MECCA X NGV Women in Design Commission 2025

Nipa Doshi is an award-winning designer and co-founder of London-based studio Doshi Levien. Through her work, Nipa explores and celebrates beauty, plurality and diversity, using design to disrupt homogeneity while fostering equal exchange between cultures.

Distinguished by colour, form and narrative, Doshi’s design approach is rooted in her upbringing and a deep engagement with visual culture. For the MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission, Nipa unveils A Room of My Own, a handcrafted, multidimensional cabinet that serves as both a shrine and a dressing table. Inspired by Kavad – portable Indian shrines – the cabinet creates a space for personal ritual while paying homage to the multigenerational women who have influenced Doshi.

Throughout her career, Doshi has drawn inspiration from an array of influences, including seminal 1970s Bollywood films, Indian pigments and textiles, the architecture of Le Corbusier, her grandmother’s traditional gold and enamel earrings, and the royal miniature paintings of Jodhpur.

At the heart of A Room of My Own is a series of abstract portraits embedded within the cabinet’s structure. These figures represent an amalgamation of extraordinary women who have influenced Doshi over the years – from an avant-garde 1970s Indian actress to an elderly matriarch from her childhood neighbourhood, and a compassionate nurse who cared for her in a time of vulnerability.

On a mission to recognise the work of female-identifying designers and architects from around the world, the MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission series invites these creatives to produce a new work for the NGV Collection. The five-year series is supported by MECCA M-POWER, a social change initiative that aims to champion equality and opportunity for women and girls, including elevating women in art and design.

The NGV warmly thanks MECCA for supporting the acquisition of these works.