Farah Ahmed Mathias & Dhaval Shellugar The 2012-born FADD Studio is already known for going against the norm. The name is an acronym for Farah and Dhaval Design, and also a play on the word ‘fad’… a reminder to not stagnate into a style that becomes the firm’s identity. “We believe that having a singular style defies the purpose of design,” declare the partners who prefer to create fads. Farah Ahmed and Dhaval Shellugar met while working at Khosla Associates under Sandeep Khosla and Amaresh Anand in Bengaluru, and reconnected after Farah returned from Milan where she acquired a Master’s degree in Interior Design from Istituto Marangoni. Dhaval’s creative passion was sparked by posters depicting innovative vehicle design. After he graduated from Mumbai’s Rachana Sansad School of Interior Design, he was recruited by Mika Design – before joining Khosla Associates, where (as senior design lead for almost four years) he honed his skills in the principles of design. Meanwhile, Farah was on the verge of deciding what to focus her creative energies on. After studying photography and political science as an undergraduate at Northwestern University, she worked in advertising in New York and then dabbled in fine art photography. Her desire to add practical aspects to her creativity led her to try interior design at Khosla Associates, and she finally found the balance she sought. The duo met, and the rest is history. Partners, FADD Studio “LuxeBook is a wonderful curation of content across so many different fields” Beverley’s interest was sparked thanks to her interior designer neighbour. “The blueprints would be left at our place when they were not home,” she recalls. “I was fascinated and tried to imagine what the space would look like.” She chose St. Xavier’s for her junior college as the campus appealed to her aesthetics. Her time at L.S. Raheja College of Architecture was peppered with study trips that opened her eyes to India’s rich heritage – from the Taj Mahal in Agra to Hazrat Salim Chishti’s tomb in Fatehpur Sikhri to Hampi, Khajuraho and Gwalior. Beverley worked for a real estate developer initially, but soon switched career paths to interiors. DCA was an award-winning firm which concentrated on bungalows in Lonavala, and she was thrilled to see them completed in six to eight months. Her stint at Sp+A (Sameep Padora and Associates) saw her working on interesting projects – such as the lifestyle store Palate – following which Nayak helped set up their Projects Division. “It was before its time in terms of product design,” she declares. “From local designers like Klove, Mukul Goyal, Alex Davis, Abraham & Thakore and Devi Designs to European brands – all were to be found under one roof.” In 2009, Beverley started CarteBlanche, and her first project was a 3BHK Mumbai apartment. When approached to design a condominium in Singapore, she realised that each item cost three times as much. She recalls getting everything made in Mumbai and then shipping it to the country. Currently, her projects are mostly in Hyderabad and Mumbai. Beverley Nayak Principal Architect, CarteBlanche “LuxeBook is about all things luxury… lifestyle, travel, culture and design” | 23 | 22
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