The Maker
Ashraf & Munna Ji
Metal · Jaipur & Bindayka
Ashraf and Munna ji are the metalworkers behind the structural language of MRID, working closely with us to make some of the collection’s most unusual forms possible.
For SAKSH and AKR, the challenge was particularly demanding. Ashraf had to develop a way of bending the metal so that the wicker woven over it could follow and retain the precise curls and silhouettes we had designed. It took several attempts - and a few failures - before arriving at the forms you see today.
The process became a collaboration between materials and makers. Ashraf and Ateek ji worked together to understand how the metal needed to behave for the wicker to sit, bend and hold its shape. Each understood a different part of the problem, and together they found the solution.
Ashraf refining the metal frame for Akr.
Munna ji brings his experience as a furniture metalworker to the rest of the collection, working on the structures, supports and metal accents across the pieces. Pravah and Saksh were among the most demanding, while Naav presented a different challenge: its weight and form meant we had to carefully work out how to keep the piece standing upright and structurally balanced.
"Between steel and wicker, their work is about finding the structure that lets the form exist."