NID Ahmedabad Students Showcase Bamboo Lighting Innovations at London Design Festival 2026

NID Ahmedabad Students Showcase Bamboo Lighting Designs at London Design Festival 2026

• Bilkul Online
• Ahmedabad | 15 Sept 2026

Students of the BDes Furniture and Interior Design programme at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, are showcasing their work at the London Design Festival 2026, being held in London from September 12 to 16. The student installations are part of an exhibition presented by OSA Studio.

The exhibition, themed “In-Between Thresholds,” explores experiences that emerge in transitional spaces—between stillness and movement, memory and the present, and presence and absence. The showcased works were developed during an intensive four-week bamboo lighting course at NID under the guidance of Prof. Neha Nandkumar Mandlik.

The students experimented extensively with bamboo, examining its behaviour under different conditions and exploring hand tools, machinery and locally available production techniques. The course focused on developing new approaches to shaping, joining and finishing bamboo, while investigating its potential as a contemporary lighting material.

The exhibition features a diverse range of installations rooted in Indian cultural references and personal memories. Sri Abirami B and Abhishek Datta Rajguru’s “TARANG” draws inspiration from the movement of water in a traditional courtyard fountain, translating it into a rocking and spinning bamboo lamp.

Ishna Hemant Savadatti’s “Aroha” takes inspiration from traditional Indian Deepstambhas, or towers of lamps, using modular bamboo elements that sway with the wind and evoke the flickering movement of oil lamps. Nayana Bhadran’s installation combines bamboo with red manjadi seeds to reflect the journey of a devotee and the importance of the journey rather than merely the destination.

Other works include Rizwana Shuja’s “NIZHALAATTAM (Shadow Play)”, which draws from Ahmedabad’s medieval Indo-Islamic jali patterns and seeks to turn ordinary corridors into interactive spaces, and Sharon Madhu Sekhar’s installation, inspired by childhood memories of a power cut and the heightened sense of connection and awareness experienced during such moments.

Bhavvika Sharrma’s “AARADHAYA” is a table lamp inspired by her family’s Amavasya ritual. It combines a central diya-like glow with layered bamboo forms inspired by blooming jasmine flowers, creating shifting shadows as viewers move around the lamp.

Together, the projects demonstrate how bamboo can move beyond its conventional applications when designers work with its natural characteristics. The students have explored how bending, movement, light and shadow can transform the material into functional installations that connect structure with atmosphere.

The participation gives NID students an opportunity to take their work beyond the institute’s studios and present their material-led design explorations to an international audience of designers, curators and design professionals through the OSA Studio platform.