Contours — The Design Co.: Where Every Line Tells a Story
Step into a space designed by Contours — The Design Co. (CTDC), and you’ll notice something quietly powerful. It’s not just the arrangement of furniture or the sweep of a staircase. It’s the way light falls in exactly the right place. The way textures invite touch. The way the entire space feels inevitable, as though it couldn’t have been designed any other way.
Founded in the early 2010s by Anand Mehta and Prashant Halankar, CTDC has grown into an award-winning design studio known for creating environments that balance function, beauty, and emotion. From private villas to corporate spaces, from institutional campuses to intimate homes, their work is diverse, yet unmistakably theirs.
A Partnership Forged in Contrast
Anand and Prashant met as students at Rachana Sansad’s School of Interior Design. From the start, their approaches couldn’t have been more different. Prashant is the planner, meticulous and methodical. Anand is the dreamer, intuitive and visually bold. In most partnerships, these differences could clash—but for them, it became the foundation of their success.
Early collaborations on small projects revealed a creative chemistry too rare to ignore. They decided to formalise the partnership, building a studio on the belief that contrasting perspectives could produce richer, more layered design solutions.
Design with Context at Its Core
Every CTDC project begins with listening. Not just to the client’s words, but to their lifestyle, their aspirations, and the unspoken details of how they live or work. This context-first approach extends beyond people to the site itself—the climate, the surrounding architecture, the local culture.
From these inputs, Anand and Prashant create designs that merge global sophistication with local relevance. Their spaces are luxurious but never alienating, beautiful yet functional, contemporary yet rooted in place.
The Early Struggle and the Breakthrough
In the beginning, CTDC faced the classic hurdle of every young studio—convincing clients to take a chance on them. The solution was to let the work speak for itself. Every project, no matter the scale, was executed with the same level of detail and commitment.
Gradually, the projects grew, the trust deepened, and word-of-mouth replaced cold introductions. Their reputation as designers who could handle vision and execution with equal mastery became their strongest marketing tool.
A Project of Pure Freedom
Ask Anand and Prashant about a defining moment, and they’ll mention a 15,000 sq. ft. villa in Goa. The client, already confident in their abilities, granted complete creative freedom. The result was a home that blurred boundaries between indoors and outdoors—open to the sea breeze, framed by courtyards, and finished with textures that celebrated its coastal setting.
It wasn’t just about the aesthetics; it was about trust as a design material. When the client believes fully in the designer’s vision, the result can be transformative.
Sustainability as Second Nature
In CTDC’s work, sustainability isn’t a buzzword—it’s embedded in every decision. Locally sourced materials, energy-efficient layouts, and designs built to endure are standard practice. By avoiding short-lived trends, they create spaces that stay relevant for decades.
Technology plays its role, too. From smart climate control to adaptive lighting, their projects embrace innovations that enhance both functionality and user comfort.
Lessons for the Next Generation
For Anand and Prashant, the journey from small assignments to international projects has taught them that design is as much about people as it is about spaces. Their advice to young designers is simple but profound: “Stay rooted in your ethos, but evolve with the world around you. Listen deeply, observe endlessly, and treat every project as a chance to grow.”
Looking Forward
The future for CTDC is expansive. They’re eyeing global markets, bringing their philosophy of context-rich, client-focused design to new audiences. But no matter how far they go, the principles remain the same:
- Every space must have a soul.
- Every line in a plan must have a reason.
- Every client must feel seen, heard, and understood.
From their Mumbai studio to projects across India and beyond, Contours — The Design Co. has built more than spaces—they’ve built experiences, stories, and environments that feel as inevitable as they are inspiring.
When Anand Mehta and Prashant Halankar design, they don’t just shape walls and floors—they compose places where life unfolds naturally. And that’s a story worth telling, one space at a time.
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