The Ballad of India & Britain - Kam Ce Kam

q: You are officially our first interior/ homeware brand, how exciting! How do you feel about joining the Curated Crowd family? a: We are absolutely thrilled to be a part of the Curated Crowd family. When we first came across the brand we thought it was so perfectly curated and shared the same ethos of beautifully made, sustainable, slow living. q: How did you hear about us in the first place? a: We were introduced by the wonderful team at May Concepts PR. q: Kam Ce Kam translates to ‘At the very least’ in English. Can you tell us why you thought it was the right name for your brand? a: ‘Kam Ce Kam’ is a Hindi phrase which can have several connotations, but is widely recognised as meaning ‘at the very least’. I saw it as a starting point: ‘at the very least, this is just the beginning for the possibilities that we have in creating with artisans in India’. It is also linked to the philosophy of ‘less is more’ – investing in fewer quality pieces. q: What was it that ignited your passion and love for interior design? a: From a very young age I knew I wanted to be in the world of design, I was surrounded by it, growing up with Interior and furniture designer parents! I was always interested in art and design, painting and doing a lot of sculpture at school. Then, I went on to study Architecture at Central St Martins. After graduating, I started working with an interior – architectural design practice in London. I worked there for 5 years with a focus on residential interiors, my main project being an incredible home in New Delhi, India. The project gave me the opportunity to work between London and New Delhi, and it further exposed me to the incredible resource of making in India, which pushed the idea for Kam Ce Kam further. q: Having grown up in two completely cities (London and New Delhi), how has that influenced you as a designer? a: Living in New Delhi opened my eyes to the unique resource of making in India. There is a system in the chaos which takes patience to learn, but once you do, the possibilities are endless. The craftsmen are unmatchable and the quirks can sometimes lead to the most beautiful mistakes! Mixing this with living in London, I am constantly surrounded by the best of the best in design and it pushes my boundaries as a designer and a business owner to create unique and purposeful pieces. Another aspect is about the shared learning. From India I want to bring the intricacy and the nuances of the hand made and from the UK I want to bring in the knowledge of best practices at attention to detail! q: What is the most important aspect of your brand? a: Every piece in this collection is hand-made by a group of 30 artisans, who work in timber carving, polishing, cane weaving and stone carving. India is a country of vast talent and rich materials. Often you will find that a cane weaver comes from generations of cane weavers, a potter from a village of potters and timber carvers who have learnt the trade from their forefathers. A lot of these hand-crafted methods of making are being made redundant and are being replaced by mass-produced, machine-made product. The most important part of Kam Ce Kam is to celebrate the resource of the hand-made and give it a platform in the global contemporary design world. q: Who or what is your main source of inspiration? (Is it a designer, a friend, a place?) a: I am very influenced by architecture, modernist Bauhaus pieces from designers like Marcel Breuer and Le Corbusier, in particular Le Corbusier’s work in India. Their philosophy was form follows function, however their iconic work does that and so much more and that is what I strive to create. I grew up between London and New Delhi and our homes were always an eclectic mix of contemporary and traditional design. I was surrounded by beautiful colonial pieces, furniture from designers like Lutyens, antiques and intricate materials. My style is an amalgamation of all of this, with clean line geometry, creating interest through materiality and detailing. q: What is the next step for Kam ce Kam? a: We hope to grow a community of people who want to acquaint themselves and develop an appreciation for contemporary, hand-made products from India. To do this, we are continuing to design new collections which explore and expand into different elements of hand-made craft. For a little hint, we are currently brainstorming a range of carpets.