CEO to woodworker
For seven years Hitesh was CEO and co-founder of Criador Labs — a product design studio shipping research, prototypes, and manufactured products for clients worldwide. In 2019 he followed a deeper pull: a luxury furniture brand built around exquisite inlay work. The designs travelled. The world responded. Then manufacturer friction taught him what slides never could — if the hands aren't yours, the soul leaks out. He spent six months in Leh, in the Himalayas, pouring heart into the first furniture collection. Winter came. They returned to Bangalore — excited, hands-on, committed to woodworking for real. Today every day in the workshop is blocks of wood becoming one-of-a-kind pieces.
Criador Labs
Seven years leading a multidisciplinary product design and innovation studio — design research, product development, manufacturing partnerships. Healthcare, consumer, commercial. 100+ client projects, dozens of prototypes, products taken to market. The studio trained an eye for empathy, proportion, and what survives contact with real users. That discipline did not disappear when the title changed. It moved from decks to grain.
Leh & back to Bangalore
Six months in Leh — a captivating town in the lap of the Himalayas. The first furniture collection took shape there: design, material, joinery, finish, all in one place. Manufacturer struggles elsewhere had already shown the cost of delegating the soul of the work. Leh was where making became non-negotiable. As winter approached they reluctantly left — and returned to the bustle of Bangalore, minds full of excitement and anticipation. The city workshop is where that collection lives on, piece by piece.
hiteshwoodwala
House of Woodwala — handmade furniture from a Bangalore workshop. Light wood, vertical ribbing, a sober pastel palette: dusty rose, pale blue, soft mustard. Consoles, shelving, cabinets, commissions. Each piece one-of-a-kind — proportion, the way a door slides, how morning light hits a fluted front. This is the work that inspires Different Than Default: someone who had the CEO path and chose the bench.
Recent work
On craft
From inlay to ribbed panels — the thread is material honesty. Hitesh works like an artist who spent a decade learning how products ship, then walked away when shipping stopped matching the soul of the work. Patient, precise, allergic to noise. Commissions welcome. Mass production is not the offer.
Heart first
Yeh dil se jeeta hai. CEO ka title, agency ka scale, inlay ka glamour — jab dil bola, sab chhod ke dubara shuru kar diya. Leh. Bangalore. Bench. Wapas shuru karna asaan nahi hota; dil ki sunna aur bhi mushkil. Hitesh woh banda hai jo jab dil karega, phir se start kar dega — bina drama, bina excuse. Different Than Default isliye exist karta hai: aise logon ko dekhne ke liye. Salute.
Threads
Commission or follow the work
New pieces and process on Instagram. For custom work, message there — wood, dimensions, and use first.