them to make good use of them.
At last, the festivities like Christmas and New year is around the corner, Can you share some tips and tricks on how one should decorate their surroundings?
Well, festivities is a great time to bring your designing sense out and play with a lot of decorative items. If you are someone who hosts a lot of dinner parties, I would suggest the easiest way to decorate your house, is keeping a lot of fresh flower vases and scented candles. I myself enjoy doing a lot old fashion DIYs, buying beautiful glasses from artisanal fairs and turning them into scented candle jars, that's an easy and a must try hack for everyone.
Interview scheduled location - The leela ambience convention hotel, Delhi.
Interview organised and submitted by Team The Luxury Diary
1 comment
Good design looks so natural welldone Good wishes carry on 👍