Surat is a buzzing city with a love for variety – people who love gaudy, loud homes and then there are people who love quiet nooks that bask in its subtlety. But everyone relies on experts here, letting the best in business transform their visions into their dream homes and offices. No surprises that Surat has interior designers by the bunch. Combine this with the spirit of entrepreneurship, these young designers have started their own practice that lets them explore their creative flair and translate them according to the client’s taste.

This new generation of designers however is making heads turn with their ideas inspired by global or vernacular or merging of the both – experiment being the star. Here are some designers whose work we absolutely adore and we think you should know them too.

1. Hamza Ezzy ( Space Edge Designers)

Born and brought up in Saudi Arabia, Hamza discovered his true passion for raw spaces and decided to follow his calling by becoming an interior designer. He says that he didn’t have to step out to look for inspiration because it was right there in his house, in the form of his parents. Right after completing his studies, he started Space Edge Designers which aims to help their clients get their dream home in the most affordable prices, busting the myth that an interior designer costs an exorbitant sum of money.

When it comes to design, the most important factor for Space Edge Designers is that all the objects of a space must communicate with one another besides responding and balancing each other. Majorly, it has completed residential and corporate spaces based on contemporary, industrial, mid century modern and Scandinavian styles.

“I don’t think outside of the box. I just think what I can do with the box” said an effervescent Hamza when we asked him about his design mantra. Hamza is your man if you are looking at balance and harmony.

2. Faizan, Aakruti, Ian & Mukesh  (Architecture & Design Collaborative)

“Whatever good things we build end up building us.” – Jim Rohn
Architecture & Design Collaborative functions on the philosophy of the above mentioned quote and considers nature as their true inspiration. As the name suggests, Architecture and Design Collaborative is the collaborative firm of architect Faizan Sheikh, Aakruti Johari, Ian Christian & Mukesh Rajpurohit. All of them have different skills and different experiences, which helps them grow together to deliver better work after understanding the client’s needs, their daily routine and their culture.

They have been doing multiple residential interiors with challenging budgets since the inception of their firm. They envision adopting the ideas of architects such as Yasmin Lari and Shigeru Ban to serve the poor and needful and thus create a better world with the use of design. If you are budget conscious and love eclectic tastes in your home, ADC will work like a charm.

3. Umang Mittal (We Make Spaces)

Aspired to become an Engineer and more so preparing for JEE, Umang realized that he doesn’t want to play with Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics solely. Instead, he wanted to be a creator and chose to pursue architecture in college. He strongly believes that design is not a singular process but a collective one, hence ended up naming his firm We Make Spaces along with Architect Hiral Patel. According to him, every space has a character of its own and it is the job of a designer to identify the traits and organize it in a way that every piece falls into place.

We Make Spaces specializes in delivering vibrant cross – disciplinary solutions to architectural and interior designing needs. In less than 3 years, it has already completed a lot of commercial projects in International Business Centre (IBC), Surat as well for developers in Dubai. On being asked about future plans, he said that he wants to serve the community by incorporating sustainable practices since everyone should have access to good quality spaces, irrespective of their budget.

4. Urvi Mistry & Devyani Minocha (Birchbox)

From being batch mates to now being partners at Birchbox, the story of these designers is inspiring. While working with different architecture firms independently, they realized that to create art, there should be more freedom and no restraints. Hence, Birchbox was founded so that they can have more flexibility in executing their ideas for a space.

The fascinating name Birchbox represents the wood of Birch tree and box, together justifying the idea of crafting a space. They believe that for any design to be effective and aesthetic, there should be a proper balance in the functionality as well as the creative aspect of a design. Currently working on a variety of projects including an ornate farm house in Navsari, this duo is fortunate to have each other as partners in spite of having disagreement on most of the ideas. They trust that working together helps them not to miss out on anything, be it mechanical or the design outlook. On any typical day you can find them fighting ideas over Maggi. Drop by at Coworq, the coworking space they work from to check their work.

5. Kamal Mania ( Drashtikon Art and Interior Designing)

Having seen an artistic side in Kamal, his parents sent him to Vallabh Vidyanagar to study Fine Arts after completing his matriculation in Surat. Always keen to learn more, Kamal studied fashion designing also and further enrolled himself in college of architect and interior design.

After graduating, he started Drashtikon Art and Interior Designing which not only caters the designing requirements for commercial and residential spaces but any item of design. He believes that there is art & design in everything we do. Even if it is starting a small business, there is a need for logo design. And Drashtikon comes into picture for all such demands. This studio focuses on practicality so that their clients are satisfied and has so far completed many interior designing projects apart from doing Wall Relief Art, Sculpture Art, 3D visuals and conducting Art workshops.