Red Brick Design Studio- Home for Cosmopolitan Designs
AESTHETIC DESIGNS WITH CULTURAL FLAVOURS
Enriched with cultural flavours, creating aesthetic designs with the global taste, Red Brick Design Studio has marked a difference in the domain of Design and Architecture with their wide range of projects and services. Red Brick Design Studio is a Luxury Boutique Architecture and Interior Design practice established in the year 2013 by Architect Sahil Tanveer and Swapna Neogi. The Firm has its Design Studio in Dharwad, Karnataka and a office in Mumbai which strengthens its belief of having a cosmopolitan design practice with the flexibility of a local studio, which allows them to work across a wide network of key cities in the country.
Every design is individually studied in depth by the duo designers thus giving the best shape to the products. Red Brick Design Studio approaches design based on Sahil’s sustainable design beliefs coupled with the rich experiential aesthetic culture of Swapna, both of who bring together their varied cultural influences and understanding to take every new project as a separate entity proposing unique and contextual solutions engaging with the socio-culture of the immediate surroundings. They offer comprehensive Architecture and Interior Architecture design consultancy and specialises in Private Residential – Villas, Weekend Homes, Apartments and Penthouses, Commercial – Offices, Retail Outlets and Storefronts, and Hospitality – Sports Clubs, Airbnb Let-outs, Resort Residences, Hotels and Restaurants.
The duo designers’ blend of intellect and creativity makes every project exceptional. The combination of Swapna and Sahil, with Interior Designing and Architectural backgrounds working together from the beginning of a project, strives to create a clear understanding between the two disciplines and promote adaptive reuse, sustained living, and relation to the urban fabric, and come up with sophisticated, classy, climate and client-responsive design solutions. Construction and design at the best are wonderfully balanced with innovative ideas with the best aesthetic flavours.
Architect Sahil Tanveer was born in Dharwad, Karnataka. He is a graduate in Architecture from B V Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering and Technology, Hubli. . He has also attained certifications in Photography, BIM and Philosophy and is currently pursuing a Diploma in Modern Applied Psychology and Contemplative Reading. He is committed to the idea that education and learning never stops.The vision for a cosmopolitan practice developed while he worked and observed the people and cultures in numerous firms in different cities. Firms like Rita Mody, DCAPL, Metro, Design Inc became instrumental in one way or the other, influencing his school of thought.
Besides being into construction and designs, Sahil Tanveer possesses the passion to ink his ideas and thoughts. Being vocal about sustainability, adaptive reuse, and socially charged issues surrounding society, he regularly publishes essays on the website’s blog, LinkedIn, and contributes to architectural magazines. Red Brick Design Studio continually grows in his vision and attempts to bridge the gap between international standards and local architecture. Sahil is featured in Antarya magazine, The Hindu, The Architect’s Diary , Rethinking The Future and is registered with the Council of Architecture, the Indian Institute of Architects and the Institute of Indian Interior Designers.
Swapna Neogi, the partner in success was born in Zambia. The maestro designer is the deep-rooted anchor of the firm earning over a decade and a half of experience in the field of Interior Design. After graduating from Kolkata, she has worked in numerous places including South Africa and brings to the firm a sense of true diversity and integrity. Her attention to detail is the unique quality that has enabled her to complete many residential and hospitality projects across borders.
Swapna deals with every project with an individualistic approach and does not actively push for a signature style. Sustainability in design comes to her naturally. She is inspired by the earthy and minimalist contemporary architecture of Vietnam and Singapore and aspires to make every space more liveable and fully entwined with nature. Swapna believes her firm offers the total package to people not only in terms of professional services but also as an overall educative and cultural experience and interaction. People get way more than just an Interior design firm or a designer when they enlist her. She is a trustworthy entrepreneur who has been able to establish a firm and everlasting relationships with the clients thus becoming the most sought after designer.
Every success story travels through a path of challenges. Sahil with his inclination towards Humanities had to balance with the technical education having been brought up with the hub of Engineers. He says,
“One of the challenges was to find a balance between this seemingly two ends of the educational spectrum.”
Most of the challenges were cognitive and philosophical for Sahil.
Speaking about the challenges faced on the professional front, they say,
“We have realised with our own observations and experiences that people have started to confuse carpentry and curated decor with Interior design. This has led to many companies creeping up claiming to provide Interior Design services. Many a times clients approach us with that in mind, that we shall create beds, wardrobes and tv units for them. To be able to guide them to the real meaning of Interior Architecture has been a challenge, the resistance to which is still ongoing. Although we love remote locations, logistically we face challenges where visiting an ongoing project regularly is not possible due to the location. But, this is effectively solved by preparing extensive detailed drawings and documentation and, the use of technology and other tools to successfully monitor the project and bring it to a satisfactory completion. Another challenge we face is the lack of talent available in Dharwad, where our design studio is situated. Even though Dharwad is surrounded by prestigious Architecture schools, many prefer to migrate to Bangalore or other metros, essentially increasing expenditure and congestion in the city, in my opinion. Everyone knows the value of the countryside, but no one wants to embrace it.”
Challenges do not end with the success. And the couple kept challenging the challenges. The challenges faced with the initial customers had given them a tough time in the initial stages. They state,
“Initially we had few clients who directed changes at the site without consulting us , went on increasing our scope of work and at the end of it was always the architect responsible for timeline of the project . Thankfully we grew out of these clients. We observed and adapted ourselves to quality work and deflected those clients that were not our ideological fit.
There was a phase extremely early on in Red Brick Design Studio where we lost essentially good work to the cunning trickery of a few clients. As experience taught us, we grew out of that as well.”
Architect Sahil speaks about ‘Resort Residence’ one of his successful projects which he terms to be the most memorable, located in a remote location atop a hill in the middle of one of Asia’s largest man made lakes, in Jaisamand, Rajasthan. A project to renovate a part of the Hubli Gymkhana Club awaits to be accomplished as delayed by the pandemic situation now. However, after completion of the first phase, the duo designers could get an in-depth access to the workings of a community sports club in a tier-II city and the task that goes behind renovating it.
In March 2019, they launched their website www.redbrickdesignstudio.com which was long awaited target. He says,
“An achievement quite big for us, as we designed the entire graphical interface of the website ourselves.”
Red Brick Design Studio collaborates with I.EVO., a furniture manufacturer based in Udaipur, Rajasthan, who has produced our custom designed furniture for projects locally and also across the southern states.
Experiences teach and with time they become the life lessons. Here is what they have to day about their personal and professional learnings.
“Throughout our journey we have kept evolving to the situations and contexts presented to us over time. One of the things we have adopted to the approach to our design thinking is human psychology and behaviour and we have consciously tried to incorporate human centric design solutions which are practical and yet enrich the soul of the people.
After the present condition of the country, during lockdown and the pandemic, so famously shown to us on all the media platforms, we have observed a need for social understanding and empathy. I have learned that Architects must find those underlying issues that plague a society and eat away at it from inside, and devote at least some time in trying to solve them. Solution might be too technical a word, even if we could develop theories and ideas that might spark a debate towards finding a solution, I feel we will have achieved something of significance. We must remember that Environment and Nature includes the human race.”
Architect Sahil and Swapna are indeed an exemplary personalities with an enlightening journey. Every aspiring architect or designer must look up to their journey as a guide to their career. Here they put forth a brief inspiring note to all the upcoming architects,
“The first advice I would give to an upcoming architect is that, financial gain is not the purpose of this profession, it is a by-product. If you produce enough culturally rich, socially sensitive and soul satisfying work, you will have in-turn produced a lot of by-product as well. Don’t be altruistic. No one achieved real progress with out self satisfaction.
Another thing I would like to tell them is, whether you decide to work for someone, or for yourself, always remember to think and decide for yourself. Lastly beg, borrow, steal, do whatever you can, to get ample amount of patience for yourself, you’re going to need it.”
The duo Architects term their future to be a mystery with the eternal quest for the meaning of life. Few future projects include a Recreation Space, a Bungalow, an Office building and a couple of Apartments.They have also been actively pursuing design competitions of international repute.
Speaking more about their future plans, Architect Sahil conveys,
“Going deeper into the social realm, I have been writing a lot. The blog on our website is constantly populated with my thoughts and ideas about our current issues and ideologies. I have been contributing to architectural magazines as well.
We have recently gotten involved with A Hand For Handmade, an organisation helping the artisans of India in creating and selling hand made arts and crafts and promoting and fighting for better remunerations to the 200 million artisan workforce in India. We hope to educate Architects about using artefacts and handicraft in projects and the necessary appreciation that it deserves by knowing the context of the artists.”
Indeed, a very noble plan to impart education to the upcoming artisans. To know more about Red Brick Design Studio, a click on the following links will take you to their world:
www.linkedin.com/in/thesocialsahil
https://www.facebook.com/RedbrickDesignStudio/
Instagram- @redbricksahil
Twitter- @redbricksahil
We wish Red Brick Design Studio, Architect Sahil and Architect Swapna all the very best for the future endeavours!
