Ridhi Khosla Jalan is a designer and content creator with a journey rooted in creativity and simplicity. She initiated her journey with a store called ‘Little Nest’. The store focused on children’s furniture and she designed children’s rooms. Later, she established – Ridhi Khosla Jalan Studio. In 2023, she ventured into content creation and decided to share all her knowledge about design on Instagram and within 9 months, had more than 400K followers.
Ridhi Khosla: When pursuing finance and marketing, I would sit outside the architecture school in my university and conflict between switching or not my major. But unfortunately, due to a lack of courage at that age, I kind of went with the flow and got my degree and practiced finance a bit. Surprisingly, I found myself constantly looking at Pinterest and even at work I would keep looking through the window thinking about designs.
So when pregnant with my second child, I decided to go back to college and pursue what I’m so passionate about. Because every Monday morning should be something you look forward to. The minute I made that switch, every day is Monday for me and I’m glad of taking that step. Also, growing up in and around house renovations, due to my parents’ love for construction, designing was something I had been interested in from an early age.
Ridhi Khosla: While doing my projects, I always found it hard to understand the latest materials or products. Because you’re in your bubble. You go to the site, meet your client, meet your contractors, and you have your regular vendors. Once in a while, you get a new sample at the office. But, beyond that, if I’m in Bombay, I don’t know what’s happening in Hyderabad or if I’m in Delhi I don’t know what’s happening in Chennai. Due to the lack of information, not only me but others were struggling too. Hence, I decided to just share whatever knowledge I have on Instagram and see where it goes, without any intention of being a content creator.
I thought by the end of the year if I have 10,000 followers that’s great. But the minute the number started increasing so rapidly I was happily confused and wondered if I wanted to do this more seriously. As of now, I’m enjoying the ride, since there’s no training for Content creation like other professions. Therefore, going with the flow and learning along.
Ridhi Khosla: For me, authenticity has never really been a problem. Because my intention was always to share knowledge, rather than making it a profession or becoming famous in industry. I don’t even use filters but represent the rawness of reality. In terms of what products I’m recommending, I conduct full research and try to showcase the best of whatever I can. Even if I make mistakes sometimes, I intend to show the best or give advice that I follow. Thus, if you stay true to the design and the purpose of it, then authenticity comes across.
Ridhi Khosla: In today’s world everyone wants a beautiful house so aesthetics are naturally going to dominate. And by posting on social media, people can showcase their house, where the emphasis is on how it looks and not on functionality. But having said that you do have a lot of beautiful things that function well, what people should look for. With ample options in the market, if something is good-looking but doesn’t work my advice is don’t embody it. A piece should not be merely for a picture or a compliment from others but should serve a purpose. Although people are smart, realizing the amount of money spent, the interior decor has to be functional as well. So, it’s not much of a concern in my opinion.
Ridhi Khosla: It depends on the day because I see so many things and I like so many different things. But honestly, it depends on the house and the client. It isn’t about my preference but about what fits the space better, and so I can’t pick one. I think a designer’s skill set should be able to cater to the requirements.
Ridhi Khosla: From your Kettle to your table, everything in your home has become smart. So, as a designer you have to keep that in mind and in fact I think it’s an opportunity for us. When you’re getting smart you’re also getting the opportunity of conserving resources. For example, automatic switches can save electricity and sensor water taps can conserve water. Therefore, by using available technologies, one can enhance their life without causing harm to Earth.
Ridhi Khosla: Covid has taught us a lot in terms of having your home as a very multi-functional space. Now you want a house that has an office and a gym. People are a lot more involved in the kitchen than they were before. They want an open kitchen layout to interact with the family members while cooking. A lot of people have realized things about themselves and want their house to adapt to that. So you have to build multi-functional homes nowadays. Each space needs to serve at least two purposes. For example, incorporating sliding/hiding walls that kind of come and go according to the need. Tables to have hidden sitting below, or flap down study tables, etc. So, designing multifunctional spaces is kind of a trend everyone should know.
Ridhi Khosla: I think there are always infinite possibilities. At the start of my content creation journey, I did not even dream that I would be doing this. It is unfair for me to say in the next 5 years what I want to do with this because I just don’t know. I do want it to grow, to meet new people, and have new experiences. But mostly, I want to see India become cutting-edge in the design world. I feel we have a lot of potential and scope, and are slowly going forward. I want to be part of that movement and that’s where I see myself.
Ridhi Khosla: Recently there’s been a sudden boom in the last couple of years with many upcoming product designers doing interesting jobs. Firstly, buy furniture or products from Indian Brands. That’s the most important thing. Rather than looking at Europe and other parts of the world for design, look inward. Support smaller brands doing good work. Because ultimately it does come down to funding and money. The only way is by big companies sponsoring, and us to invest more in the small business. But I feel that we will get there soon.
Ridhi Khosla: This is a question that is very close to my heart because I want to preserve as much traditional Indian craft as possible. In our generation I’m seeing it go extinct, for example, Marodi, of which only two craftsmen are left in India. We have to start buying those products but some of them have a very traditional Indian look that not everyone gravitates to. So what we need to do is modernize the application of craft where people would use it more. For instance, putting it on a vase or plate. It suddenly glamorizes craft and you’re providing jobs and funding to these companies. I try to do this on my platform by promoting traditional craft and hopefully, people get inspired and contact these Craftsmen to create for them. So let’s try to revive and preserve our craftmanship to the most.
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