Christopher Richard: Fusing form and function to craft every product at Studio Carbon

Richard is an integral part of Studio Carbon, an award-winning design agency that works at the intersection of technology, systems thinking, and storytelling to realise a better future

By Benu Joshi Routh

Published: Feb 21, 2024 12:35:00 PM IST

Updated: Feb 21, 2024 01:13:13 PM IST

Christopher Richard, Co-Founder & director of industrial design, Studio Carbon Image: Mexy Xavier; Directed By: Kapil Kashyap Outfit: Nm Design Studio; Jewellery: Misho Designs, Ishhaara; Stylist: Zainab Shakir; Assistant Stylists: Mannat Bhalla, Samridh Gupta

Christopher Richard | 28

Co-Founder & director of industrial design, Studio Carbon

While majoring in mechanical engineering with a minor in design at Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida, Christopher Richard would spend time photographing the migratory birds in the swamps surrounding the campus.

“Their plumage, beaks, eyes and claws seemed to be the perfect blend of form and function, every detail not more or less than what was necessary,” says Richard, co-founder and director of industrial design at Studio Carbon. “These observations over time would help me in articulating my vision for products.”

Design as a minor subject charted the course for Richard, and he moved on to study product design at the National Institute of Design (NID), to explore the possibility of crafting every product that surrounds us with love and passion in a fusion of form and function. ““Engineering knowledge lays the foundation for comprehensive Product Development. Design and Engineering are closely interconnected, especially within Industrial design,” he says.

Today, Richard is an integral part of Studio Carbon, an award-winning design agency that works at the intersection of technology, systems thinking, and storytelling to realise a better future. Located in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, with operations in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands, the studio extends its services globally to clients in the US, South Africa, Nigeria, the UAE, South Korea, and beyond.

Founded in 2018, Studio Carbon emerged from the shared vision of nine like-minded individuals—Jitesh Devadiga, Manikanta Polisetti, Gonga Naveen Kumar, Itika Gupta, Mani Teja, Shubham Raut, Swapnil Soni, Neel Mehta and Richard.

The studio has forged collaborations with Indian startups such as NexStem, Pixxel, BlissClub, Dhruva Space, and CynLr, alongside prestigious government agencies like InSpace and Isro and multinational corporations, including BSE, Titan, and Havells.

For NexStem, a robotics and medtech startup that develops brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, the studio designed the BCI headset, brand identity, web application and website. Studio Carbon played a pivotal role in designing Pixxel’s geo-spatial analytics platform called Aurora.

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The studio has crafted an authentic brand ethos and identity, along with the styling of the hardware, for CynLr, a cybernetics laboratory that converts machines into mindful robots and makes industrial robotic arms more versatile. It has also designed CynLr’s interiors. The studio won the Golden Pin Design Award in 2023 for the product design of CynLr.

An in-house material design innovation, Dungse Labs, producing high-quality biodegradable composites using cow dung, has pioneered the technology to reinvent an age-old building material, cow dung, into high-quality bio-based composite materials and products. Dungse has won several international grants, and a national award by Ministry of Animal Husbandry. It has been showcased at the Dutch Design Week 2019, Dubai Expo 2020, and Rabobank Innovation Partnership 2023, Europe.

“Christopher Richard shines as the founding partner and design lead at Studio Carbon. In the last seven years, I’ve watched him transition from a talented student to a visionary professional,” says Praveen Nahar, director of NID. “His techno-savvy approach, coupled with a profound sensitivity to global challenges fuels a design process that tackles complex technical and systemic issues. Christopher and the founding partners epitomise the fusion of design aesthetics and functionality with the best user experiences in their projects.”