Nipa Doshi's new cabinet and typeface unveiled at NGV

9 October 2025

Portrait of Nipa Doshi with her work A Room Of My Own, 2025 on display at NGV International for the 2025 MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission until 1 April 2026. Photo: Derek Swalwell

9 October 2025: Celebrated globally for her distinctive aesthetic that elegantly engages with her Indian heritage, Mumbai-born, London-based designer Nipa Doshi has unveiled her never-before-seen cabinet and typeface exclusively at NGV International in Melbourne, Australia. Doshi is the recipient of the 2025 MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission, a major series inviting globally renowned designers to create groundbreaking new work for the NGV Collection.

Nipa Doshi designer, Jonathan Levian collaborator; Doshi Levian, London design studio, Atelier Helbecque, Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, maker. A Room of My Own, cabinet, 2025, medium density fibre board, timber, glass, gold leaf, polyurethane lacquer, brass, aluminium, National Gallery of Victoria

Taking the form of a handcrafted, multidimensional cabinet that serves as both a shrine and a dressing table, A Room of My Own imbues personal history and memory into functional design. Drawing inspiration from portable Indian shrines known as kaavad, the cabinet is a space for personal ritual and care, while paying homage to the multigenerational women who have profoundly shaped Doshi's life and career.

Abstract portraits within the cabinet reflect an amalgamation of women whose extraordinary qualities have influenced Doshi. Portraits feature figures from an avant-garde 1970s Indian actress; an elderly matriarch from Doshi’s neighbourhood growing up; and a compassionate nurse who cared for the designer when she was at her most vulnerable. The portraits within the cabinet are revealed when the doors are opened, intimately inviting the viewer into Doshi’s inner world shaped by her life experiences.

Nipa Doshi's new typeface. Image courtesy NGV Corporate

Alongside A Room of My Own cabinet, Doshi also debuts a never-before-seen typeface, which translates her design sensibility into letters, numbers and symbols that function as both communication and composition. Hand-painted at large scale, inside the exhibition space, the typeface is redolent of two-dimensional architectural plans and diagrams, extending Doshi’s spatial thinking into graphic form. Evoking the designer’s memory and imagination, an accompanying moving-image work interweaves animated sequences of Doshi’s debut typeface and footage of her handcrafted cabinet

One half of the acclaimed Doshi Levien studio, which she established with her husband Jonathan Levien in 2000, Doshi Levien was the recipient of the prestigious Designer of the year at the 2015 Elle Deco International Design Awards. In 2024 she received an MBE from King Charles for her contribution to design. Her work has been exhibited in premier institutions across the globe, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Art Institute of Chicago and MoMA in New York.

Doshi is the fourth recipient of the annual, five-year commission series, made possible by a significant contribution from MECCA and supported through its social change initiative, M-POWER. The Women in Design partnership aligns with M-POWER's mission to drive meaningful progress towards gender equality, by championing opportunities for women and girls in the arts and design, and to inspire the next generation of female creatives. The first and only series of its kind in Australia, the commission creates a platform to present topical, world-premiere works of international significance to highlight the contributions and practices of women in design.

MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission 2025: Nipa Doshi is on display until 1 April 2026 at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Free entry. For more information visit the NGV website.