Nipa Doshi Receives the 2025 Mecca x NGV Women in Design Commission

Nipa Doshi of the acclaimed Doshi Levien studio in London is the recipient of this year’s MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission.

Mumbai-born, London-based designer Nipa Doshi has been named the recipient of the prestigious 2025 MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission. The interdisciplinary designer – who co-founded award-winning London studio Doshi Levien with her husband, Scotsman Jonathan Levien, in 2000 – will create a new piece of conceptual furniture for the commission, A Room of My Own, which will be unveiled at NGV International in Melbourne on 25 September.

“The creative freedom offered by the commission allows me to make work with a strong narrative, resulting in a collectible piece that embodies my values as a woman in design.”

“I am truly honoured to be the recipient of this very prestigious and generous award and see it as an opportunity to create exceptional new work, bringing together all the different aspects of my design practice,” Doshi says. “The creative freedom offered by the commission allows me to make work with a strong narrative, resulting in a collectible piece that embodies my values as a woman in design.”

A Room of My Own is a handcrafted cabinet with a dual function at its heart – it serves as both a shrine and dressing table. The piece is inspired by the portable Indian shrines known as kavad and will pay homage to the women who have shaped Doshi’s personal and professional life – from a nurse who cared for the designer during a vulnerable period to an elderly but powerful matriarch from her childhood. Their portraits are revealed when the cabinet doors open.

“She challenges established norms and ensures her cultural identity is infused into everything she does.”

“Nipa Doshi is one of the global leaders in design for a reason: she challenges established norms and ensures her cultural identity is infused into everything she does,” says Jo Horgan, founder of MECCA, primary sponsor of the commission. “More than that, her products, design and detail keep us all focused on the value of women’s voices, experiences and craftsmanship.”

Doshi’s work is wide-ranging; from the Doshi Levien studio in East London, she has created everything from fabrics for Kvadrat and a modular sofa for HAY to tribal folk embroidery-influenced rugs for nanimarquina and a cookware range for Tefal. Her eclectic and diverse contribution was acknowledged when she became a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to design in 2023.

“Her products, design and detail keep us all focused on the value of women’s voices, experiences and craftsmanship.”

Doshi is the fourth recipient of the commission, supported by MECCA and its social change initiative, M-POWER. The only series of its kind in Australia, it presents topical, internationally significant, world-premiere works that highlight the contribution of women in the design industry. Previous recipients include Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao (2022) and wildly colourful English multidisciplinarian designer Bethan Laura Wood (2023).

‘MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission 2025: Nipa Doshi,’ will be a free exhibition on show from 25 September at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Doshi will speak at an International Women’s Day event at the gallery on Saturday March 8 at 11am, followed by a Q&A session at 1.30pm.