Interview with Duali Studio
Design Legend Interview
25 May 2026
I am a marketing graduate who happened to stumble upon the world of design. Having studied in Boston, Massachusetts, design actually came to me later in life. My professional trajectory transitioned from working as a marketing executive in healthcare, to marine chemicals, to media metrics, and finally, to ceramic design. It has been an incredible three-year journey of learning how to breathe art into functional objects.
For me, design is the alchemy that elevates a normal object into a piece of art. It is the ability to turn the mundane into the interesting, the conventional into the unconventional, and to offer a completely fresh perspective on everyday life. I became a designer because I am driven to create pieces that bridge form and function, shifting the ordinary into the extraordinary, and traditional craft into global innovation.
I believe design chose me. I spent years in highly structured corporate and business environments, but the creative spark was always waiting for the right moment to ignite. When I finally touched clay, it wasn’t a forced career choice; it was a profound, natural awakening of a side of myself I didn’t know existed.
I design premium, art-led functional porcelain. Moving forward, I want to explore ceramic forms that challenge the boundaries of utility—objects that are entirely functional but don't look functional at first glance. I want to create organic, sculptural silhouettes that carry a profound story, twisting conventional materials into something poetic, unexpected, and larger-than-life.
I still consider myself a young, evolving designer! Rather than offering legendary advice, I believe in constantly seeking wisdom from the true masters and legends in ceramics and contemporary design, keeping a student’s mindset alive.
A good designer feels satisfied when they successfully manifest what they had in their mind. A great designer, however, creates an emotional resonance that makes both themselves and the collector feel deeply moved. Great designers build their products around a narrative, making the final piece feel intensely personal and relatable to the person who brings it into their home.
A truly great design is one that speaks for itself without needing an explanation. It possesses an inherent balance of aesthetic and utility, leaving the buyer with a profound sense of pride and joy in their acquisition.
Good design elevates the human experience. When you invest in a design-led object, you aren't just buying utility; you are investing in a daily ritual. Beautiful, intentional tableware transforms a routine meal into an intentional, celebratory moment. It brings art off the gallery walls and straight onto their tables.
I would design a monumental ceramic tableware centerpiece that completely commands a room. It would be a sculptural conversation starter designed for people who love to gather, created specifically to bring individuals closer together over shared food and deep conversation.
Right now, I am entirely enjoying the iterative process of building Duali. I believe every collection we experiment with in the studio is a stepping stone that is naturally bringing me closer to what that ultimate dream project will be.
Authenticity. Design must be rooted in what genuinely motivates you, your personal taste, and your distinct worldview. Being unapologetic about reflecting your own thoughts and ideas into your work is the secret ingredient—because no one else can replicate or understand your specific vision better than you. It’s about staying fiercely alive with an idea and nurturing it until it perfectly takes shape.
I am deeply inspired by creators who challenge structure, form, and irony. Figures like Patricia Urquiola for her brilliant spatial and material fluidity, Daniel Roseberry for his poetic and surrealist sculptural mastery in fashion, and the creative minds at Seletti for their delightfully rebellious, avant-garde approach to everyday objects.
I admire work where you can see the intersection of rigorous technical engineering and whimsical, artistic freedom. Crinoline chair by Patricia Urquiola, Torjborn Kavasbo for his massive scultures and daniel roseberry for his fierce look into the way he sees fashion.
I don’t believe I have reached the stage where I can claim to have made my "greatest" design. Creative evolution is a lifelong process. I am incredibly content with the stage of exploration I am currently in; design is a journey, and I am simply enjoying the road I am on.
Inspiration and learning should never stop. To grow, you must cross-pollinate. I make it a point to constantly learn and meet people who work entirely outside of my industry—exploring different walks of life, craft, and science. You never know who or what will trigger the spark for your next collection.
Alongside being a designer, I am a business graduate at heart. If I weren't fully immersed in the design studio right now, I would undoubtedly be leading an entrepreneurial business venture.
Design is the intentional bridge between raw emotion and functional reality. It is the language through which we translate abstract thoughts, dualities, and stories into physical objects that enhance our living spaces.
My husband. He has never once discouraged me from learning, experimenting, or working tirelessly on every unconventional thought I’ve had. His philosophy is simple: you either need an answer or an outcome to your thoughts, and you will never know which one it is unless you go for it.
Spending years in the corporate and business sectors made me realize that my creative side had been sitting completely idle. When I finally ignited that spark, it lit up beautifully. Stumbling into design completely unexpected allowed me to explore a side of my identity I never knew existed, and the ideas haven't stopped flowing since.
One of the greatest challenges was sourcing and bringing together a highly specialized, like-minded team—individuals who shared the exact same uncompromising love, technical discipline, and passion for fine porcelain.
A designer must curate their presentation to be an extension of the object itself. The display, the environment, and the narrative must ensure that the work is not just looked at, but truly seen, heard, and felt at first glance.
You can expect forms that continuously challenge the conventional boundaries of tableware. My goal for every upcoming project is to begin thinking where others assume it can't be done, creating pieces that literally force you to stop and think about the object in front of you.
To evoke a profound sense of aesthetic goodness, wonder, and national pride in the people who collect and display my designs.
Uncompromising quality, intellectual honesty in design, and a continuous dedication to delivering true artistic value to those who appreciate our work.
Design educates and elevates human perception. It forces people to think outside the box and gifts them a unique perspective they might not otherwise experience. Ultimately, great design acts as a cultural anchor—it unites worlds and brings people closer together through shared admiration.
I am currently developing a tableware collection that is hand-painted with elements and concepts we typically don't wish to acknowledge on a dinner plate, yet absolutely exist in our reality. It’s an intellectual, slightly provocative concept that I cannot wait to bring to life.
Everything I have created so far has brought immense fulfillment. However, our patented ceramic designs—like our signature Arched contours—and the collections that completely challenge the traditional archetype of a dinner plate give me the most satisfaction. Every piece is a beautiful lesson in material limits.
I want to see deeper, unfiltered interaction between designers from completely different genres. While we have beautiful commercial exhibitions and trade displays, there are very few pure communities where designers gather simply to converse, debate design, and share distinct perspectives. We need more of those creative hubs.
Design is currently at the absolute center of global conversation. It is a thrilling time to be a creator. The future lies in deep exploration, cross-industry collaborations, and unexpected fusions of raw materials, technologies, and artistic forms.
On average, it takes our studio between 6 to 9 months of rigorous prototyping, material testing, and refining before a design is ready to be unveiled to the world.
I always start with a question or a conceptual 'what if.' I look at a traditional, everyday object and sketch ways to disrupt its conventional geometry. From there, we move straight into understanding the raw material limitations, translating sketches into technical 3D blueprints before touching the clay.
Turn the mundane into art, and never let the constraints of utility compromise the freedom of form.
True design-led studios set the trends. While commercial markets follow trends, authentic design comes from an internal, artistic urge to create something that does not yet exist, thereby shifting public taste rather than reacting to it.
Technology plays a pivotal role. It allows us to push the boundaries of structural engineering and material science, enabling us to safely execute delicate, complex shapes in porcelain that were previously impossible to achieve by hand alone.
While the soul of our production remains meticulously handcrafted, we utilize advanced digital software like Fusion 360 and KeyShot for our initial 3D modeling, rendering, and structural prototyping.
They are everything. In luxury tableware, the translucency of fine porcelain provides the tactile canvas, the color defines the emotional tone, and the ambient environment completes the story. They must work in perfect harmony to create a sensory experience.
I wish for people to look past just the final object and ask about the underlying narrative, the complex design process, and the dedicated hands that brought that clay to life.
The exact same questions! I immediately wonder about the narrative spark behind it, the technical hurdles the designer had to overcome, and the craftsmanship involved in executing it so flawlessly.
I absolutely believe in co-design; creativity should never have boundaries. An ideal design partner is anyone who is willing to broaden their horizons, push past their own comfort zones, and challenge my perspective so we can create something extraordinary together.
The individuals who approach me with ideas framed around 'what if' rather than 'what kind.' Those speculative, daring conversations have opened countless doors of imagination for our studio that we didn't realize we could unlock.
Currently, my reading is intensely specialized—focused entirely on the chemistry of ceramics, advanced glaze compositions, and the historical and modern applications of porcelain.
Through relentless, hands-on experimentation with clay. By constantly creating new forms, understanding its structural capacities and limitations, fusing contrasting materials, and always honoring the inherently sustainable, timeless nature of the medium.
I would love to sit down with the visionary minds of the industrial product packaging sector who create structural innovations, alongside design icons Patricia Urquiola, Daniel Roseberry, and the brilliant creative team at Seletti.
Awards and international recognitions—like our recent A’ Design Award in Italy—serve as a beautiful form of third-party validation. When you spend months doubting whether an avant-garde concept will work, an international accolade gives you the confidence that you are moving in the right direction. Since this is our first major award, it’s too early to think about fame; there is still an immense amount of work and craft ahead of us in the studio.
My favorite colors are an intentional duality of deep black and vibrant orange. My favorite place is the creative sanctuary of our design studio, and my favorite brand philosophy is any house that treats functional objects as collectible art.
I’ve had some genuinely hilarious moments adjusting to the physical reality of the medium. Early on, while experimenting with turning clay into a liquid slip, I underestimated the power of the industrial mixer. In a split second, the slip splashed absolutely everywhere, completely covering me from head to toe in wet clay! It was a messy reminder of who is truly boss in the studio.
A great day is when a complex, delicate porcelain form successfully survives the extreme heat of the kiln firing exactly as imagined. Motivation comes naturally when you are driven by the pure thrill of seeing an abstract idea materialize into a solid, beautiful object.
No, it was far from obvious. I never imagined venturing into a deeply creative field until I turned 40. Having spent my entire earlier career in corporate business roles, becoming a recognized designer was a thought that simply never crossed my mind back then.
The global shifts of the past few years have made it difficult to predict what the world will look like even a year from now. A thousand years is unimaginable, but my deepest hope is that humanity evolves to be fundamentally kinder, more peaceful, harmonious, and deeply appreciative of art.
If you ever find yourself gazing at a Duali creation and feeling an emotional connection, please reach out and tell me. That exact connection is the ultimate validation we crave in our studio. True designs possess a soul, and it is only the people who can truly connect with them that see it. I wish for our collectors to feel that shared magic every time a piece sits on their table.
Designer Interview
25 May 2026
I am a business and marketing graduate who studied in Boston, Massachusetts, and spent years leading digital transformation and strategy in highly structured corporate environments, including healthcare, marine chemicals, and media metrics. Design came to me as a profound awakening later in life. Over the last three years, I have fully immersed myself in the artistic world of ceramic design, learning how to fuse my business acumen with the fluid and peaceful medium of fine porcelain. Becoming a designer was far from obvious. i never imagined a creative field until I turned 40. The shift happened completely by chance when I was making hand-crafted birth announcement plates for my daughter. The process of turning raw clay into a permanent, functional object felt so incredibly soothing, soulful, and meditative that it ignited an idle creative spark within me. The ideas haven't stopped flowing since, proving that it’s never too late to discover your true calling.
I am the founder of Duali, a luxury, design-led tableware brand based in Ahmedabad, India. We specialize in art-focused, functional fine porcelain and bone china, deliberately steering away from rustic stoneware to pursue material lightness and translucency. Our studio expanded from a modest 200-square-foot room to a vibrant 900-square-foot terrace space to accommodate our growth.
Design is the alchemy that elevates a normal object into a piece of art. It is the intentional bridge between raw emotion and functional reality. For me, true design turns the mundane into the interesting, the conventional into the unconventional, and gives a completely fresh, unexpected perspective to the rituals of everyday life.
I am most passionate about designing porcelain forms that challenge the traditional boundaries of utility—objects that are entirely functional but do not look functional at first glance. I love creating sculptural silhouettes that carry a profound narrative, twisting a conventional material like clay into something poetic, gravity-defying, and larger-than-life.
My favorite is our signature "Arch" mug, which we successfully patented. It represents the core philosophy of Duali. It features an avant-garde, architectural arch handle that completely disrupts the standard geometry of a cup. Balancing that heavy, structural, and geometric statement with the delicate, translucent lightness of high-grade porcelain was a massive technical hurdle, but the result is a beautiful piece of functional art that feels incredible in your hands.
The very first collection I designed under the Duali brand was a series of contemporary porcelain drinkware (Arch mugs) and tableware (Wabi Sabi) that questioned the standard archetype of dinnerware. I wanted our debut pieces to immediately establish our brand ethos: that tableware should be treated with the same artistic reverence as a sculpture on a pedestal.
My absolute favorite material is high-quality porcelain because of its challenging nature, its purity, and its exquisite translucency. On the technology side, I lean heavily into 3D modeling and rendering software like Fusion 360 and KeyShot. This tech allows us to precisely engineer complex, avant-garde geometries and calculate material stress before we ever touch the physical clay.
I feel the most creative when I am confronted with a "what if" question rather than a practical restriction. My mind lights up late in the evening in the quiet sanctuary of my terrace studio, or right after interacting with artists, thinkers, and designers who work in fields entirely different from my own.
I focus deeply on structural irony and ergonomics. I want the silhouette to look avant-garde, sculptural, and almost impossible to use at first glance. But the moment you pick it up, it must fit the human hand flawlessly. That exact tension between visual abstraction and seamless physical comfort is where I spend most of my design energy.
A thrilling mix of intense vulnerability and liberation. When you are pushing clay to its absolute limits, there is always a underlying suspense—a feeling of "will this hold?" But translating a wild, abstract thought into a physical blueprint brings a deep sense of joyful creative freedom.
A profound sense of relief, gratitude, and pride. Seeing a delicate, complex porcelain form successfully survive the extreme heat of the kiln and emerge exactly as I had imagined it is a magical moment. It feels like bringing a piece of a dream into the physical world.
A design is successful when it evokes an emotional resonance in the person who buys it. It shouldn't just sit passively on a table; it should speak for itself, spark a conversation, and make the collector feel a deep sense of pride and joy every single time they interact with it.
I look for authenticity and intentionality first. A good design must feel like it has an honest story to tell, where every curve, line, and material choice serves a clear purpose. I immediately notice whether a piece is merely copying a trend or if it stems from a genuine, internal creative urge.
A designer's responsibility is to educate human perception and encourage people to think outside the box, bringing communities closer together through shared beauty. Environmentally, we must honor our materials. Working with porcelain means working with a natural, timeless, and sustainable medium, and we have a duty to minimize waste and create objects built to last generations rather than contribute to disposable culture.
Design is currently at the absolute center of global conversation. The field is moving away from rigid, siloed disciplines and heading toward a brilliant era of cross-pollination. The future belongs to unexpected fusions - advanced technology with handcrated brilliance emerge to create highly personalized, narrative-driven objects.
We had a phenomenal international launch at Dubai Design Week. The global response was incredibly validating. We are currently mapping out our next international showcases, with plans to pitch and exhibit our collections in prominent design hubs like Italy and Copenhagen.
My inspiration comes from exploring the concept of "duality"—juxtaposing the rigid with the fluid, the traditional with the modern. I feed my creativity by cross-pollinating my mind; I step outside of ceramics to learn everything that is not ceramics and see how I can use what I know in my field, in my medium. Meeting people from completely different walks of life is my greatest creative fuel.
My style can be described as sculptural minimalism with a narrative soul. I am drawn to clean, organic, yet highly engineered forms that challenge traditional shapes. The main characteristics are crisp geometric lines, unexpected handles or contours, and a stark focus on the pure, white translucency of porcelain. My approach always starts by disrupting the mundane and asking, "How can this everyday object look like an absolute sculpture?"
I live and work in Ahmedabad, India, a city with an extraordinary architectural and textile heritage. This rich cultural backdrop inherently infuses my work with a deep respect for craftsmanship. The pro of designing in India is the incredible access to dedicated artisanal talent and a heritage of making things by hand. The con, particularly in the luxury porcelain segment, is that the local market has historically favored traditional motifs or rustic stoneware; introducing a minimal, avant-garde, international porcelain language requires constantly educating the consumer.
I prefer working with companies that treat design as a core value rather than an afterthought. So far we haven't worked with any companies so I wouldn't be able to comment on it more.
My biggest advice to companies is to trust the designer's intuition and allow room for creative failure during prototyping—that is where the magic happens. To select a great designer, don't just look at a polished portfolio; look for a unique worldview, an authentic voice, and a passion for storytelling. Select someone whose personal design philosophy aligns with your brand's core soul.
It is a rigorous 6 to 9-month journey. It always begins with a conceptual sketch born from an abstract idea. My industrial designer and I then translate those sketches into complex 3D digital renders to test the engineering and geometry. Once optimized, we create physical prototypes, and my master potter and I begin the arduous process of slip-casting and firing, adjusting glazes and clay bodies until the physical porcelain perfectly mirrors the weightlessness of the original vision.
I star off my day with the beautiful Duali Arch mugs at home. I have a artwork which is inspired by the Last Supper and a set of vintage vases.
My day is a perfect reflection of the duality of my brand. The morning is dedicated to the business, marketing, and operational mechanics of Duali—managing communications, overseeing our administrative workflow, and planning brand strategy. My afternoons and evenings are strictly reserved for the terrace studio. That is when I switch off the corporate mind to get my hands dirty with my master potter, reviewing prototypes, experimenting with glazes, and sketching new forms under the evening sky.
Stay fiercely authentic. It is incredibly easy to get swept away by digital trends and algorithm-driven aesthetics, but your true value lies in reflecting your unique thoughts, background, and taste into your work. Be unapologetic about your vision, stay curious about industries outside your own, and remember that no one else can execute your specific ideas better than you.
The absolute positive is the unmatched fulfillment of seeing an abstract, poetic thought materialize into a solid object that people bring into their homes to celebrate life. The negative is that creative work refuses to stay within a 9-to-5 boundary; it can be emotionally consuming, and dealing with material failures—like a kiln drop or a cracked prototype after months of work—can be heartbreaking.
Turn the mundane into art, and never let the constraints of utility compromise the freedom of form.
Resilience, curiosity and empathy. You must be curious enough to ask the hard questions, disciplined enough to master the limitations of your material, and empathetic enough to understand how the final object will make the user feel.
My digital toolbox contains Fusion 360 and KeyShot for modeling and rendering. My physical toolbox includes high-purity porcelain slip, specialized plaster molds, and our industrial kilns.
I compartmentalise. I divide my day into strict zones. Business strategy happens in the morning, while creative prototyping is safeguarded in the afternoon and evening. I also rely heavily on my studio team to handle execution details so I can preserve my mental energy for design innovation.
Because we work with high-grade porcelain and intricate geometries, it takes our studio anywhere from 6 to 9 months to finalize a project from the initial sketch to a finished, retail-ready collection.
People almost always ask: "How do you come up with these handles and shapes, and how do they actually stay structurally sound when fired?"
My seven years spent leading digital transformation and managing social media metrics for a large media organization. It taught me how to read consumer behavior, build cult digital communities, and understand the power of aspirational visual storytelling.
Our clientele includes interior designers, home stylists, art collectors, and discerning design enthusiasts across the Indian and Dubai luxury markets who treat their living spaces as personal galleries and value high-end, functional art.
I mostly enjoy the prototyping phase. Where science and design collide to give you what you expect or give you something completely unexpected.
My immediate plan is to expand our presence into design zones of certain countries where the form is a story and the form is function. Seeing Duali in the design captials of the world is what I plan to do next.
I conceptualize all the designs and direct the artistic vision myself, but bringing them to fruition is a beautiful team effort. I work hand-in-hand with my industrial designer to translate my sketches into 3D software, and my master potter, who brings decades of tactile expertise to help me manipulate the physical porcelain slip.
Yes! I am currently working on a highly conceptual tableware set that is hand-painted with elements and realities that we normally don't wish to see or acknowledge on a dinner plate, yet absolutely exist in our world. It is an intellectual, slightly provocative concept that pushes the narrative boundaries of tableware, and I’m incredibly excited to bring it to life.
They can connect with us through our official Instagram page @dualidesigns or through our website duali.co. They can reach out directly via email info@duali.co for private appointments at our Ahmedabad studio.
I want people to know that when they hold a piece of Duali, they are holding an object with a soul.Our recent international award in Italy is a beautiful milestone, but the true prize is when someone looks at our porcelain and feels a deep, unspoken connection to the design.