Headline

Design & Development Leader | Furniture & Interiors | New Product Development | Sourcing, Manufacturing & Execution

About

I design furniture and the spaces it lives in. Design leader with 15 years of experience across furniture and interior design and development. My work has largely been about taking ideas from concept to reality while balancing design, manufacturing, sourcing, execution and customer needs.

Location

Bengaluru

AI stack

claude

gemini

Adobe Firefly

Canva Magic Studio

ChatGPT

ChatGPT Images

Work experience

Head of Design - Furniture at Home Centre India, Bengaluru, Currently leading the Furniture Design function, managing concept-to-launch developments across Living, Dining, and Bedroom categories. Led design and development for select categories and seasonal collections, contributing to a furniture business with an overall turnover of about ₹400 Cr, with consistent profits year-on-year. - Led the Furniture Design function, defining seasonal direction across all furniture categories, ensuring alignment with brand DNA and evolving consumer trends. - Led a team of 4-6 designers and product development professionals across Living, Dining, and Bedroom categories, created trackers to help oversee the department. - Delivered 35+ furniture collections and 500+ SKUs supporting a business turnover of about ₹400 Cr, translating concepts into retail-ready products. - Established department-wide SOPs and progress-tracking frameworks, scaling cross-functional handovers and improving speed and execution quality. - Built and maintained strategic partnerships with vendors across India, China, and Malaysia, ensuring high-quality production and timely launches. - Represented the design team at sourcing fairs, driving vendor development and sourcing. - Key seasonal collections recognised internally for design excellence and commercial impact.

Design Manager - Furniture at Home Centre India, Mar 2022 - Aug 2024 · 2 yrs 6 mos, On-site, Joined as a Design Manager to lead the development of new furniture collections, from concept sketches to market launch. Worked closely with Buying, Product Development, QC teams, and vendor partners to bring scalable designs to market.

Founder - Principal Designer at Studio Arastu, Mar 2020 - Feb 2022 · 2 yrs, Hyderabad Area, India, Founded Studio Arastu as an end-to-end interior design practice in Hyderabad, focused on customised spaces and bespoke furniture for residential and commercial clients. • Studio projects focused on furniture-led interiors using natural materials and handcrafted elements to create clean, functional spatial environments. • Delivered full turnkey interior projects from requirement briefing, schematic design, and material specification through to site execution and final handover. • Designed and developed handcrafted furniture in reclaimed wood, modular cabinetry, and custom furniture solutions across standalone commissions and complete interior fit-outs. • Built and managed networks of contractors, carpenters, and specialist vendors; handled project budgets and site coordination across all projects.

IKEA Business - Designer at IKEA Group, Sep 2018 - Feb 2020 · 1 yr 6 mos, Hyderabad, Telangana, India, Part of the founding team for the commercial build-up of IKEA's first store in India, contributing across two roles spanning showroom interior design and the launch of a new home planning service. • Co-established the IKEA Home Furnishing Consultants department from the ground up, designing the end-to-end service model including client onboarding, design brief process, site measurement protocols, 3D concept presentation, and purchase coordination. • Delivered personalised home furnishing solutions for residential clients using the IKEA range, covering space planning, mood boards, 3D concepts, product curation, and ISELL estimates. • Designed showflats for residential developers using curated IKEA ranges, set as purchase templates for B2C consumers.

Interior Design Co-worker - Com&In at IKEA Group, Sep 2017 - Aug 2018 · 1 yr, Hyderabad Area, India, • Contributed to the planning and implementation of room settings and vignettes across the showroom for IKEA's first India store launch. • Created locally relevant, commercially aligned home furnishing solutions reflecting IKEA's identity and the Indian consumer's life at home.

Senior Designer - Interiors at FHD Group, Feb 2015 - Mar 2016 · 1 yr 2 mos, Hyderabad Area, India, Worked within a multidisciplinary architecture and interior design firm on premium residential and commercial projects spanning office spaces, large-scale clubhouses, spas, model flats, and independent villas. • Handled interior design across projects from concept development, space planning, and working drawings through to construction documents, budgeting, and site execution. • Designed and developed a range of furniture for Organo Naandi, an award-winning sustainable eco-community in Hyderabad.

Senior Executive Designer at Alankritha Interio, Feb 2013 - Nov 2014 · 1 yr 10 mos, Greater Hyderabad Area, Designed modular kitchens, wardrobes, walk-in closets, and living and office furniture solutions, servicing 120+ clients and contributing to approximately ₹3.3Cr in revenue for the firm. • Managed end-to-end client projects from concept, 3D rendering, and material selection through to production drawings, estimation, and site execution. • Created design templates, checklists, and standardised product dimensions to streamline the design and production process. • Developed a marketable range of household furniture using Bison boards, a newly developed cement composite panel, and built a client base for the product.

Education

Post Graduate Diploma, Furniture and Interior Design, National Institute of Design

Bachelor's degree, Civil Engineering, Chaitanya Bharathi institute of technology