Nature has long influenced how we build and inhabit spaces, but its presence in furniture design often stops at surface embellishment.
Project Name: An Escapade with Nature
Studio Name: Intent Made
Designer: Swetha Vegesana
An Escapade with Nature, the latest collection by Hyderabad-based Intent Made Studio, takes this connection deeper. “We looked closely at everything, from the lofty folds of a mountain peak to the delicate textures on a fox-nut leaf,” says Swetha Raju, founder and principal designer at the studio. “This collection is our way of translating those elements, their forms, patterns and quiet rhythms of the natural world into pieces .”
The collection extends across living, lounge, and dining spaces, offering furniture and accents that include seating, tables, lighting, mirrors, and partitions. Sierra Sofa and Sierra Swivel Chair reinterpret mountainscapes through poised silhouettes and sculpted softness. The twin curves of the sofa, achieved through wood bending techniques, along with its soft upholstery, lend it a continuous form that supports a relaxed posture. The swivel chair, by contrast, sits on a hand-carved wooden base. Its rounded backrest and seat creates a cocoon-like profile that warmly embraces its user.
Each piece in the collection has been developed in close collaboration with artisans, ensuring that craftsmanship and technique remain integral to its contemporary expression. For instance, the Teratai Centre Table and Teratai Side Table take their cue from clusters of fox-nut leaves adrift on still water. Crafted entirely in stainless steel, their trestle-like bases support organically shaped tops that vary in height and scale. These tops are delicately engraved to mirror the natural veins and contours of the leaf. With an almost meditative, weightless presence, the composition settles into a space with intention.
This interplay between narrative and form continues across the rest of the furniture pieces. In the Vana Lounge Chair, a forked metal frame exudes the feeling of resting among trees. The same language of dense forest extends into the Vana Side Table and Vana Console, where branch-like structures evoke canopies and dense undergrowth. The Vana Dining Table, by contrast, features a tree-trunk-inspired metal base and a marble tabletop with brass inlay, offering a sense of weight and rootedness. It is paired with The Vana Dining Chair. The set is completed by a wood and stone Teratai Bar Unit with malachite inlay that traces a lotus afloat on water.
The collection’s design vocabulary extends seamlessly into lighting. Amongst them, the Vana Chandelier stands out with its branching form and petal-like shades, evoking the moment a flower unfurls. Crafted in metal, its silhouette casts dappled pools of light, turning the ceiling into a quiet canopy.
Each lighting piece introduces its own rhythm to the collection. The Teratai Ceiling Lamp captures the quiet elegance of lotus ponds through a carved wooden form suspended in bloom, while The Teratai Floor Lamp with its hammered brass body mirrors the poise and strength of the lotus rising from water. The Sierra Wall Light blurs the line between lighting and installation, with scattered points of illumination and pedestal-like spaces that double as resting spots for plants or objects.
The collection rounds off with a series of accent pieces that add nuance to a space. The Ari Mirror, carved in wood using traditional chiseling techniques, draws from the gentle ripple of water. Its fluid form offers both reflection and sculptural detail. The Ari Partition, cast in brass with a patina finish, acts as a divider in corner spaces. Its wave-like silhouette brings in a subtle sense of movement. With warm tones and a fluid geometry, the Teratai Carpet brings a sense of dynamism to the floor.
An Escapade with Nature doesn’t treat nature as decoration. It looks at awe-inspiring structures and the strength they embody, and translates them into the form, function, and feeling. Every tiniest element, be it the branches, the flowers or the patina of age over metals, come together to evoke an experience akin to sitting in the lap of nature. “We weren’t shaping objects here. We were setting the mood,” explains Swetha. In doing so, An Escapade with Nature becomes a centrepiece; its forms shaped by the wild, and calibrated by craft.
