Ayaz Basrai’s first job was to design a showroom for water coolers in Dubai. “I still remember the sense of responsibility and the performance pressure,” he says. “No job since has been that tough.” It’s fair to say that life’s gotten a little more interesting for the Mumbai-born NID graduate, and owner of The Busride, a young design studio whose output over the last few years has ranged from airport signage to carnival parades and Bollywood production to spas. His own experience is similarly heterodox. “Pretty much anything and everything,” ranging from a playschool to working on Dhoom 2 as a design assistant. And so, he says, his studio’s defining attitude is diversity, and a departure from the mainstream. Ayaz’s penchant for the eclectic and eccentric manifests itself through his work, and a recent triumph exhibited this: the Smokehouse Deli in Delhi, consisted of hand-illustrating an entire restaurant in “all manner of insane details,” he laughs. Perhaps his interest in heritage conservation on home base Bandra speaks to this, in a way. “We’re trying to engage with the suburb to incubate developmental and conservation projects. I really love this place, it’s home, and it’s sad to see heritage being torn down and replaced by large-scale mediocrity.” Does the eccentricity extend beyond working hours as well, you ask? “We’re strugglers,” he says. “I’m always working!”

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