In Profile: Meha Shetty, Designer, Urban Ladder

Meet Meha, a vibrant, young designer at Urban Ladder. She loves dancing to Bollywood music and baking. Her first love, however, has always been designing.

Meha’s tryst with design began at the age of 11. She recalls one incident in particular, when she forgot to take her art kit to school. She then threw a tantrum and bullied her father into getting it in time for class.  

“Designing is not something that happened to me. It was in me.”

Surprisingly, though, Meha’s love for design was not evident to her family. Perhaps why, like a lot of Indian kids, she was forced into something more “traditional”. “Unfortunately, I was good at studies. So, like any other Indian family, mine forced me to do my engineering.” she, says. 

In fact, Meha had just started preparing for her engineering exams, when someone told her about the National Institute of Design (NID). She took a chance and applied, and as luck would have it, got in. Today, Meha lives and breathes design. A keen observer, she uses her personal experiences to solve common problems with her products. Her favourite part of the design process is the research phase, where she gets to meet with customers in person. This approach to design has helped her design some cutting-edge products for Urban Ladder. For instance, while researching how people use bedside tables, she realised most people have their phones charging on it. So, she designed a bedside table with inbuilt plug points. Meha’s idea of design is timeless. The Shell Chair by Hans J. Wegner is Meha’s favourite piece of furniture.  

“A super comfortable chair can never be replaced by any new “gimmicky” chair that comes in the market. A well-designed piece of furniture comes together with a perfect balance of form and function. The design should be such that it continues to solve the problem, for which, it has been designed. Furniture like the Shell Chair inspire me to create. It was designed at a time when technology was not what it is now, but it still looks so stunning! The beauty of design lies in simplicity, comfort and innovation. ”

When not designing furniture, Meha loves baking and someday hopes to open her own bakery. Until then, we’ll accept the next batch of brownies, thanks :)