Says Abhijit Bansod regarding ABD’s major current and upcoming clientele, “We play important role in co-creating tangible designs that seamlessly combine with brand values. Currently, we are playing a role of design partner to many big brands like HUL, RB, Titan, Tanishq, BPL etc.

Currently we are working on many consumer and electronic appliances, luxury watches, FMCG packaging , branding and space design experiences. Our unique design process fuses trends, technology and tradition to create unique product, which connects deeply to the user by evoking his emotions. We understand that design is expensive and especially for startups, managing such funds becomes deterrent to use design.

We have a special program for startups & SMEs so that they can use the power of design to make their businesses more competitive, and hence move from suppliers to brands. We call ourselves c-VCs (creative venture capitalist) and would be happy to creatively fund start-ups or small-scale organisations with design and brand requirements.

We have couple of revenue models ranging from long term royalty to owning shares in the new firm. We want to create a platform where we could share our design capabilities, in product or thinking inspired by true Indian way of life. We have a collection named ‘Mubhi’, which celebrates the Indian way of life. Mubhi is a fusion of Indian handicraft and technology with sustainable design and manufacturing processes. We are retailing the collection through our flagship store ‘Design Katha’ in Bangalore.

We are designing new ultra luxury watch collection for Titan, which celebrates inspirations from Heritage India. The launch is scheduled in September. This collection will redefine true Indian luxury market. For HUL, we are working on many water purifier projects and in the next 1-2 months the products will hit the market. As CVC (Creative Venture Capitalist) we are currently working with 3-4 start ups. We would be retailing our own collection of products from the five star hotel stores by Diwali. This will give us a good opportunity to inch towards creating true Indian Luxury brand for home accessories.

Today 70% of our revenue comes from design services for larger brands, but we are aware that scaling up business of design services is tough because of lack of quality resources; hence we will focus equally on our product portfolio with better distribution, institutional orders and participation in International trade fairs for international export orders. We would like to make Studio ABD as India’s first design brand and Mubhi as first Indian’s Luxury brand. We believe our CVC program will start paying us back in next 1-2 years through royalties which will be enough for us to be choosy about projects we take up and make sure the design impact from Studio ABD is superlative.

The innovation company ‘Autumn Leaves’ and Studio ABD are strategic partners, and collectively we have done amazing innovation work for brands like LG, Cocacola, HUL, RB, Ford etc. Our unique program has seen pioneering work in the field of new product innovation with ready design solutions. Brand Anthem, a Delhi based branding and PR agency represents Studio ABD in Delhi –NCR region for new business development. They also manage our PR activities. Celcius 100, a marketing company in Bangalore tied up with Studio ABD from time to time to offer holistic branding plus product design solution for brands. These tie ups have helped us grow and still focus on our core competency ‘Design’.”