“When I started investing in startups,I realised that India has the worst offices in the world – so I thought, let’s focus on creating the best office spaces because we spend more than 50% of our time there,”

Secondly, the design needs to outstanding so that it encourages idea pollination,

focus and productive environments within the campus. With these two in place, we then start creating a vibrant community, the third ingredient. Indians in general are introverts and have a strong sense of pride which stops them from talking directly to each other so within Innov8, we create a culture where people can interact with frequent events and community movements. Finally, technology, as we position ourselves as not a real estate or a design company, but a tech company.”

While all Innov8 campuses are built on those 4 guidelines, each Innov8 campus is unique and the design is developed based on the location’s context. For example, Innov8 Connaught Place, New Delhi has an open format campus and despite (or because of) its inner-city location has made space for a terrace with lush greenery. Innov8 Chandigarh which is located in India’s best planned city has an informal yet homely feel to cater to the diversity of its many freelancers. Being located in Bangalore the IT capital of India, Innov8 Koramangala provides closed formats with accents of local arts and crafts. As for Innov8 Boston House, Mumbai, which is located in India’s financial capital, the iconic Mumbai skyline is represented on its ceilings and it offers a rock climbing wall.

While all interiors are designed by an in-house team, Dr Malik is deeply involved in their conceptualisation and is emphatic on maintaining high standards:

“Designing a campus is a beautiful process. We transform a space and place a lot of weight on the comfort which is why all our campuses use Bristol workstations. All these elements create an ergonomically positive work environment which being a doctor I understand the importance of.”

“We will never compromise on the quality of the product because people may forget the cost but they always remember the quality.”

Considering how inviting the campuses are, it’s no wonder they are always buzzing with activity like BBC’s 100 Women event celebrating the most powerful women in the world held in Connaught Place recently. Dr. Malik reveals that they have at least one event every three days to foster interaction and create a buzz both with external parties as well as internally. In fact, the respective Innov8s have also positively impacted the community around each campus. “Our campuses run at 100% occupancy and we also have a 100% retention rate. Innov8 represents entrepreneurship, good ideas should come to us and we are there to help them out. We do not care what sector you are in, we just want to help you to get your business off the ground. You don’t have to worry about your HR or food and beverage needs because we have an app where you can post what you require and our community managers will get it done. Focus on your work and we will take care of the rest,” explains Dr. Malik.

While it’s certainly impressive at how Dr. Malik and his team have created such amazing spaces and dynamic communities in 2 short years, his answer to what the most important lesson he’s learned during this process is typically inspiring: “I am not a management graduate but you do not need to know about management to run a business. What you need to know is that you should have the mastery on how to build a great product. All great companies in the world can’t have a sustainable business if they don’t have a great product. My aim is to build such a beautiful product that you don’t even have to market it. We will never compromise on the quality of the product because people may forget the cost but they always remember the quality.”

Despite the fruits of these decades of know-how, the Liven also underwent a rigorous R&D process which took approximately three years.

From prototyping to a battery of tests, the results allow the Liven to comply with the international ANSI BIFMA standards.

The biggest challenge the designers faced was the conundrum of building different categories of chairs on one platform: “Most manufacturers provide a few configurations in one design but we wanted to allow Liven to have up to 10 different configurations with different price points and aesthetic requirements. In the end, we’ve managed to design a chair series that shares the same core system and is efficient production wise.”

The Liven was designed as a broad product family for furnishing all areas within a company.

The rationale for this sort of customisation? While the Liven is a bosses’ chair, the Liven designers anticipated how designers would require some consistency in style for bigger projects. “When designers choose chairs, they’ll need a range of chairs to fit not just in the CEO’s office but in the board room down to the secretary’s desk. They would require a chair that works in different scenarios and could be a task chair or a meeting chair so we have made many different options from the same concept. One would be hard pressed to find a chair in the United States and Europe that is quite so versatile,” says Vernekar.

The half shell back version is a winning choice for smart boardrooms.

Beyond its design, the Liven also allows for a wide variety of personalisation by virtue of the materials available ranging from aniline leather, PVC and fabric, something rather unusual as executive chairs are often very limited in this aspect. This versatility also extends to the Liven’s ergonomic features which include an adjustable backrest and arm rests and sliding seats, allowing for superior comfort for users of all shapes and sizes. It would not be unfair to say that despite being an executive chair, Liven has all the qualities of a very dynamic task chair.

Sliding upholstered armrests and seats allow for personalisation.

The Liven was soft launched at the China International Furniture Fair in Guangzhou this April, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Dealers have been raving over its distinct looks and competitive price point. It has also been specified for several international and local M&C companies and rather interestingly, has proven particularly popular with doctor’s offices. Indeed, it would appear that whether in a board room or clinic, plush office or home study, having a Liven executive chair is a sure sign that you’ve arrived.