Shamal NS and Srishti Verma, Pacha Life Design Studio
Nestled in the verdant village of Thrikkaipetta in Kerala’s Wayanad district, Pacha Life Design Studio champions sustainability in its every step, trying to bring positive change in the lives of people and environment. Founded in 2018, the studio’s name— “Pacha,” meaning “green” or “raw” in Malayalam—perfectly encapsulates its core philosophy of authentic sustainability in every aspect of its work.
At the helm of this creative haven are two visionaries united by their passion for nature-based design solutions. Shamal NS, Founder and Head Designer, brings his unique perspective shaped by growing up in a farming family where nature served as his primary classroom. After graduating from NIFT Bangalore, Shamal established Pacha Life with his partner Neo S to create a community space for creative minds who share their environmental values. His expertise as a Product Designer and Master Trainer in Bamboo forms the backbone of the studio’s distinctive aesthetic and technical approach.
Complementing Shamal’s vision is Srishti Verma, Creative Head and a graduate from IICD Jaipur. With over a decade of experience working with traditional craft communities, Srishti infuses Pacha’s creations with product innovation, inclusivity, and a social design perspective. Her background in research, writing, and material culture, combined with her love for storytelling as a design intervention tool, adds depth and meaning to the studio’s work. A natural affinity for flowers and all things botanical makes Pacha Life her perfect home for slow, thoughtful creation.
This interdisciplinary studio operates at the fascinating intersection of art, craft, interior design, and construction. Specializing in bamboo handmade products, furniture, and building techniques, Pacha Life exclusively works with locally sourced materials including bamboo, wood, mud, dry flowers, twigs, and other natural fibers. The team collaborates closely with traditional artisans in Wayanad and throughout Kerala, providing them with sustainable livelihood opportunities through access to design expertise and market connections.
Pacha Life is a community of designers, artists, thinkers, craftspeople, farmers, and masons who have collectively committed to practicing and promoting a sustainable lifestyle, creating a unique creative sanctuary where nature and human ingenuity flourish together.
In this exciting conversation, part of DTalks, Shamal and Srishti opens up about their journey of design, sustainability and collaboration.
Q. How would you describe your signature design aesthetic, and how has it evolved while working in India?
Our design sensibilities are drawn from local and regional inspirations ranging from the people, cultural narratives, flora, fauna and biodiversity. We believe in strong story led designs and have faith in the material to guide us through the path of a thoughtful design process. Understanding the material and its properties to be able to maximum utilise its strength is our first step towards a kinder and not so forced design.
Q. What influences and inspires your current work? Could you share some movements, designers, or elements of Indian culture that have shaped your practice?
Sustainability is the core of our Design Ideology which is both Environment & Social Impact. We are fortunate to be living and working in a village where sustainable practices are a way of life and to live in harmony with nature is quite effortless.
Wayanad being a forest landscape is home to numerous indigenous tribal communities who have been traditionally using Bamboo in all means of their lifestyle since from housing to everyday products, musical instruments and even food. Marrying the traditional knowledge with our design sensibilities, we are trying to unwrap the many facades of this amazing material by working at the intersection of art, crafts, interior and construction.
We are deeply inspired by Indian craft practices, craftspeople and their craftsmanship, often gate kept by bigger names and brands. In today’s time where everything handmade is struggling to compete with mechanised, digitized, fast produced, questions of drudgery and practicality, we want to continue having faith and stand with hand skills to find their relevance.
If we have to take one name, it would be Laurie Baker who inspires us for his marvellous work in the sustainability discourse, even before this term was so widely and mindlessly used.
Q. Your work often involves collaborations with artisans and other creatives. What draws you to these partnerships, and how do these collaborations enrich your design practice?
Kerala is deeply rooted in its culture, traditional art forms, handloom and crafts. One can see a subtle modernity in its many layers of traditional values. Despite of so much to offer, there is a lack of design intervention in its artisanal & cultural sector. With our commitment to revive craft practices, we engage and collaborate with traditional artisans to work in textile and non – textile value chains.
Co-creation with local communities who are experts in their subject has opened new dimensions of Design Innovation in our journey. It has helped us bridge the thin line of traditional knowledge systems and our practice as trained designers – to be able to accept the fact that simple solutions lie in everyday life and where to stop over designing !
Q. Looking back at your portfolio, which project represents a significant turning point in your career, and among your recent works, what project are you most proud of and why?
With the support of our incredible team, we have always believed in our process and each project for us has pushed us one step beyond our comfort zone. None of us are trained architects, but our work in mud and bamboo construction comes from a place of love and intuitiveness. Learning by doing has kept us to explore design in areas of art, products, interior and construction. We have recently worked on a residential property inspired from traditional Kerala architecture, a resort site with mud cottages and are currently working on a low cost mud house which are all built on a central idea of using earth building techniques and repurposed materials. Saying YES to the most challenging projects like the recent large scale FLOW SLOW installation at one the resorts in Wayanad, helped us unfold the many possibilities of cane and its moulding nature.
Q. What unique challenges and opportunities have you encountered as an emerging designer in the Indian design industry, and how are you working to overcome these obstacles?
We feel when you stay true to your design ethics and are determined to follow a path – it might take longer than usual for you to outshine but you will surely find your niche !
Also, you have to be bold enough and keep a big heart while seeing your designs and knowledge getting disseminated, instead of misunderstanding it with getting copied – a hard lesson learnt through our design journey !
A wise combination of traditional and modern has a way for designers to explore the Indian contemporary design space. We stay rooted and committed to our vision of walking sustainability without having to wear many labels and greenwashing our audience.
Q. How do you approach sustainability and eco-friendly practices in your designs, particularly considering India’s traditional wisdom and contemporary environmental challenges?
We are an interdisciplinary studio space working at the intersection of art, craft, interior and construction using locally available materials like wood, mud, dry flowers and other natural fibers, with a specialization in Bamboo. We work with traditional artisans in Wayanad and Kerala largely with an aim to generate a sustainable livelihood through access to Design & Market.
We strongly practise – reduce, recycle, repurpose! Crafts at its very core are sustainable and need no added efforts – we follow best practices, engage with traditional communities and co-create.
By choosing Bamboo which is the most sustainable materials of all, holds great potential as a nature-based solution for climate change mitigation and positive environmental impact, we know we are contributing our small bit to a happier planet!
Our recent initiative ‘I am more than a Lungi’, a range of upcycled products from waste Kannur handloom fabrics, is an attempt to circularity , understanding the lifecycle of materials & let them live a fuller life.
The collection is a gentle reminder to the rich checked handloom textiles of Kannur, leading to the memory lanes of the humble Gamchha, a product of everyday use by a common man in India. It is an ode to remembering an ordinary mundane object that aspires to be extraordinary, if given a chance !
Often woven into Mund (lungi), bedsheets and towels, Kannur is home to hundreds of weavers and their livelihood. While production, there is generous amount of fabric waste that gets generated. We at Pacha, are trying to give a second life to these fabrics by upcycling these waste pieces into products like bags, pouches, accessories and apparel.
Q. How do you build visibility and reach out to potential clients – what platforms and strategies have worked best for you?
We think we have been very organic in our approach of finding good work! We work on a very personal note with our clients and build an everlasting relationship.
Social media has surely helped us bring new avenues and showcase our work to a larger audience.
Q. For aspiring designers looking to make their mark in India’s design landscape, what wisdom would you share from your journey?
Make your own rules, build your ethics and stay rooted !
Featuring Image Courtesy: Pacha Life
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