Where does 21Fools come from? What is their story?
Do you think it matters where someone comes from? I think it matters more where they’re going.
But aren’t the two connected?
Sometimes. Sometimes not. Sometimes there exists a tension between the past and the possibility. Between roots and wings. Between the version of you that was shaped by where you started, and the one that wakes you up every morning with something quietly burning inside.
At 21Fools, we live in that space. That strange, tender in-between. We don’t know if it’s more important to honour the beginning or to chase the becoming—but we do know that both deserve to be felt.
Maybe that’s why we make the kind of objects we do—slowly, quietly, carefully. Not with the intention of making things that are just noticed, but things that are held.
Because we believe creation brings a kind of joy that consumption never can. And in a world constantly asking for your attention, sometimes the most radical thing you can do is make something that simply is.
Like the notebook you’ve scribbled thoughts into for years. Or the tote bag that’s been with you through your trip to Vienna or Vietnam. Or that one object on your desk—a coaster, a timer, a keepsake—you didn’t buy for utility, but you kept because it feels like it belongs. Things made with intention. Things that carry memory, without trying to be memorable.
We know we’re not saving the world. But if we can pass on the care we put in—to your desk, your shelf, your home—then maybe we’ve done enough.
Makes sense. But surely this quietness or understanding must have its roots from somewhere.
Maybe… Maybe it comes from where we’ve been. Who’s to say? Divyanshu started this in 2012. But really, his story began long before. In 2001, at thirteen, he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome. His body stopped listening. It took him years to walk and function again. And even now, the body remembers what it went through, but so does the spirit. And in between the breaking and the healing, something else settled in—a quieter way of seeing the world.
So has that shaped how he sees the world? And how you design? How you create things?
Maybe. But it surely has shaped him. And that, in ways we can’t always trace, shapes the brand we are building. But yes, that’s where 21Fools comes from. Not from design schools or business plans, but from the need to make objects that mean something.
So yes, I agree that where you come from matters. But so does where you’re going. Maybe what matters more is what you make along the way—and how much of yourself you leave behind in the making.”
That’s why our objects are shaped by stories—some lived, some imagined. But they’re never stuck in the past. Every piece we create carries the weight of care, but looks forward. We’re not trying to recreate what was; we’re trying to shape what can be. With materials that age well, forms that stay relevant, and a spirit that feels quietly timeless, our work lives between memory and modernity. It’s not nostalgia—it’s continuity.