“I’m messy and he’s very tidy,” says Olivia Dar of her eponymous handcrafted jewellery label, describing the daily reality of sharing creative space with her partner, Rikki Kher, founder of KARDO. Walk through their Delhi home and the evidence is undeniable: postmodern chairs frame hand-embroidered cushions and geometric furniture grounds explosions of retro fabrics. The space works because each instinct checks the other’s excesses while amplifying its strengths.
Olivia’s maximalist impulse — drawn to shiny embellishments, charged colours, and layered motifs — finds its counterweight in Rikki’s refined, minimalist sensibility. Where she sees possibilities for beaded excess, he envisions streamlined forms and muted refinement. The tension creates magic.
Their interplay mirrors Delhi, a city that defies singular definition. Both designers credit the capital’s particular brand of energy for shaping their work and their approach to building creative enterprises. When asked what Delhi trait most influenced them, the answer comes quickly: “jugaad.”
1: Olivia Dar and her eponymous label — layered, charged, and unapologetically abundant; 2: Maximalism as method — Olivia’s language of embellishment
“It’s this idea that you can just do it,” Rikki explains. “In Europe, people wait for the perfect environment. In India, we just go, ‘Okay, let’s go,’” He started his atelier in 24 hours — one machine, one tailor, one pattern maker. Pure momentum drove everything forward.
This Delhi-bred fluidity extends beyond logistics into their creative methodology. They’re constantly exchanging ideas, bouncing concepts off each other, and sharing discoveries from books, art, and music. Rikki’s record collection — spanning disco, new romantics, ska, and hip-hop from the ‘70s through ‘90s — informs his approach to menswear the same way Olivia’s vintage textiles influence her embroidered jewellery and accessories.
“We talk a lot about creativity,” Olivia notes. “Otherwise you can feel quite lonely in your own practice.”
1: Precision in practice: KARDO’s Chintan handloom wool shirt, AW22; 2: Rikki Kher, founder, KARDO — refined, restrained, and subtly precise
Their travel itineraries are planned out like fieldwork, each trip revealing new artisanal techniques and textile traditions. Each brings a different eye to these expeditions — Olivia immediately spots the bling, and Rikki takes note of structure and form. Yet both share an unwavering commitment to heritage crafts, working with communities across the country to preserve and revive centuries-old methods for generations to come.
What emerges in their home — and by extension, their work — is this careful negotiation. His simple contours provide structure for her colourful exuberance. Her accents add warmth to his refinement. It’s the visual equivalent of Delhi’s own personality: “Work hard, party hard, non-stop. Never give up, never stop,” as Olivia describes it.
This is Delhi’s gift to cultural architects and creatives — the permission to begin imperfectly, the energy to sustain relentlessly, and the understanding that the most interesting things happen in collaboration rather than isolation. For Rikki and Olivia, this has meant building brands that bear their individual stamps while drawing strength from constant exchange.
The tension that creates magic — a partnership built on jugaad, sustained by constant dialogue
Balance, it turns out, looks like hand-embroidered cushions on modernist chairs. It sounds like two voices debating a colour choice until something neither imagined alone emerges. In Delhi, where chaos and order coexist on every street corner, Rikki and Olivia have simply brought that cadence indoors — and turned it into their shared creative language.
Words by Rhea Sinha
Feature Image Courtesy Ashish Negi
