Simple software for complicated work.
We build software that stays understandable.
The expensive part of software is everything after launch: the fixes, the new features, the next developer trying to work out why. So we keep systems small, write down every decision, and hand over code anyone on your team can pick up.
Work
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Monolith
2026
A gesture-first iPhone camera app where you choose the look before you shoot. Film-inspired tones are developed from the sensor’s RAW data at capture, not layered on afterward.
Solo designer & developer
Beta siteContext, approach, outcome
Context. Most camera apps treat tone like a costume draped over the image in post, usually behind a monthly fee. We wanted the look to live inside the capture itself, set the moment you shoot, with no subscription attached.
Approach. That meant getting underneath the usual camera stack: each photo is developed from the sensor’s Bayer RAW data with the chosen tone applied, instead of filtering a finished image. Ruling out filters pushed the work down to custom RAW processing, plus a live preview that approximates the final render.
Outcome. In open beta on TestFlight with 27 tones. Feedback from beta testers gave the next version a sharper shape, and that rebuild is underway.
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Grabber
2026
A tiny macOS utility for moving any window by holding a modifier key and dragging from anywhere on its surface.
Solo developer
GitHubContext, approach, outcome
Context. Drag a window, miss the titlebar by a pixel, try again. On a large monitor the titlebar is always somewhere you’re not, and the window managers that fix it bring a hundred other features along.
Approach. The fix lives at the system level. Accessibility APIs let you intercept a drag and move any window from wherever the cursor landed. Getting there meant wrangling fullscreen windows, tiled windows, and apps that fight back. Shipping through Homebrew also meant learning the signing and notarization path properly.
Outcome. Signed, notarized and one Homebrew command away, with auto-updates from GitHub Releases. It has been in daily use at the studio since launch.
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Chevalet
2025
A platform for artists to share work made by people, with an enforced human-only policy at the center of it.
Founder, product, design & engineering
Live siteContext, approach, outcome
Context. Artists kept saying they no longer knew where to share their work. The platforms they used were filling with generated imagery, and the platforms’ answer was usually a quiet clause buried in the terms of service. We thought the policy itself could carry the product.
Approach. The policy had to sit at the center of the product, shaping everything from onboarding copy to moderation. One person across product, design and engineering meant a strict day-one scope: features that were interesting but not essential waited.
Outcome. Live at chevalet.co. Early users arrived through direct conversations and word of mouth, and the human-only policy is still the first thing they mention.
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Astro Analysis Service
2026
A typed API and frontend for exploring exoplanet host-star data from the NASA Archive.
Solo developer
GitHubContext, approach, outcome
Context. The NASA Exoplanet Archive has a lot of genuinely interesting data about stars that host planets. Getting to it meant writing custom queries or reading through documentation before the schema made sense. We wanted the dataset to feel explorable before anyone understood how it was organized.
Approach. A typed API and a separate frontend from the start, with Prometheus metrics and structured logging in place early, so a small project was built like production work.
Outcome. Open source, and a working reference for how we set up a small service: observable and maintainable from the first commit.
Services
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Web & mobile apps
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Internal tools & automation
Back-office software, integrations and automations that take repetitive work off your team and keep your data in one place.
As in the Studio CRM that runs our own clients and invoices.
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Product & interface design
One person, start to finish.
Atelier Patel is a studio of one. Every engagement is run by its founder, Rushabh Patel, from first call to handover, so decisions are made by the person who will live with them.
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Discovery
We map the problem before writing a line: who uses it, what it replaces, and what has to be true for it to work.
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Build
Short cycles and working software every week. No hand-offs, because there is no one to hand off to.
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Handover
Documentation, tests and a codebase your team can read, plus a direct line to the person who built it, long after launch.
Who you’ll work with.
Rushabh Patel: PhD engineer, software developer and photographer based in Lausanne. I founded Atelier Patel to build apps and tools for clients and for our own products, and I take photos whenever I can.
Currently shipping software, running Atelier Patel and Chevalet, and shooting on a Sony A7III.
Before working together.
Who do you work with?
Founders and teams who need a product, an internal tool or a redesign, and would rather have one accountable person than an agency chain.
Who will actually work on my project?
Rushabh Patel, the founder. The studio is one person, so whoever you speak to on the first call designs, builds and hands over your project.
How does a project start?
Write to contact@atelierpatel.com with a few lines on what you’re building, who it’s for and when you need it. You’ll hear back from Rushabh directly, not a sales team.
What does it cost?
Each project is priced on its own scope. Tell us what you’re trying to build and you’ll have a clear estimate before any work starts.
Do you work outside Switzerland?
Yes. The studio is based in Lausanne and works with clients abroad, including in Australia, across time zones.