INTARSIO
Foundations in Form & Craft — Material and system thinking through ceramics
Graduation Project | ORVI Design Studio | NID, Ahmedabad | 6 months | 2021-2022
Context & Background
For my graduation project at NID Ahmedabad, I pursued a six-month internship at ORVI Design Studio with a deep interest in working with ceramics — specifically terracotta.
The brief was to design a series of handmade terracotta tiles suitable for both interior and exterior architectural spaces. Inspired by the rich global and Indian history of terracotta, the project sought to celebrate the material’s cultural legacy while introducing thoughtful contemporary expressions.
Project Intent
Terracotta is one of the oldest human-made materials — simple, elemental, and deeply embedded in architectural history. With INTARSIO, I wanted to explore:
Terracotta is one of the oldest human-made materials — simple, elemental, deeply embedded in architectural history. With Intarsio, I wanted to understand how form and pattern evolve from material constraints, how repetition creates rhythm, and how craft logic translates into spatial systems. The goal wasn't just to produce beautiful pieces — it was to understand why certain patterns feel right, and how that understanding carries forward into every system I design.
The goal wasn’t just to produce beautiful pieces, but to understand why certain patterns and structures feel right — how they relate to experience, sequence, and composition.
Design Process
The project began with immersion — studying terracotta techniques, regional tile forms, and how material behaviour changes under different conditions. From there I moved into prototyping: different clay bodies, firing techniques, pattern modules, interlocking systems. Each iteration refined how shape, proportion, and texture interact — a practice that turned out to be remarkably similar to iterating digital design components. By the end, the work had evolved into a structured system: modular patterns, scalable layouts, rhythmic compositions that could tile across any architectural surface.
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What This Project Taught Me
This project fundamentally shaped how I approach structure in design — whether physical or digital:
Terracotta has limits. Push it too far and it cracks. Working within those limits — understanding exactly how far you can go before something breaks — taught me more about design constraints than any brief ever has.
The patterns I developed weren't decorative decisions. They were systems — modular, repeatable, scalable. The same thinking I now bring to component libraries and grid systems started here, with clay and a kiln.
Every tile prototype was an iteration. Every cracked piece was feedback. The craft didn't just teach me patience — it taught me that the most interesting design decisions happen at the boundary between what's possible and what's not.
A glimpse at the 9th edition DIALOGUE 2021 by ORVI DESIGN STUDIO
Instagram story of FADD Studio by Farah Ahmed and Dhaval Shellugar
Instagram story of United Design Studio by Amrita Guha and Joya Nandurikar
Final Reflections
INTARSIO is more than a material project — it’s a design mindset awakening. It taught me to see patterns as systems, materials as information, and process as insight.
These lessons remain active in how I approach digital interface design, from component logic to layout hierarchies, and from visual rhythm to thoughtful crafting of user experience.
