Architectural Digest India - January-February 2023

ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2023 INDIA ₹200

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HOMES IN THE WORLD
PHOTO: ASHISH SAHI/AD INDIA

C O N T E N T S
COVER into his collection of folk
Our Art issue celebrates the art. We re-open pages from
richness of the 300-year- the iconic publisher Tara,
old tradition of pichvai from which has created magic
the town of Nathdwara with indigenous visual arts.
with a morakuti or peacock In other news, Tarun Tahiliani
cover hand-painted by artist transforms a heritage
Suresh Sharma (pg 110). cantonment bungalow in
08 EDITOR’S LETTER Bengaluru into his new
10 CONTRIBUTORS boutique. And Sabyasachi
THE ART ISSUE lands in New York with his
13 DISCOVERIES sweeping flagship store.
This year, our annual art

34
issue turns the lens on
traditional art. The Vayeda
Brothers remind us of the

PHOTO: BJÖRN WALLANDER.
beauty of Warli. The founder
of the Durjoy Bangladesh
Foundation gives us a peek
J A N U A R Y- F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 3 A D A R C H I T E C T U R A L D I G E S T 3
C O N T E N T S
44 SHOP 58 NATHDWARA 18
48 FOLK TRADITIONS Curator Madhuvanti Ghose
AD digs into the history and takes us on an evocative
PHOTO: COURTESY OF TARA BOOKS.

the legacy of five seminal tour of the birthplace of the
folk art traditions from pichvai—with atmospheric
across India: Madhubani by images by Hashim Badani.
Sita and Ganga Devi, Bhil 68 AMIT AMBALAL
art by Bhuri Bai, Warli by Traditional Gujarati 90 PORBANDAR
Jivya Soma Mashe, Kalighat architecture and the finest Wrapped in hand-hewn
traditions from Kolkata, and collection of pichvais, limestone, evolved and
Gond by the celebrated artist welcome to the home expanded over decades, and
Jangarh Singh Shyam. of artist and collector given poetic shape by AD100
Amit Ambalal in Ahmedabad. architect Channa Daswatte,

58
80 MAGICAL PROPORTIONS Jay Mehta’s family home in
That’s what drew curator Porbandar, Gujarat, houses
Andrew Bolton and fashion some of his most eclectic
designer Thom Browne to art collection. It is both a

PHOTO: HASHIM BADANI.
acquire this townhouse on reflection of and an homage
Manhattan’s East Side. to the local landscape.
4 A D A R C H I T E C T U R A L D I G E S T J A N U A R Y- F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 3
C O N T E N T S
102 AFTER PARTY 124 STYLE BOOK
116 THE LANGUAGE OF Our selection of this
COLOUR season’s best design
AD looks at the making of products, followed by an A-Z

PHOTO: PANKAJ ANAND.
Asian Paints’ ColourNext—the listing of stores in the issue.
brand’s annual, celebrated 128 THE CURATOR
colour forecast, the first of Amin Jaffer looks at a
102 A SEPIA-TINTED its kind and the only robust late-18th-century pichvai
DREAM HOME one till date in the country. from the Calico collection
Decorated by AD100 122 AN EVENING TO and reveals its cultural
designer Iqrup Dhamija, REMEMBER significance and exquisite
Shon and Harpal Randhawa’s In November, the Jaquar craftsmanship.
30-year-old villa in Delhi Group had its annual

68
is a colonial-era-inspired Canvas get-together at their
mansion—elegantly layered headquarters in Gurugram,
with art, kilims, sandstone and none other than Gulzar

PHOTO: BHARATH RAMAMRUTHAM.
jalis and 18th-century himself brought his poetry,
Rajasthani miniatures—that followed by a recital by the
wil take you back in time. Wadali Brothers.
J A N U A R Y- F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 3 A D A R C H I T E C T U R A L D I G E S T 5
EDITOR KOMAL SHARMA CNX
ART DIRECTOR Chandni Mehta DIRECTOR – CNX Richard Mascarenhas
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VISUALS EDITOR Harshita Nayyar
SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER Atul Hirijagner
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Renuka Modi CREATIVE STRATEGIST – ART Richa Jain (Consultant)
SENIOR MANAGER – INFLUENCER MARKETING Siddhant Salve
OPERATIONS ASSOCIATES Shalini Kanojia, Anaita Patel
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Amin Jaffer, Channa Daswatte, Cosmo Brockway,
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PHOTO: SARANG GUPTA.

one singular thread
that runs across all traditional
art, it is unity and oneness with nature.
Sublime, terrible, beautiful, spiritual—all facets of it. and traditions and rituals for their expression, continuity, and
“Warli comes from the word ‘waral’, which is the place their essential significance. And simply for their beauty.
where we store seeds underground and cover them with Yet authorship remains a challenge for the art world and for
leaves,” says Tushar Vayeda, one half of the Warli artist duo, art lovers. It took us over six months to find Suresh Sharma.
the Vayeda Brothers. On page 108, see the absolutely AD is thankful to Artists of Nathdwara, an organization
magnificent, Annihilation of Sanbarah (The Annihilation of fo u n d e d to s h i n e t h e s p ot li g ht o n p i c hva i a r t i st s ; to
the Boar): an anecdote from the Gond epic by a master Dr. Madhuvanti Ghose, a scholar and the Alsdorf associate
painter, the late Jangarh Singh Shyam. Read the story of Bhil curator of Indian, Southeast Asian, and Himalayan art at the
artist Bhuri Bai on page 102 as she paints her world—from Art Institute of Chicago; and to Vikram Goyal, a designer and
playful animals, birds, and trees to a 70-foot-long mural at the champion of this art, who helped us commission this pichvai
Madhya Pradesh Tribal Museum in Bhopal that narrates the for AD’s cover and led us to the streets of Nathdwara, where
story of her life. this joyful, colourful art was birthed and continues to live—all
As we put together this very special issue, dedicated to captured so exquisitely by photographer Hashim Badani.
traditional, folk, and vernacular forms of art, nature appeared And to add another layer to this narrative, we arrived at
as subject matter, as muse, as celebration, as that all- artist and collector Amit Ambalal’s home in Ahmedabad,
pervading, everlasting source of life and inspiration. What is where he intrinsically lives this unbroken continuity of
an artist’s personal relationship to nature? How does an art traditional art every day. Next to his home that he calls
form portray and interpret the origin of a people, their Sumeru, beautifully decorated with sculpture, art, hinchkos
history, and the place that they belong to? As you turn each (swings), and textiles, is his personal art gallery called Kamal
page, I wonder if you will notice these vignettes, as I have. Chowk, which houses a breathtaking collection of pichvais.
And of course, it is seen most evidently in the spectacular The deity, their adornments, rituals, offerings, music, and
Morakuti pichvai, a dance of peacocks on the cover, painted poetry—his collection is a celebration of all of that, yet cast
especially for AD by Suresh Sharma, an artist who lives in the within the lap of nature, its rhythms, seasons, dawn and dusk,
Chitrakaron ki Gali (artists’ street), in the 300-year-old city of and of course, the dance of the peacocks.
Nathdwara in Rajasthan. I hope you enjoy this special issue of AD dedicated to
India is not unknown for living traditions that are timelessly traditional forms of art. —Komal Sharma
carried on and practised side by side with modernity and
EDITOR’S
urban life. One might walk into some of the most avant-garde
homes and see an ancient heirloom pichvai as the most
prized backdrop. It is absolutely no surprise. It is who we are.
NOTE
We easily collapse time and history and are able to enjoy art

ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST ` 200 NOVEMBER 2018
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The
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BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE DOING BEAUTIFUL THINGS
PHOTOS: JIGNESH JHAVERI (NOVEMBER 2018, OCTOBER 2019); BIKRAMJIT BOSE (MARCH-APRIL 2019, SEPTEMBER 2019); ALL COURTESY OF AD INDIA
IN THE HAMPTONS OF MUMBAI
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THE
RED
LAKSHMI NAWAZ BOMBAY ISSUE

C O N T R I B U T O R S
← HASHIM BADANI
PHOTOGRAPHER A Mumbai-based
photographer, Badani’s practice
revolves around experimenting on
the threshold between fiction and
documentary. He travels to Nathdwara
to document the delicate work of
pichvai artists for this issue’s cover story
(pg 58). “The best stories are the ones
that allow you to be part of something
larger. Documenting the artists and
then watching the cover come alive
was one of those moments.”
↑ BHARATH
RAMAMRUTHAM
PHOTOGRAPHER Ramamrutham is
→ JAYA ASOKAN a leading architecture and interiors
WRITER The director of India Art photographer in the country. Little
Fair, Asokan has more than 20 years known fact: He is also an architect by
of experience in creative industries, training. For this issue, he photographs
including arts, culture, design, fashion, the Ahmedabad home of artist, scholar,
and luxury. In this issue, she gives AD a and art collector Amit Ambalal (pg 68).
sneak peek at what awaits at the 2023 “This is a house you don’t just walk
edition of the fair, which, in Asokan’s through and photograph. If you step in,
words, is “our most ambitious yet” you have to participate in an unbridled
(pg 31). celebration of Amit bhai’s life.”
→ VINIT VYAS
WRITER A scholar and writer based
in Ahmedabad, Vyas’s interdisciplinary
research focuses on early modern
and colonial visual and material culture
of South Asia, especially paintings. In
this issue, he writes about artist Amit
Ambalal’s Ahmedabad home (pg 68).
“Writing this story felt like revisiting
memories and getting answers to
several curious questions I had for an
artist-scholar like Amit bhai.”
↑ DEEPTHI SASIDHARAN
WRITER The co-founder of Eka, a ← DR. MADHUVANTI
cultural advisory, Sasidharan works GHOSE
on heritage planning projects across WRITER Ghose is the Alsdorf associate
the country. In this issue, she writes curator of Indian, Southeast Asian,
about Jay Mehta’s Porbandar home, and Himalayan art at the Art Institute
designed by Channa Daswatte (pg 90). of Chicago. She was the curator of a
“Having worked with Channa over landmark exhibition in 2015 and ’16 that
the past two years in Porbandar on highlighted the artistic traditions of the
a museum project, I’ve spent many Pushti Marg sect and of the artists of
pleasant evenings listening to the story Nathdwara. For our cover story, she
of this house.” writes about the art of pichvai (pg 58).
1 0 A D A R C H I T E C T U R A L D I G E S T J A N U A R Y- F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 3
PHOTO: GABRIELLE LANGDON.

← MALIKA VERMA
WRITER An advocate for India’s craft
communities, founder of Border&Fall,
and AD’s contributing editor, Verma
writes about Sabysachi Mukherjee’s
grand new store in New York, which
catapults his unapologetic taste for
maximalism and high drama right into
the heart of the Big Apple (pg 34).
→ PANKAJ ANAND ↑MITCHELL OWENS

PHOTOGRAPHER Anand has been WRITER Owens—the American
a regular contributor to Condé Nast editor of The World of Interiors and
magazines over his decade-long contributing editor of AD US—writes
career. For this issue, he travels north about Thom Browne and Andrew
to photograph the Delhi home of Shon Bolton’s home (pg 80). “Art collectors
and Harpal Randhawa, designed by don’t usually stun me, because too
Iqrup Dhamija (pg 102). “It was quite many of them are trophy hunters. Thom
a nostalgic experience to have met and Andrew, though, are the best kind
and shot with Iqrup; the home, with its of collectors: They gravitate to artists
amazing collection of art and antiques, that aren’t on the radar of fashion. Who
was full of stories from an era gone by.” knew that this utterly charming power
couple like Norman Rockwell?”
→ VARSHICKA AGARWAL
DESIGNER A graphic designer working
in art and interiors, Agarwal is our secret
weapon. She worked across multiple
projects for this issue, and helped bring
to life our vision for the AD Design
Show, which took place in Mumbai in
December 2022. “Working on the AD
Design Show was a dream come true,
quite literally. I had first visited the show
as a student in 2018 and this year I was
thrilled to be a part of team AD!”
↑ ASHISH SAHI ← WILLIAM ABRANOWICZ

PHOTOGRAPHER AD’s former art PHOTOGRAPHER Abranowicz is the
director takes a trip to Gujarat to author of eight books of photographs
photograph Jay Mehta’s family home on domestic life, the environment, and
in Porbandar, which pays homage to more. In this issue, he photographs
both local materials and the regional the home of designer Thom Browne
architecture (pg 90). “Reaching and curator Andrew Bolton (pg 80).
Porbandar from Delhi was a bit of a “Photographing what is considered to
task—two flights and a four-hour-long be one of the most beautiful residential
drive through not-so-kind roads. But pieces of architecture in New York
it is all worth it when you arrive at the City and getting to meet the famous
oasis created by Channa Daswatte.” dachshund Hector was a delight.”
J A N U A R Y- F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 3 A D A R C H I T E C T U R A L D I G E S T 1 1
PHOTO: TOMO MORISAWA.
← CHERYL MUKHERJI
PHOTOGRAPHER Mukherji is a visual
artist and writer based in Brooklyn, New
York. For this issue, she visits the studio
of Melissa Joseph to photograph both
the artist and her artworks (pg 26). “It
was inspiring to work with Melissa on
this shoot and hear her stories of family,
kinship, belonging, and community
that translate so thoughtfully into her
artistic practice.”
↑ SHAIKH AYAZ
→ VAISHNAVI NAYEL WRITER Ayaz is a journalist and video-
TALAWADEKAR maker based in Mumbai. In this issue, he
WRITER Talawadekar is a British Indian writes about artist Lakshmi Madhavan’s
architecture, design, and art journalist pioneering works (pg 24), made in
and a regular contributor to AD. In this collaboration with kasavu weavers in
issue, she writes about Bhutan’s largest Kerala, and the pioneering efforts of an
overseas art exhibition (pg 25), Melissa art foundation in Bangladesh (pg 16)—
Joseph’s artistic practice drenched in both of which can be read as a double
her memories of her home in Kerala bill on art’s vital role in reviving and
(pg 26), and Tara Books’ decades-long promoting vanishing artistic legacies.
journey in championing Indian folk art
through publishing (pg 18).
PHOTO: PADMA REDDY.

→ GAUTAMI REDDY
WRITER The director of digital and
communications at India Art Fair,
Reddy is a true believer in the power
of art and storytelling. In this issue,
she writes about the Vayeda Brothers
(pg 14)—whose practice gives a new
lease of life to Warli art—and looks
back at five pivotal folk art traditions
from across India (pg 48).
↑ GOKULL RAO KADAM ← GABRIELA ESTRADA

PHOTOGRAPHER A deep-house DJ WRITER Estrada has been a
turned photographer, Kadam runs his collaborator at AD Mexico and Latin
photography studio, Meister Meister, America since 2013. In this issue, she
covering architecture, design, beauty, writes about an exhibition of organic
fashion, and portraiture. For this issue, architecture at The Noguchi Museum
he photographs Tarun Tahiliani’s new in New York, which turns the lens on
store in Bengaluru, sculpted out of a Mexican artists and architects (pg 40).
heritage home, complete with monkey- “If we think of design as a tangible
top roofs lined with terrazzo tiles language, then organic architecture is
(pg 42). an echo of the past that screams out
for a return to nature.”
1 2 A D A R C H I T E C T U R A L D I G E S T J A N U A R Y- F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 3
In keeping with tradition, here is AD’s annual Art issue, this time
s
e
with a special focus on traditional forms and practices of art. We
i
look at rising artists of the moment, the Vayeda Brothers, who are
r
e
rediscovering the legacy of Warli. Rithika Merchant launches her
v
collectible monograph. Fair director Jaya Asokan gives us a sneak
o
c
peek at the latest edition of the India Art Fair, opening in February.
And we look back at the de cade s-long journey of Tara Books,

i
D
and their celebration of the complex, elemental beauty of folk art.

The Magical
Meet the Vayeda Brothers—
artists, storytellers, and World of Warli
passionate activists reminding
us of the beauty of Warli and its
intrinsic connection to nature.
ABOVE: AN ARTWORK FROM THE “PAINTINGS OF URBAN FOREST” SERIES, OJAS ART GALLERY COLLECTION
(PHOTO: PAWAN KUMAR). FACING PAGE, LEFT: WHETHER THEY ARE WORKING ON LARGER-THAN-LIFE MURALS OR
WORKS ON PAPER AND CANVAS, VAYEDA BROTHERS PREFER LEADING WITH INTUITION AND PAINTING FREEHAND
(PHOTO: VAYEDA BROTHERS). FACING PAGE, RIGHT: FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THEIR ANCESTORS, THE
VAYEDA BROTHERS PAINTED CAVE WALLS ON AWASHIMA ISLAND, JAPAN, DURING A RESIDENCY IN 2018. MADE IN
THE WARLI STYLE IN COLLABORATION WITH CONTEMPORARY ARTIST MAKI OHKOJIMA, THE PAINTING CALLS TO
MIND THE SHARED ROOTS OF HUMANITY AND UNITY OF EXPERIENCE (PHOTO: KAWAZOE KEITA).

TEXT: GAUTAMI REDDY.
W
arli is not Warli community’s deep relationship circular narrative, while in works such as
just an with the natural environment. From those from their “Paintings from Urban
art form; opening their studio and involving the Forest” series, trucks, trains, and aero
we are a next generation of artists in their creative planes cut through the canvas, leaving
people,” assert the young process—especially women, who were behind clouds of smoke. “Our paintings
artist and sibling duo the original makers and carriers of the art are not just born out of imagination, but
M a y u r a n d Tu s h a r form—to spreading awareness about out of the reality and experiences that
Vayeda who are here to green initiatives as part of what they surround us,” state the artists for whom
prove a point. Hailing describe as “The Jungle Project” to capturing the truth has meant intro
from the village of Ganjad counter the rapid industrialization and ducing new elements and “alphabets to
in rural Maharashtra, the modernization of the village society, the the centuriesold language and script of
duo—better known as the Vayeda Brothers are gently pioneering a Warli art”. “Painting is like writing for
Vayeda Brothers—have return to a wholesomely integrated and us,” Mayur elaborates, “and a means
been passionately chro creative way of living. to document our oral histories and
nicling their memories Groups of human figures in white contemporary moments.”
a n d o b s e r va t i o n s o f dance against a reddishbrown Today, the Vayeda Brothers firmly
community life in their landscape—paper that has been primed believe: “Warli is our responsibility.”
art. “We want to act as a with natural cow dung—alongside trees, They are infusing a new dynamism by
bridge between the animals, rivers, and birds that seem to showcasing at international exhibitions
ancient and modern swing in sym phony. “We grew up and residencies, creating ambitious
worlds by translating the watching and assisting our aunt Minakshi illustrated book projects and marking
wisdom and knowledge Vayeda and other artists who would their presence in monumental murals all
passed down from our make pai ntings for weddings, birth over the world—including a largerthan
ancestors into a language ceremonies, and other such celebrations life seascape that was unveiled at Sassoon
that can be understood in the village,” shares Mayur, adding, “At Docks for the Mumbai Urban Arts
by all,” explain the duo the time, we never thought art would Festival in December 2022 and the
who see themselves as not bec ome a lifelong obsession and facade of India Art Fair in New Delhi,
just artists but also researchers, story occupation. It was only when we moved which will be transformed into a “Forest
keepers, and educators. out to the city to study that we began to of the Future” in February 2023. With
“Warli comes from the word ‘waral’, see ourselves differently.” all this and more, the Vayeda Brothers
which is the place where we store seeds Over time, the city too has crept into are rising to the occasion by breaking
underground and cover them with the Warli universe. Tall linear buildings the boundaries between folk and
leaves,” explains Tushar, emphasizing the and factories intersperse its otherwise contemporary art.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2023 AD ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST 15

Looking
East A torchbearer of the Bangladeshi art
boom, Dhaka-based Durjoy Rahman
shines a light on the powerful voices
of folk artists from the region.
TEXT: SHAIKH AYAZ. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF DURJOY BANGLADESH FOUNDATION.

U
nless we know our origins we artists are the original Bengali icons. They
can never move forward.” are part of our heritage, but unfor-
Durjoy Rahman, a Dhaka- tunately, because of our long colonial
based collector explains why history, their legacy has not been
he established Durjoy Bangladesh highlighted as prominently as it should
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP
Foundation (DBF) back in 2018: To have. AT DBF, it is therefore important
LEFT: SHETAR BANABASH BY champion his country’s folk practices, to to us to bring these artists into global
SHAMBHU ACHARYA; MAHUA BY
ABDUS SHAKOOR SHAH; TWO correct the lack of acknowledgement focus. Our vision includes creating an
WOMEN BY QUAMRUL HASSAN. given to folk art in the larger contem- eco system where traditional arts are
porary art world, even though, in the age prioritized and given an international
old tradition of folk art, lies the origin of all platform,” says Rahman, whose project
art. Rahman’s 2,000-strong collection Bhumi at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale
includes traditional paintings by local folk 2022 helps gives exposure to the
masters such as Shambhu Acharya and community of local artisans from his
Quamrul Hassan, while his Dhaka home country, especially those artists and
speaks of his love for the calligraphic works craftsmen who lost their livelihoods dur-
of celebrated artist Abdus Shakoor Shah. ing the pandemic.
In recent years, through DBF, Rahman In between impassioned anecdotes,
has founded an art residency, helped Rahman reminds us that his country’s
stage an exhibition in Berlin, and worked art history is far older than its 21st-
closely with Bangladeshi artists such as century economic success. “I keep telling
Joydeb Roaja and K anak Chanpa everyone that Bangladesh did not get
Chakma. “Indigenous communities are independence along with India and
facing displacement in every part of the Pakistan in 1947. So our journey was, in
world. They’re battling not only the loss some ways, behind them,” he says, before
of their livelihood, but also their identity quickly adding, “But I think we are
and centuries-old culture,” he says. “Folk finally having our moment.”

WHAT A MAN'S GOT TO DO
PHOTO: R BURMAN/GQ INDIA
The Brilliance
of Tara
The iconic children’s book
publisher has created magic
with indigenous visual arts
TEXT: VAISHNAVI NAYEL TALAWADEKAR. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF TARA BOOKS.

since its inception almost
three decades ago.
RIGHT: THE COVER OF GOBBLE

YOU UP BY SUNITA AND GITA WOLF.
BELOW: A SPREAD FROM TAIL
TALE BY ANUSHKA RAVISHANKAR,
TUSHAR VAYEDA AND MAYUR
VAYEDA. FACING PAGE: THE COVER
OF THE CLOTH OF THE MOTHER
GODDESS BY JAGDISH CHITARA.

A
s a child, Gita Wolf was an cornerstone of Tara Books. “We’ve
avid reader: “I was mostly fed collaborated with artists from various
on Anglo-Saxon books, backgrounds—folk, tribal, and indigenous
where it seemed to me that artists from across the country, along with
fun and adventure seemed to happen only contemporary illustrators and designers
to children in other places. And I won- from different parts of the world,” says
dered, why not right here?” Many years Wolf, for whom embracing various art
later, as a mother with a young son, the traditions has helped transcend language
que stion, in her mind, still remained barriers and offer rich insights into
unanswered. Little did she know that she myriad cultures.
would find the answer herself, blazing a The company’s first book, The Very
new trail for children’s books in India, and Hungry Lion (1996), was illustrated in the
shining a light on indigenous folk art along Warli art style by a contemporary artist.
the way. Yet over time, Wolf and her team decided
Wolf found her inspiration in 1993, to pursue a more vernacular approach.
at “Snehidi: Forum for Women”, a “We considered that a contemporary
feminist collective in Chennai, during a artist’s technique might well differ from
conversation with fellow feminist and that of an indigenous artist. We wanted to
friend V. Geetha. The
exchange motivated her,
not long after, to start a
publishing house for
children’s books, rooted in
the Indian context. It was
christened Tara Books.
For Wolf, who con-
siders herself an accidental
e n t re p re n e u r , i t wa s
important that each page
inspire wonder. “I wanted
to create books that would
make children want to
read—nothing preachy or
moral istic. My other
interest was in the visual:
I was fascinated by picture
books. I’ve always loved
art, but it was never taken
seriously when I was
growing up.” She started
off with little more than
two book ideas and a few
finished handmade pages.
V. Geetha joined her in
1996 and the two have
since maintained a steadfast
editorial partnership.
Art has always been the

LEFT: A PAGE FROM BRER RABBIT
RETOLD BY ARTHUR FLOWERS AND
JAGDISH CHITARA. BELOW: THE
COVER OF THE NIGHT LIFE OF
TREES BY BHAJJU SHYAM, DURGA
BAI VYAM AND RAMSINGH URVETI.
understand more, and the way to do this printed art book of Gond tree
was to collaborate directly.” lore, with striking illustrations
By the same token, most books since, by Gond artists Durga Bai and
have been rendered by grassroots talent, Ramsingh Urveti; and The Cloth
although the stories embrace a kalei of the Mother Goddess, a textile
doscope of cultures. For example, Brer book that uncovers the origins of
Rabbit Retold (2017), featuring wisdom tales mata ni pachedi, also illustrated
from the American South, was illustrated by Chitara.
in the mata ni pachedi style by Gujarati folk The creative process differs
artist Jagdish Chitara. Likewise, Tail Tale with each project, Wolf notes.
(2019), a witty children’s tale about a “Sometimes, we find artists and
lamenting cat, is executed in a modern authors with existing ideas that
Warli style by young artists Tushar and we turn into books; sometimes
Mayur Vayeda. we reach out to artists who can bring our
Over the years, the publishing house ideas to life.” Wolf sees this as collaborative
has also introduced books for older rea work: combining the company’s know
ders. Of particular note is Beasts of India, a ledge of bookmaking with the artist’s skill
handmade book on India’s jungle animals, and imagination. For her, each artist is an
brought to life by various folk artists; The “author”, who lends equally, or more, to
Night Life of Trees, an elaborate silk screen– the magic of each story.

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GUEST EDITED BY SABYASACHI
STARRING PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS
Love Me
as I Am With a new series of his embroidered
masterpieces, T. Venkanna is out to rip apart
many walls—one delicate stitch at a time.
TEXT: RAJASHREE BALARAM. PHOTO: COURTESY OF GALLERY MASKARA.

STRONG DESIRE, 2022, PENCIL
AND EMBROIDERY ON LINEN.
I
n March 2022, Vadodara-based artist Consider, for example, one of the
T. Venkanna moved his entire exhibits Strong Desire, in which intricate
workroom—12 embroidery artisans in zardozi and aari work on linen depict how
tow—to Mumbai. Since then, the desire and longing linger long after death.
cavernous studio of Gallery Maskara has “Both life and lust are endlessly hungry.
seen a rare melding of art and craft as the The garland shows the endlessness of this
artist and his team prepare to mount the cycle.” Venkanna’s chosen themes are
former’s latest show “Love Me as I Am”— subversive and not exactly easy to take in,
a culmination, as if, of his two spectac- but his conviction is not coated with even
ular previous outings “Love Me” and “As the mildest veneers of apology.
I Am”. Curator Abhay Maskara admires him
Viewers to “Love Me as I Am” (open for staying true to his voice, unmoved by
for viewing on Thursday nights) can market demands, critics, or collectors.
prepare for an unapologetically visc- “Even though his works focus on sex-
eral experience, set in mind-spinning uality, it’s only a trope for his larger
embroidery. Venkanna’s outpourings— pressing concerns,” Maskara says. “When
always magnificent and meticulously you start looking beyond the obvious, you
embroidered—are set on canvases that are cannot help but see the beauty and
even larger than his previous works; the potency in his visual language.”
primeval matters they speak of more The artisans, who had never worked
unabashed and defiant, and the dense on pieces such as Venkanna’s, needed a
Edenesque settings full of fruits and nudge. The artist made a three-hour pres-
feelings ripened to unbearable succulence. entation to help them understand the
Here, Venkanna focuses his gaze on weight of social conditioning, the chance
sexuality, gender, violence, repression, and of fair terms of livelihood, and the
choice with piercing clarity. The honesty possibility of boundless experimentation
can be hard to confront, and harder to and genuine artistic collaboration.
look away from. The works, brimming Maskara sums it up aptly when he states
with details, are stunning in their com- that when art and craft collaborate in this
plexity—sometimes with seven different way, it is not just the medium that is
kinds of stitches in one square inch! transformed, but the mindset too.

Rithika Merchant’s monograph
chronicles her creative journey
and underlines how myths
The Eye,
everywhere are born from the
same human response to nature.
the Sky,
TEXT: RAJASHREE BALARAM. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF BOMBAY DUCK DESIGNS.

the Altar
F
or fans of Rithika Merchant, her like the eye, the sun, the moon, and
new mono graph, The Eye, the botanical imagery in general.” Amid the
Sky, the Altar, can be as precious a riveting pages that pronounce the delicate
collectible as any of her works. beauty of gouache and ink, there is also a
An object of beauty, it spotlights her imm casual conversation with her writer friend
ersion in comparative mythology, from Fariha Róisín. Interestingly, while the
tentative beginnings to a gradual deep dive book mostly covers the past five years of
that has enabled her to discern parallels in her work, the artist has chosen themes—
lands far removed from each other. “The not chronology—to drive the narrative;
history of myth and traditions shows links there’s a section devoted to collages, ano
between cultures that often aren’t high ther for altars and talismans, and so on).
lighted in classical history,” says Merchant. One of the distinguishing features of
At a time when lands everywhere are riven Merchant’s works is the way she folds her
by fresh battle lines, Merchant’s throwback artworks. “I like to refer to the folds as the
is a reminder that for all the migration that architecture of the artwork, or the scaff
shaped our different racial identities across olding that I build each piece on,” says
the timeline of human evolution we Merchant. “After I finish each painting, I
DESIGNED BY ZEENAT KULAVOOR OF BOMBAY DUCK
continue to have more in common. fold it back up along the same creases to DESIGNS AND BACKED BY A COLLABORATIVE PUBLISHING
“I would like the viewer to place them store it. Often, I am able to fold it into a EFFORT BETWEEN TARQ AND GALERIE LJ, THE BOOK
SHINES A LIGHT ON THE EVOLUTION OF SYMBOLISM
selves in my work, regardless of where smaller geometric shape, and the painting IN ARTIST RITHIKA MERCHANT’S WORK. “IT’S BEEN
INTERESTING TO REFLECT ON WHAT I WAS THINKING
they are from,” says Merchant. “The fig turns into an object. In this way, the paper ABOUT WHEN I MADE THESE WORKS,” SAYS MERCHANT.
ures in my works are also deliberately free itself is part of the narrative.” Merchant is
of any race, gender, or ethnicity. I tend to as deeply attuned to the voice of the
be drawn to symbols that are universally medium as to that of her materials. Her
recognizable and not culturally specific— monograph is all the richer for it.

Threads of
Leben
TEXT: SHAIKH AYAZ.
Mumbai-based artist Lakshmi

Madhavan unpacks the political
and the personal in Kerala’s
immensely popular craft of kasavu.
H
aving called different places on politics,” she argues, explaining, “In pre-
earth “home” over the years, colonial times, there was only the mundu
artist Lakshmi Madhavan’s art which covered the lower body. The veshti
practice aptly questions the was added much later during the British era
idea of identity, ethnicity, and belonging. to conform to Victorian morality. Even
The former marketing professional admits today, the way you wear a mundu says a lot
that she came to art quite late. “But I was about who you are.” As is evident in her
always creative. Even as a child, I was work, Madhavan is interested in the politics LEFT: HANGING BY A THREAD II EXPLORES
THE POLITICAL COMPLEXITIES BETWEEN
rarely without my pencil and doodle pad,” of these garments. She weaves the words THE BODY AND FABRIC (PHOTO:
WHISTLEMAN FILMS). RIGHT: ARTIST
the 36-year-old tells AD over coffee at her “any body”, “some body”, “every body”, LAKSHMI MADHAVAN AT HER STUDIO IN
Mumbai studio. Madhavan’s work is a riff and “no body” into the pieces to highlight BANDRA, MUMBAI (PHOTO: POOJA ACHAN).
on the humble but popular traditional the fabric’s association with class, caste, and
garments mundu and veshti found every- gender. Many times, the community that
where in her homeland of Kerala, and the weaves kasavu cannot afford (or in some
craft of kasavu—gold or silver zari-work on cases, is not even allowed) to wear it.
white fabric. The National Crafts Museum To make these intricately crafted works,
and Hastkala Academy in New Delhi Madhavan collaborates with the weaving
recently showcased her textile installation community in Balaramapuram, one of
Hanging by a Thread III, in which she hon- the epicentres of kasavu craft in Kerala.
ours her grandmother who wore freshly Empowering the craftsmen and helping
starched kasavu garments every day of her blur the distinction between art and craft
life. Even though this series began as an act has become the focal point of her practice
of rediscovery of her own roots, it seems to in the last four years. “I feel like I’ve been
have assumed a greater socio-political blessed with the responsibility of telling
significance as she probed deeper into the the story of this dying craft. I want
history of the fabric. to do it with honesty and integrity,”
“Kasavu is a marker of caste, culture, and says Madhavan.

Notes From
Bhutan
Bhutan’s largest
overseas art exhibition
yet, currently on view in
Brussels, is a sanctuary
of therapeutic art.
TEXT: VAISHNAVI NAYEL TALAWADEKAR. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF

VOLUNTARY ARTISTS STUDIO, THIMPHU (VAST).
B
hutan has long been hailed for mediums vary widely, ranging
its inherent spirit of optimism, from natural pigments and
something the Himalayan acrylic to mixed media, and
kingdom has managed to parlay installations of wood, mirrors,
through the pandemic with a renewed and traditional Bhutanese
focus on art and culture. The latest case in musical instruments. What
point is the country’s largest ever overseas doesn’t vary is the overarching
art exhibition, christened “Healing With theme of healing.
Happiness”, currently on view in Brussels. As a platform focused on
Organized by Voluntary Artists Studio, increasing the visibility of local CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT:
Thimphu, (VAST) in collaboration with talent, it was important for Kama that HELPING HAND BY SELDON
WANGMO DORJI SHOWS A HUMAN
the Royal Bhutanese Embassy in Brussels there be no restrictions to curation. The FACE BLOOMING INSIDE A FLOWER;
HAPPY ATSARA IS A BRIGHT AND
and Belfius Bank, the exhibition—which only criterion for qualifi cation was FESTIVE COMPOSITION BY SONAM
spotlights works by 68 Bhutanese artists— concept. Participating artists are as wide DEKI CHOZOM; TANDIN WANGDI’S
UNTITLED MYTHOLOGICAL OPUS.
commemorates the wedding anniversary ranging as the art on display. Noteworthy
of Bhutan’s king and queen, and holds a paintings include Helping Hand by Seldon
mirror to the king’s vision of creating “art Wangmo Dorji, Happy Atsara by Sonam
to touch people’s lives”. Inaugurated in Deki Chozom, and Tandin Wangdi’s
October 2022, it will remain open for untitled mythological opus.
viewing at the Belfius Bank headquarters “The pieces, individually, ignite a sense
until the end of March 2023. of catharsis, featuring icons and symbols
For Bhutanese artist and curator that showcase the sacred warrior spirit in
Asha Kama—widely credited for having each of us. [They reflect] the imperm
started the contemporary art movement anence of our emotions,” says Kama. For
in Bhutan—the curatorial ethos was infor him and his fellow artists, the exhibits are
med by joyful things: people, landscapes, potent antidotes from Bhutan to the
auspicious motifs, cosmic mandalas, world—remarkably, ones that come
and mythological icons and deities. The without an expiration date.

TEXT: VAISHNAVI NAYEL TALAWADEKAR. PHOTOS: CHERYL MUKHERJI.
Heartfelt
Kunst
Brooklyn-based artist
Melissa Joseph’s felted
works are inspired by
archival photographs of
family far away in Kerala.
A
s a child growing up in rural
Pennsylvania, Melissa Joseph
was deeply influenced by her
father’s Malayali heritage.
“From the lungis he wore every day to the
appams he taught me to make, and the
Malayalam music and movies that were
constantly blaring from speakers around the
house, there were reminders of Kerala
everywhere,” recalls the Brooklyn-based
artist of her bicultural upbringing (her
mother, an American, hailed from
Pittsburgh). And yet for Joseph, the only
tangible references to her Malayali roots
were photographs. “These images were my
connection to family far away, whom we
would visit every few years. I would see my
aunts and uncles and cousins, my
grandparents and my great grandmother,
and hear stories about them at the same time
I was learning about figures from the Bible ABOVE: ARTIST MELISSA
JOSEPH STANDS BESIDE
and reading fairy tales. All of these characters MEETING OF THE MILS
took on an almost mythical existence.” (MOTHERS-IN-LAW), A 2022
COMPOSITION OF NEEDLE-
Little did she know that many years FELTED WOOL AND RECYCLED
SARI SILK ON INDUSTRIAL
later these characters would tumble out of FELT. RIGHT: COUSINS AT
her imagination and onto her canvas, one CHRISTMAS, GLAZED AND
INLAID STONEWARE AND
that has assumed many different mediums NEEDLE-FELTED WOOL ON
INDUSTRIAL FELT, 2022.
over the years. Her latest body of work—
characterized by a self-taught felting
technique she developed during the
lockdown—is informed by her signature
Impressionist style, with archival family
photographs reimagined on materials like
raw silk, amate bark paper, carpet,
and cement blocks. One particular
needle felted wo ol an d s ar i s ilk
composition, titled Kochi Funeral (2020),
recalls a funeral of decades past,
while another, titled Elizabeth Aunty,
Thiruvananthapurum (2020), nods to a
namesake family member.
For Joseph, felting was an accidental

discovery. She noticed someone wet- e ve n t u a l l y b e c a m e my
felting—a process in which wool fibres are portfolio for graduate school.”
rubbed with soap and warm water to Of course, it wasn’t until she
create a firm, felted object—during an started working with images
artist residency at the Textile Arts Center of her family, especially of her
(TAC) in Brooklyn, and eventually learnt father, that she realized she
the technique through YouTube. As she had developed an oeuvre she
began experimenting with applications could truly call her own.
and materials, she found herself gravitating Pe r h a p s b e c a u s e t h e
towards those familiar family photo- process is so personally
graphs—now digitally archived—in a bid informed, Joseph declines
to source inspiration. “I was working with c o m m i ss i o n s . “ I e n j oy
these images already, so it made sense to spending time with the
try them in felt.” people in the images. If I
The system of sorting and scanning don’t have a connection and a
photographs serves as an overture to history with the subjects,
Joseph’s elaborate felting technique. then the art lacks emotion,
“Inevitably, some images jump out or have feeling, or magic,” says the
a sense of urgency. They pick me more artist, who has just returned
than I pick them,” she notes, adding that from a two-month ceramics
the system was an unmeant parting gift residency at the Archie Bray
from her late father, who, besides being a Foundation, where she
masterful surgeon, was also a gifted artist. focused on finding ways for
“Since he died at 69, and without much felt and ceramic to meaning- TOP LEFT: SUPERSIBS, NEEDLE-FELTED WOOL
ON INDUSTRIAL FELT, 2022. TOP RIGHT: MAPS,
notice, it made me think about time fully coexist—a subtle hat tip, she says, to THEY DON’T LOVE YOU LIKE I LOVE YOU,
differently. Grieving is a weird and her biracial identity. NEEDLE-FELTED WOOL ON INDUSTRIAL FELT,
2022. ABOVE: FIRST AID: DAD AND ZOE IN THE
unpredictable thing. I found myself in a Of the people she likes to bring to life BACKWATERS, NEEDLE-FELTED WOOL AND
SARI SILK INSIDE A VINTAGE FIRST AID KIT, 2022.
fog mostly, but every night after work, I through art, her beloved father—whose
would make encaustic paintings from likeness she can capture effortlessly in just
some photos we found when we cleaned a few gestures—plays a starring role: “For
out his office. They were ‘before’ and ‘after’ just that split second, he is back with me
pictures of patients he had operated on. I in the studio, and then poof, he is gone
would methodically recreate images of again, and it is just another painting, or a
these wounds in wax and then retrace my collage, or felt.” Her family photographs,
father’s stitches with thread, sewing of course, continue to inspire her. The
through the warm wax. I ended up with only difference is that her father is now
dozens of these small works that front and centre.

In the Heart
of Delhi DAG’s newest gallery in the
capital city features key works
by Raja Ravi Varma and a rare
TEXT: ADARSH SONI.

sculpture by Amrita Sher-Gil,
among other legends.
KIZHAKKE PALAT KRISHNA MENON
I
AND FAMILY, 1870, RAJA RAVI
VARMA, OIL ON CANVAS. (PHOTO
FROM THE DAG COLLECTION.) t’s a three-decade-old establishment delighted to curate the next iteration of
that’s home to a collection of eclectic ‘Iconic Masterpieces of Indian Modern
works and among the most prestigious Art’ celebrating the country’s rich legacy
in the world, but there’s no place that of art with the finest and rarest examples
defines the true essence of the Delhi Art created from the 18th-century onwards,”
Gallery (DAG) like New Delhi. After all, he adds.
this city is where the global brand was Spread across two floors with an
conceived in the early ’90s and will now impressive open terrace, the gallery was
be housing its latest art gallery. “India’s crafted as a simple yet inviting space that
appetite for high-quality exhibitions has leaves plenty of room for the art to
been growing and we feel responsible for breathe. The design philosophy is centred
providing rich, immersive experiences for on the concept of creating focal points
well-travelled viewers and audiences,” says within the sculpturesque, flowing
Ashish Anand, CEO and MD at DAG. volumes in the display arena, through the
“With the opening of our new gallery in numerous settings that change from time
New Delhi—on Janpath, in the capital’s to time. The use of pristine white surfaces
heritage Lutyens precincts—we are aligns the focus towards the artworks,

making them the centre of attention. The
wooden flooring lends an air of warmth
to the space while the exposed ceiling is
painted a muted dark grey, so that the eye
travels horizontally along the walls. “The
newly restored 21st-century DAG gallery
allows the space to have a dialogue
between the interiors and the artist
community, giving them a platform to
showcase their craft,” says Sonali Rastogi,
co-founder of Morphogenesis, who
crafted the space. “The warmth from the
skylight creates a natural spotlight, allow-
ing the space to flow seamlessly through
subsequent volumes to support a wide
range of thematic exhibits,” she adds.
“Iconic Masterpieces of Indian Modern
Art” is expected to showcase around 50 of
the most stunning artworks by renowned
Indian artists like M.F. Husain, S.H. Raza,
Ganesh Haloi, and others. But there are
two very special pieces that stand out from
the rest.
Painted exactly 152 years ago in 1870,
Kizhakke Palat Krishna Menon and Family is
the first ever commissioned artwork made
by Raja Ravi Varma. And as it turns out,
it’s also the first piece of “modern art” to
emerge from India, making it an imp-
ortant historical artefact. On the other
hand, the curation also includes a
sculpture by Amrita Sher-Gil, which
depicts a pair of tigers curvaceously
blending into each other. What makes it
special? Well, it’s the first and only
sculpture created by the famed Budapest-
born artist.
It’s invaluable selections like these that
RIGHT: UNTITLED (UNION OF
make DAG the crown jewel of the Indian
USHA AND ANIRUDDHA), M.V. art scene, and the gallery is proud to carry
DHURANDHAR, OIL ON CANVAS.
BELOW: UNTITLED (TIGERS), that legacy forward. “We believe strongly
1940, AMRITA SHER-GIL,
PLASTER OF PARIS. (PHOTOS
that the right location and architectural
FROM THE DAG COLLECTION.) setting enhances everyone’s pleasure when
viewing art,” says Anand.
“And we are delighted to
create the right ambience
for the high-quality
historic works that form
part of our exhibitions.”

Capital Fair director Jaya Asokan
Calling gives AD a sneak peek of
what awaits at India Art Fair,
opening in February.
H
ere we are. In a new world, Debashish Paul and Lakshmi Madhavan—
transformed by the pandemic, will present exciting projects. While
where we are more conscious Paul will unfold his queer identity in a
of the power of art and cre- performance art piece, Madhavan’s
ativity in being more empathetic, community-driven art practice will shine
connecting beyond borders and driving through in her installation of bright
the community forward. In the new year, white-and-gold kasavu textiles made in
our intent is to make India Art Fair a collaboration with the fast-disappearing
meeting ground—for artists and non- community of weavers of Balarampuram
artists alike—and for it to be a space that is in Kerala (see pg 52).
inclusive in the truest sense of the word. I am particularly excited about some of
As we continue to stay true to our our art projects. My favourites include
mission of bringing the best of modern Parag Tandel’s thought-provoking sculp-
and cutting-edge contemporary art from tural installation in which he recreates the
India and South Asia, all in one place, in seven small islands that made up Mumbai
this edition we pool together our collective before it grew into a mega metropolis;
learnings from the last few years. Making a surreal eight-foot-tall, twisted fibreglass
space for traditional art forms of South scale by Shivani Agarwal inviting aud-
ABOVE: TAKE ME I AM YOURS,
2022, RINA BANERJEE, MIXED
Asia, the fair facade will be transformed iences to measure the intangible, such as
MEDIA ON PAPER (COURTESY into a “Forest of the Future” by a talented emotions of love, joy, intimacy, and truth;
OF AICON). BELOW: BEYOND
TEXT: JAYA ASOKAN (AS TOLD TO GAUTAMI REDDY).
THE BODY AND GENDER I, 2021, Warli artist duo, the Vayeda Brothers, and a monumental sculpture resembling a
DEBASHISH PAUL, PERFORMANCE who bring a contemporary outlook to the pelvic bone by Prashant Pandey, which
(COURTESY OF THE ARTIST).
ancient art form from Maharashtra (see references the marvellous moment of the
pg 36). Our other Artists in Residence— birth of life—all of which will be spread

across the warm winter outdoors of Ogale, Mira Felicia Malhotra, and Varun
the fair. Desai—will present immersive digital
Over the past year, we have been projects and lead interactive workshops
witness to the thrilling expansion of the curated by Today at Apple, giving
Indian art world. Whether it is wider audiences an opportunity to step into
representation of artists from the interior their vast creative universes, all made on
parts of the country in gallery booths, iPad Pro.
such as Soma Das at Emami Art and Bhuri Last but not the least, I’m thrilled about
Bai at Arushi Arts, mighty diasporic “The Future is Born of Art”—an imp
names such as the feminists Rina Banerjee ortant highlight and creative collaboration
at 1x1 Art Gallery and pioneering abs with BMW India—where four gifted
tractionist Rasheed Araeen at Aicon, to young artists including Devika Sundar,
works by some of the biggest names in Aditi Aggarwal, Rithika Pandey, and Sajid
international art, in the likes of Anish Wajid Shaikh will be competing for the
Kapoor at Galleria Continua and Andy chance to design the wrap of the new
Warhol at Bruno Art Group making their BMW X7, which will be unveiled at the
way to the fair, we want to bring in diverse fair, each presenting a vision of what the
voices. Now more than ever, inclusivity is future looks like for them.
key and the art world is sitting up, and To be leading the fair’s return in a post
we’re proud to consciously drive conver pandemic world is a wonderful oppor
sations around inclusivity across the fair tunity but also a huge responsibility. Ours
TOP RIGHT: PLAY AREA, 2018, DIA MEHHTA
BHUPAL, DIASEC PRINT (COURTESY OF
and its wideranging public programme. is a vision to make space for inclusion, to
GALLERYSKE). TOP LEFT: UNTITLED, YEAR In a neverbeforedone curation led create opportunities for independent
UNKNOWN, MANGLA BAI, ACRYLIC ON
CANVAS (COURTESY OF INHERITED ARTS by art curator and educator Shaleen artists and to think of new and innovative
FORUM). ABOVE: DAUGHTER (WEAVE
THROUGH ETERNITY), 2022, ANNE SAMAT,
Wadhwana, our Talks programme will be ways of building the fair in a sustainable
RATTAN STICKS, WOODEN AND PLASTIC a space to dive deep into key conversations fashion. India Art Fair 2023 is probably the
ORNAMENTS, METAL, BEADS, AND
WASHERS (COURTESY OF MARC STRAUS). surrounding the arts. To shine a light on best version of what we’ve been working
how digital realms and technology towards and I look forward to welcoming
inspired art have gathered pace, our everyone to experience and be inspired by
Digital Artists in Residence—Gaurav the exceptional art on show.

Maghreb
on a Plate
Jaipur-based designer
Thierry Journo adds high
notes of drama to Good
Earth’s latest dinner sets.
NA GURUNG.
AREE PHO
: SW TO
E XT :C
T O
UR
T
ES
Y
OF
GO
O
DE
T ARTH.
he sumptuousness of dinner Each of these motifs, 18 in
parties is back and beautiful total, were hand-drawn by
with the coming together of him and converted into
Good Earth’s craftsmanship decals that were then applied
and Thierry Journo’s imagination. The to fine china by women artisans
Jaipur-based French homeware and at Good Earth’s atelier. “With our
fashion designer behind the label IDLI, known obsession of perfecting
created “Mirage”, a collection comprising colours and achieving the right scale, we
complete dinner sets in six different shades went through five rounds of sampling
inspired by the romantic fantasy of the before production,” says Anita Lal, Good THE COMPLETE DINNER SETS COME
great Maghreb desert. “I wanted to create Earth’s founder and creative director. The IN SIX COMPLEMENTING SHADES OF
CORAL, ROSE, LEAF, AQUAMARINE,
a fantastical dream-like setting featuring entire process of creating these collectible CERISE, AND TURQUOISE, AND CAN
joyfully striped draped tents, lazing leo- pieces, rimmed with hand-painted matt BE MIXED AND MATCHED TO CREATE
PERSONALIZED TABLE SETTINGS.
pards, musicians, dancing palms and lush gold bands, spanned a year.
foliage. I wanted the powdery pastels to In mixing and matching these pieces
collide with bright colours and gold to in complementing colours, we get end-
evoke all the richness of a whimsical oasis less possibilities for unique table settings.
in the desert, almost like an apparition or a “Dressing and styling your dinner table
dream,” says Journo. “A quintessential should be a visual delight and must spark
fairy tale—playful, magical, and brimming joy, much like the food you serve and the
with endless possibilities.” company you dine with,” says Lal.

PHOTO: ATHUL PRASAD/CONDÉ NAST TRAVELLER INDIA
THE LAST WORD IN TRAVEL

TEXT: MALIKA VERMA. PHOTOS: BJÖRN WALLANDER.
Hello
New York
With the launch of his first store in
New York’s West Village, Sabyasachi
arrives with his authentic,
maximalist, and India-proud self.
AS WITH ALL SABYASACHI STORES,

THE WALLS OF THE SWEEPING
SPACE ARE CLAD FLOOR TO CEILING
IN ART AND ARTEFACTS, EACH
AUTHENTIC IN AGE. THE STORE’S
LOCATION IS AN UNASSUMING BUT
FITTING CHOICE FOR A BRAND THAT,
20 YEARS ON, REMAINS VIRTUALLY
UNAPOLOGETIC IN ITS CHOICES.

consoles brought from India. And while
the stores are an extension of the brand’s
commitment to Indian craftsmanship, a
cross cultural dialogue is present in the
space. The tiles were forged in Utah and
some books, crockery, and artefacts were
locally sourced. “In fact,” Sabyasachi says,
“one of the first and one of my favourite
pieces was found just a few blocks away—a
pair of beautifully sculpted faucets shaped
like parakeets, that I found at the legacy
architectural hardware store in New York
called P.E. Guerin.”
In a city filled with white-walled
spaces, where limited personal interaction
and cool distance underpins most retail
experiences, the space brings Indian
hospitality to the fore—warmth, kindness,
and maximalism merge. Although the
aesthetic is not new to the brand, in New
York it is a welcome breath of fresh air.
“New York is the sort of city that is almost
a microcosm of the world as we know it,”
offers Sabyasachi in response to the com-
mon question of why he chose this city.
A former elementary school, the maze-
like experience is the result of discipline
and restraint. Its singular aesthetic includes
the important but often overlooked
significance of lighting. Windows are
boarded up and the store, like all others,
is devoid of natural light—the brand
revealing its control on even the notions of
night and day.
The store is a huge risk; the city lives up
to its moniker for a reason. But here,
lehngas and saris are strategically swapped
with gowns and co-ord sets, embroidered
tote bags, and pashminas. It’s an extension
of the ready-to-wear India has not fully
H
been ready for yet. Yes, there is a
i, I’m your host,” says a woman support the milestone event. smattering of Indian formal, but this is not
welcoming you to the store— The maximalist space is ready and a store for diaspora brides. Rather, it is
her black bandhani kurta, dressed for most any occasion, from the first articulation of Sabyasachi as a
kajal-lined eyes, and discreet welcoming a client to hosting a party. “I’ve global brand. Regardless of how one feels
jewellery piled on high enough becoming often said I see myself as a ferryman about this version of India, his growing
a statement of its own. As the evening between the past and the future,” says presence is undoubtedly helping shift the
goes on, it reveals a number of these Sabya. “I think when you truly know who perception of India—from nameless hands
“hosts”, each wearing a uniform chic you are, the aesthetic just follows. And the working behind the scenes to being recog-
enough to own oneself. That someone sensibility behind all my stores, including nized as design thinkers elevating “Made
aside from Sabyasachi Mukherjee can New York, comes from the spirit of in India”. It allows for other members of
welcome you with confidence, warmth, Calcutta…. The store in New York became the design fraternity to assign a higher
and ease reveals a subtle brand rarity, and almost a metaphor for the journey from economic value to their own work.
perhaps even a superpower: that of a Calcutta to New York.” Just shy of 6,000 Throughout all of this, when you finally
family hosting an evening. Indeed, to square feet, the store’s expansive rooms meet the host himself he remains gracious,
build an empire takes a leader with vision and long hallways showcase the clothes tinged with humility alongside a quiet
and a legion of empowered individuals— and jewellery amongst a selection of confidence. In a city itself of two words,
some who flew in for two short days to artefacts, vitrines, and handmade wooden Sabyasachi has landed with just one.

13 Rue
de la Paix Cartier’s oldest
boutique in Paris sees
a poetic transformative
renovation, with an
India-inspired salon.
I
n 1898, Alfred and Louis Cartier, the
second- and third-generation owners
of the French jewellery house, moved
the Maison from 9 Boulevard des
Italiens to 13 Rue de la Paix “because no
boulevard in Paris could rival this street of
jewellers and luxury fashion designers”, as
written in the recently published book by
Cartier that captures the evolution of 13
Paix. This is the oldest existing Cartier
boutique, and as one stands outside
looking up at its classic black-and-gold
facade—before stepping in to witness the
recent renovations inside—one is face
to face with the beauty of history, of
time past.
Thirteen Paix is the place where the
heart of Cartier, its true and timeless
expression, was born. It is where Louis
Cartier and Jeanne Toussaint, the
tastemaker and director of luxury jewel-
lery, also nicknamed “the Panther”,
worked and shaped the creative vision
of Cartier. The building has seen waves
of renovations; once in 1985, when its
now iconic glass roof was installed,
enclosing the entire courtyard, and its
languid staircase was built, connecting ABOVE: THE FACADE OF THE NEW CARTIER BOUTIQUE AT 13 RUE DE LA
PAIX (PHOTO: LUCIE & SIMON). TOP: ACADEMICIAN’S SWORD MADE FOR
the three salons on the mezzanine JEAN COCTEAU, 1955 (PHOTO: NICK WELSH, CARTIER COLLECTION).
level. Another remodelling took place FACING PAGE: THE GROUND FLOOR AND ATRIUM (PHOTO: LAZIZ HAMANI).
in 2004, and the most recent and most

transformative one was undertaken from
2020 to 2022, with the commissioning of
three interior architects and decorators.
Moinard Bétaille, a French studio, reno-
vated the showroom and the sales area.
Studioparisien did the customer services,

TEXT: KOMAL SHARMA. ALL PHOTOS: © CARTIER.

the high jewellery ateliers, and the
archives—with a stunning alabaster disc
on the ceiling that creates a very particular
natural light effect. And Laura Gonzalez
created the enigmatic “La Residence”, an
exclusive apartment space on the top floor.
Yet there is a common thread that runs
through all these spaces and volumes—
in totality and in detail. On one hand
it shows a certain tempered, restrained
approach to design, and on the other a
joyous, freeing interior rhythm even in
its classic Haussmann-style architecture.
“The philosophy at Cartier is to think
about how our clients want to interact
ABOVE: RENDERINGS OF LA RESIDENCE ON THE with us. And the answer is not any
FIFTH FLOOR OF THE BOUTIQUE (IMAGES: LAURA one single approach. So we try to take
GONZALEZ). RIGHT: A HAND-PAINTED SCREEN BY
ATELIERS GOHARD, WITH EMBROIDERY BY LUCIE multiple cultures, choices, behaviours,
TOURÉ (PHOTO: PIERRE-OLIVIER DESCHAMPS/VU’).
and attitudes into account, and to offer
people a sense of discovery, an easy,
pleasurable journey as they move through
the spaces and choose what they have
come for,” says Pierre Rainero, image,
style, and heritage director at Cartier.
Claire Bétaille, one half of Moinard
Bétaille, articulates it as playing an
orchestra—to take several elements and
harmonize them into a singular vision.
From little details like door knobs to the
luminous atrium that binds the six stories
in a single thread, there is a merging of

various kinds of craftsmanship. “When
you enter the boutique from the main
entrance, on the left hand side there is
BELOW LEFT: MATERIALS IN THE ARCHIVES ROOM (PHOTO: FABRICE
FOUILLET). BELOW RIGHT: LEATHER MARQUETRY PANELS BY BAQUÉ a mural you might notice. It is made
MOLINIÉ (PHOTO: PIERRE-OLIVIER DESCHAMPS/VU’). BOTTOM: A
RENDERING OF THE INDIA SALON (PHOTO: MOINARD BÉTAILLE).
in straw marquetry and infused with
glass to create a sort of floating, invisible
panther pattern,” she cites as an example.
In La Residence on the top floor, Laura
Gonzalez had the walls hand-painted
in a very particular patina and with so
much symbolism and storytelling—
like the motif of the iconic fish brooch
reproduced in the marble inlay.
The India salon, a soft saffron-
coloured room in 13 Paix, is the perfect
example of this orchestra of crafts-
manship and storytelling. With its
abstract tiger motif, powdered gold, and
soft velvet, and dotted with books like
Amin Jaffer’s Beyond Extravagance, this is
Cartier’s vision of India. “For Cartier,
India has been an inexhaustible source of
inspiration. In its most beautiful works,
India is present,” says Bétaille. It’s quite
fitting that in this newest renovation of
13 Paix, the historic exchange between
Cartier and India’s jewellery traditions
has found a nod.

In Praise
of Caves
A
t the heart of organic archi connections between urbanist Carlos
tecture is a vision of houses Lazo, sculptor Mathias Goeritz, architect
that grow as naturally as and artist Juan O’Gorman, and Senosiain.
flowers or mushrooms. Its The result is “In Praise of Caves”, which
An exhibit on organic buildings are quasisculptural, designed to opened on 19 October and is scheduled to
architecture by a team exist in harmony with nature. For Ricardo run through 26 February 2023. The exhi
of artists and architects Suárez Haro, art consultant and founder bition explores the adaptation of natural
from Mexico finds the of RISUHA (an art consulting firm based structures to modern life, the practical and
perfect showing at the in two Mexican cities—La Paz, in Baja environmental benefits of living under
sculptural Noguchi California Sur, and Mexico City), organic ground, and other ways that humanity can
Museum in New York. architecture consists of a respect for nature reconnect with the natural environment.
based on a cosmogonic approach. For Dakin Hart, senior curator at the
It is fitting that Mexico has become museum, it was a rare and appealing oppo
EL NIDO DE QUETZALCÓATL (THE NEST OF the preeminent exponent of the style rtunity, not only because of the complexity
QUETZALCOATL) BY JAVIER SENOSIAIN WAS
BUILT FROM 1998 TO 2007 AND IS LOCATED given the country’s history—from of bringing a largescale arch itectural
IN NAUCALPAN IN THE STATE OF MEXICO. IT
IS ARGUABLY THE MOST FAMOUS EXAMPLE
Mesoamerican pyramids to Xochimilco’s exhibition to the museum, but also because
OF ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE IN THE WORLD. chinampas (floating gardens). The leading of the links between the museum’s name
figure in contemporary organic arch sake—sculptor, artist, and designer Isamu
itecture is Javier Senosiain, a historian Noguchi—and Mexico, as well as the arch
and architect, whose works like El Nido itecture of what was once his stu dio.
de Quetzalcóatl (The Nest of Quetzalcoatl) “Organic architecture is about building in,
have helped to make Mexico the epicentre through, and with the local environment
of this building style. rather than just on top of it, in a way that
After several years of collaboration makes us feel more connected and happier.
between the architect and Suárez, the The Noguchi Museum is an example
art consultant approached the Noguchi of that. It finds a way to make the neigh
Museum in New York City in 2018 to bourhood’s vernacular, light industrial
propose an exhibition on organic architectural vocabulary into something
architecture that would highlight the enveloping and serene”, says Hart.
TEXT: GABRIELA ESTRADA. PHOTO: JAVIER SENOSIAIN/ARQUITECTURA ORGÁNICA.

At Home With
A&T Fashion designer duo Abraham &
Thakore bring their super-chic signature
aesthetic to a new home collection.
W
hen designing their imperfections as indications of slow,
latest collection, fashion handcrafted luxury.
designers David Abraham This notion of luxury as tied to nature
and Rakesh Thakore were and painstaking handiwork seamlessly
inspired by the intrinsic qualities of tussar flows into their home collection—
silk. Naturally lustrous, coarsely textured, spanning table linen, cushion covers,
with slight colour inconsistencies, this ceramic and marble crockery, loungewear,
wild variety of silk—for which each and other accessories—through various
filament is meticulously derived from motifs that emphasize the beauty of
cocoons hand-cultivated in forests—exalts imperfections. Their ceramic dishes and
marble platters, for instance, are printed
TEXT: SWAREENA GURUNG. PHOTO: COURTESY OF ABRAHAM & THAKORE.
with squiggly lines and graphic dots

imitating hand drawings (pictured). These
are inspired by similar embroidery motifs
from their textile patterns such as ikat and
bandhani. Further, in their monochrome
cushions in plush velvets, cotton and silks,
tiny, hand-embroidered kantha stitches
combine to create geometric patterns with
a contemporary appeal.
“In this collection, we use various
techniques that celebrate the uniqueness
of the handmade—kantha, embroidery,
and ikat,” says Abraham. “These reiterate
the idea of craft, individuality, and time—
where luxury means small quantities that
have taken time to produce,” he adds.
As a 30-year-old brand known for its
bold, modern prints and sparing take on
colour, the home collection is an exten-
sion of its pared-back design sensibility.
The Nazar marble cheese platter, inlaid
with black dots punctuated by a singular
red one, is the favourite of the duo. “The
design represents the idea of breaking a
staid repeat, a twist to something mun-
dane, and a throwback to an older belief
that disrupting a pattern warded off the
evil eye,” says Thakore.
Ivory, beige, and black become the
signature colours, complemented by
graphical and floral elements. According
to the duo, “As this collection is designed
in a neutral palette, each piece either
works on its own or as a counterpoint to
another in a mix-and-match setting.”

Dream
Team
TEXT: KOMAL BASITH AND RITUPRIYA BASU. PHOTOS: GOKULL RAO KADAM.
A heritage cantonment house in

Bengaluru is the fabulous new
boutique for couturier Tarun
Tahiliani, restored and decorated
in collaboration with AD100
designer Vinita Chaitanya.
T
arun Tahiliani has
a new address in the
south with his latest
flagship store in
Bengaluru. Nestled in the heart
of the city, the store is housed in
a heritage home of a kind rarely
seen in Bengaluru anymore—a
cantonment house with trad
itional, instantly recognizable
gable roofs, known as monkey
tops, featuring lattices punc
tuated by embellishments and
traditional terrazzo tiles. It is the
tiles which first drew the
designer to the property; “I grew
up in a building right next to the
Taj in Bombay, which featured
the exact same tiles and the
same high ceilings, so walking in
ABOVE: THE HOUSE WAS STRIPPED DOWN TO felt wonderfully familiar,” says
REVEAL SOARING CEILINGS AND STRIKING FLOORS.
RIGHT: THE EMBROIDERED WALLPAPERS WERE
Tahiliani. “We wanted to keep things as
CRAFTED BY KARIGARS IN ATELIERS ACROSS intact as we could,” he says of his latest
LUCKNOW AND NEW DELHI. FACING PAGE: THE
CARPETS—DESIGNED IN PATTERNS OF JALIS AND project, designed in collaboration with his
TRELLISES—BOTH BLEND INTO AND HIGHLIGHT
THE TILED FLOORS. MOST OF THE FURNITURE WAS
friend, interior designer Vinita Chaitanya.
CUSTOM-MADE; MANY PIECES WERE FOUND AT His collections flow through the home
ANTIQUE STORES AND WERE CAREFULLY RESTORED.
in much the same way its inhabitants
would walk through it, with each room
housing one of its own—accessories on
the left, readytowear on the right, with
the traditional aangan, or courtyard, with

its high ceilings, housing Tahiliani’s “Besides, some of our chicest clients in embroidered in filigree-like patterns
couture collection. There are private Bombay come from [Bengaluru].” It’s come alive through techniques pulled
rooms upstairs for fittings—and as for the something he sees in the architecture of from the couturier’s repertoire.
fitting rooms downstairs, they flow into the city as well. “Nobody’s trying to copy Chaitanya too brings her light-handed
the home just like everything else, housed an Italian villa here,” he says with his ability to gently balance the old and the
as they are in the original alcoves of trademark wry grin. “People have their new. “The first time Tarun and I saw the
the property. “We didn’t want to add own unique sense of identity.” space we both knew exactly what we
partitions of any kind be cause that In restoring this once-dilapidated wanted to do; we retained the stunning
would’ve broken the symmetry of the mansion, Tahiliani and Chaitanya too floors, and added a tonal wainscoting,
tiles,” says Tahiliani, and it’s symbolic of laced the space with their own identities using the motifs from the floors as
just how true the designer-decorator and language. Tahiliani’s singular comm- accents.” This echo of patterns and motifs
duo have stayed to the original bones of itment to craftsmanship shines through runs through the space—the four-petalled
the house. the embroidered wallpapers, dotted flower in the antique tiles is mirrored in
As for his venture into the city, with hand-cut abalone and a smattering the wainscoting, as well the custom-made
Tahiliani mentions a previous project of Swarovski crystals, originally made carpets, designed by Tahiliani and crafted
that brought him to Bengaluru often. for a commission for Chaitanya. A “tree by Obeetee. It is these considered details
He recalls seeing incredibly stylish of life” takes centre stage in the double- that become a quiet hat-tip to the deep
developments all the way from Hosur, height hallway; a great banyan tree, collaborative spirit between the two
where his project was, to the airport two a silent sentinel, becomes home to creative forces, who together, have turned
and a half hours away. “That, to me, was a an explosion of life. Blooming flowers, a run-down mansion into an enchanting
sign that we needed to be here,” he says. lizards, and butterflies with wings portal to the world of Tarun Tahiliani.

ST Y L IST: SHA L IN I K A N OJIA .
H OMMÉS STU D I O
Ros al ia sid eb o ard
CAS S INA
Tre Pez z i ar mchai r,
by Franco Al i b i
OBE E TEE
Adelia hand-k notted
woollen rug
CAS E Y M C CAFFE RT Y
001 d i ni ng t ab l e (red )
S H O P

H U B LOT
U ni co Ess ent i al G rey watch,
f ro m t he Bi g Bang co l l ect i o n
BAKE R ST R E E T B OYS
coffee table,
by Tomasz Daniel ec
K 2 FU R NITURE
AR I A- P- RT- C H
ar mch ai r
P
O
H
S
DAMIE N L AN G LO I S -M E U R IN N E
Woodstock sideb o ard

A NDR E U WOR LD STU D I O LIAM LE E
Da do (SF0 3 6 1) s ofa C hai r 1 1 (b l ue)
P
O
H
S
ST UDI O S U P E R EG O
D NA acry l i c
glass coffee t ab l e
R IK VAN VE E N
HD P E sto o l (p enci l )

D IM OR E M IL AN O
Pagoda t ab l e l amp
CAT TE L AN ITALIA
C ami l l a ar mchai r
P INTO PA R I S
a r m ch a ir s cu lpture, from the
Pinto x Pilati collection
KO K I D ES I G N H O U S E
M o mo o akwo o d b ench
S H O P

Folk Traditions
Text Gautami Reddy
E
N
O
O
I
L
There were artists even before there was an art world. They left their
O
mark inside caves, and on the walls and floors of the huts they lived in,
F
often in the form of drawings and paintings. Although made using the
T
most elementary tools, such as twigs, brushes, natural dyes, and colours,
R
their confident creations continue to act as clues to who we really are.

O
There is no one story of Indian folk art. Be it the canvas-filling geom tric
P
shapes of ancient Warli art from Maharashtra, the dizzying dashes and dots
of Gond and Bhil art from central India, or the playful yet precise paintings of
Madhubani and Kalighat art from the east, each form has its own deep
history and vocabulary, despite the many interactions and interconnections.
In the last century, industrial paper has replaced mud walls and floo s as
the main canvas, and the sacred philosophies behind many of the folk
traditions have become absorbed into the grand narrative of the country’s
race to modernize. Many of the self-taught artists, outsiders to urban art
markets, have been compelled to take to daily-wage labour. However, a few
have stood the test of time—sometimes by chance and sometimes
through sheer will—radically opposing reigning ideas of industrial progress
and art market trends, and inspiring younger generations of artists today.
H e re , w e c e l e b ra t e t h e g re a t e s t m o d e r n i s t s o f I n d i a n fo l k a r t .

SITA AND GANGA DEVI
MADHUBANI
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF THE MUSEUM OF ART & PHOTOGRAPHY (MAP), BENGALURU.
Madhubani women have been painting the walls

of their homes forever. Yet it took an earthquake
for these masterpieces to be “discovered” by
the rest of the world. The year was 1934, when
William Archer, a civil servant of the British
government, while surveying the damage
done by an earthquake in the region of Mithila
in present-day Bihar, came across densely
decorated walls inside village homes. Surprised
and delighted, he carefully documented what he
saw in writings and photographs that contributed
to the initial understanding of the art form that
can be traced back centuries. Or as that story
goes: Madhubani painting was born in the
nuptial chambers of Ram and Sita in the ancient
cultural region of Mithila, when Sita’s father—
King Janaka—ordered artists to decorate every
wall in the city for the grand wedding celebrations, starting with the
kohbar ghar or the room made for the young bride and groom. Over
the centuries, as the tradition flourished, it was artists such as Ganga
Devi, Jamuna Devi, and Sita Devi who began to be celebrated and
recognized as the modern pioneers of Madhubani art in the 1960s
and ’70s. “They were the first to transfer the traditional art form
from mud walls to paper—provided by the Handloom Handicrafts
Export Corporation—a medium that allowed the painted stories to
travel to exhibitions and audiences around the world,” explains Amit
Kumar Jain, the director of Anant Art Gallery in Noida. Determined
and driven to represent her community, Sita Devi, in particular,
became the face of the ancient Indian art form, representing India at
exhibitions across Japan, Europe, the USSR, and the United States.
She popularized a distinct Bharni style of Madhubani painting, ABOVE LEFT: UNTITLED (DURGA),
marked by the use of bold and brilliant colours over fine lines, with 1970S, SITA DEVI, NATURAL
PIGMENTS AND INK ON PAPER.
mythological and religious figures—including her namesake, Sita, the ABOVE: RAM LEELA AND BADA
first daughter of Mithila—appearing in elegant elongated and richly RAM LEELA, 1970S, ATTRIBUTED
TO SITA DEVI, NATURAL
coloured settings. In daring to step out of the confines of their homes, PIGMENTS AND INK ON PAPER.
Sita Devi and her contemporaries have paved the way for the next
generation of women and men in Madhubani art, many of whom
are testing new ground and addressing themes of gender, ecology,
and contemporary politics in the most divinely expressive ways.
BHURI BAI
BHIL ART ABOVE: UNTITLED, 1980S, BHURI
BAI, POSTER COLOUR ON PAPER.
FACING PAGE, TOP: UNTITLED,
1980S, BHURI BAI, POSTER
COLOUR ON PAPER. FACING
PAGE, BOTTOM: UNTITLED, 1980S,
Bhuri Bai is a woman you’ll never forget. At 53, she stands with a BHURI BAI, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS.
quiet authority and confidence that comes with knowing her true
self. And inside her rests a cosmos of emotions and ideas that find
expression in colourful dots and lines. Known today as a pioneering
Bhil artist, and the first indigenous woman to represent her
community far and wide, Bhuri Bai discovered the joy of painting
on paper and canvas in 1980 after she met artist and writer
J. Swaminathan at the construction site of the Charles Correa–
designed Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal where she was engaged as a
daily-wage worker. Hailing from the village of Pitol in Madhya
Pradesh, Bhuri Bai grew up seeing male priests and members of her
family make traditional Pithora-style ritualistic paintings on mud
walls. “This form of painting was made for gods and deities, and
mostly, painted by men who were considered the artists,” explains
Jain, about a reality Bhuri would go on to overturn in her lifetime. “It
was difficult using the brush,” Bhuri would later admit, “but with
practice, it all became easy.” So easy, that she would go on to produce
painting after painting, freeing the dotted landscape of the Pithora
tradition with floating abstract shapes and inventive designs. From
trees, animals, and birds to humans playing in nature, Bhuri Bai
presents a vision of a world that’s beyond any city or paradise. Her
paintings now hang in some of the foremost museums and collections

in the world—including an iconic
70-foot-long mural at the Madhya
Pradesh Tribal Museum, Bhopal,
in which she narrates the story
of her own life. Back in her village,
Bhuri Bai has been training and
nurturing women to plant their own
stories in art, while leaving behind a
signature that’s uniquely her own.

J I V YA S O M A M A S H E
WA R L I

One of India’s greatest Warli
artists, Jivya Soma Mashe was
also a farmer who was deeply
connected to the land of
Ganjad, his native village in
Maharashtra. The harvest
meant the world to him, and
he had to be there to yield it
himself. His paintings too
celebrate the extraordinary
beauty and bounty of rural
life, rendering its complexity
into simple geometric shapes
and forms—a technique he
came to master at an early
age, when after the sudden
passing of his mother, he was
left temporarily mute and
turned to drawing on mud
with hands and sticks to
communicate with others,
often borrowing elements
from the Warli wall paintings
done by women. In the
following years, he would
play a significant role in not
only expanding the age-old
ritual of the woman-led folk

art, but also transitioning it to a status
of contemporaneity. From being
picked by Bhaskar Kulkarni, an artist
and official of the All India Handloom
Board, to participate at an exhibition
of folk art in Pragati Maidan in Delhi
in 1971 to staging his paintings in a solo
show at Gallery Chemould in 1973 in
Mumbai—then a hub for progressive
artists such as M.F. Husain and S.H.
Raza—Mashe emerged as a modernist
of his own mind. Be it in his large-size
ABOVE: UNTITLED (WARLI WEDDING/
murals or works on paper and canvas, CHAUK PALGHATA MATA TEMPLE), LATE
he painted with freedom and spontaneity, welcoming harvest and monsoons even 20TH–EARLY 21ST CENTURY, JIVYA SOMA
MASHE, NATURAL PIGMENTS ON CLOTH.
in his art. His ability to traverse the personal and universal brought him BELOW: UNTITLED (WEDDING), 1990S,
international glory in exhibitions such as “Other Masters of India” at Musée du JIVYA SOMA MASHE, NATURAL PIGMENTS
ON CLOTH. FACING PAGE: UNTITLED
Quai Branly, Paris, in 2010 and also inspired long-term friendships and (FISHING SCENE), C. 2017, JIVYA SOMA
MASHE, NATURAL PIGMENTS ON CLOTH.
collaborations including with the renowned British land artist Richard Long who
visited and stayed with Mashe in his village home. “And yet, despite his fame, he
skipped travelling to the landmark ‘Magicians of the Earth’ exhibition in 1984 at the
Centre Pompidou in Paris, which could have been the most important moment of
his career because he had to harvest his crop,” shares Jain in an anecdote that
summarizes the artist’s being. Ultimately, Mashe was a man for whom his love for
the earth came first and foremost through his life, feeding his soul and art.

The history of Kalighat painting is unlike
any other traditional Indian art form.
Originally intended as religious souvenirs
and what would today qualify as “pop art”,
Kalighat paintings were mass produced
and sold to devotees and pilgrims in the
bazaar lanes of the Kalighat Kali Temple,
Kolkata, in the 19th century. “In the early
KALIGHAT 1800s, pilgrims flocked to Kolkata from
all over India, but over time, with the
coming of the East India Company and
European travellers, artists, and visitors,
the subject matter of the paintings began
to change,” explains Jain. What started
on 20-foot-long scrolls or pattachitras with
detailed scenes from Hindu epics made by
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF THE DAG COLLECTION.

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF HERITAGE ARTS/HERITAGE IMAGES VIA GETTY IMAGES.
ABOVE LEFT: BARBER CLEANING A

WOMAN’S EAR, 1800S, CREATOR UNKNOWN.
ABOVE CENTRE: MAID BRINGING A HOOKAH
TO A LADY, 1800S, CREATOR UNKNOWN,
BLACK INK, WATERCOLOUR, AND TIN
PAINT ON PAPER. ABOVE RIGHT: ENGLISH the Patua community of artists evolved into smaller, simplified
BABU (NATIVE INDIAN CLERK) HOLDING
A HOOKAH, 1800S, CREATOR UNKNOWN,
drawings and paintings called Kalighat pats, created on mill
BLACK INK, WATERCOLOUR, AND TIN PAINT, paper, which were easy to take back home. From delightfully
WITH GRAPHITE UNDERDRAWING ON PAPER.
FACING PAGE (BOTH): UNTITLED, LATE 19TH humanized depictions of gods and goddesses in bright,
CENTURY, WATERCOLOUR ON PAPER. luminescent colours and sweeping brushstrokes to satirical
portrayals of aristocratic Bengali babus and bibis, reflecting the
changing values of corruption, greed, and colonial politics,
Kalighat pats offer an insider’s view into the fast-changing
cosmopolitan culture of Kolkata at the time. Sexuality and the
shifting undercurrents in Bengali culture became a recurring
theme, often tinged with strands of humour and sarcasm—
seen in pats that reflect the risqué meetings between a dhoti-
clad man and a courtesan, or portraits of nouveau riche babus
who aspired to dress and behave like the British. “Although
it was widely loved, Kalighat painting has had a short-lived
history,” adds Jain, “It disappeared almost as quickly as it had
appeared on the scene after the introduction of newsprint in
the late 19th century.” And yet, despite its decline as a street art
form, Kalighat paintings continue to inspire and amuse, and
glimpses of its pop-art aesthetic and wit show up everywhere—
whether in paintings by artists like Jamini Roy and Lalu Prasad
Shaw, or in the exquisitely painted idols in Durga Puja pandals.

J A N G A R H S I N G H S H YA M
GOND The story of modern Indian folk art is incomplete
without the mention of Jangarh Singh Shyam. A
pioneering artist, flautist, and painter from the
Pradhan-Gond tribe of Patangarh in central Madhya
Pradesh, he was the first indigenous artist to rise to the
canon of the greats, inviting attention and sometimes
even envy from his city-bred counterparts with whom
he brushed shoulders. Known for his extraordinary
command over line, form, and colour, he grew up
painting Gond myths and legends on the walls of
village homes in dazzling detail and colours, including
his tiny forest hut which caught the eye of artist and
activist J. Swaminathan, who encouraged Shyam to
move to the nearby capital of Bhopal and live and grow

as an artist in a new-age institution, Bharat Bhavan, that aimed to bring
traditional art, culture, and communities into the urban limelight. “The
first time I dipped my brush in bright poster colours, tremors went
through my body,” Shyam would famously go on to say, expressing the
excitement of working with new modernist materials and techniques.
He would go on painting prolifically, existing in the grip of what can
only be described as inspiration, and developing a highly experimental
visual language that came to be known as Jangarh Kalam. “Jangarh was
a modernist in many ways,” argues Jain, noting, “He experimented
continuously, including with serigraphs and prints. And like many ABOVE: AJGAR (PYTHON), 1992,
artists today, as he grew [in seniority], he employed and mentored a JANGARH SINGH SHYAM, PIGMENT
ON PAPER. BELOW: PORTRAIT OF A
studio of young artists and family members from the Gond tribe.” His BARASINGHA (ANTELOPE), MID 1980S,
JANGARH SINGH SHYAM, PIGMENT ON
rise and demise, however, went hand in hand. As the seeds of his renown PAPER. FACING PAGE: ANNIHILATION
spread as far and wide as London, Paris, and Tokyo, with the changing OF SANBARAH (THE ANNIHILATION OF
THE BOAR: AN ANECDOTE FROM THE
times, rising demand, and market forces, he became alienated from the GOND EPIC), 1992, JANGARH SINGH
SHYAM, POSTER COLOUR ON PAPER.
world of Gond. Until 2001, while at a residency at the Mithila Museum
in Japan, he tragically committed suicide. Shyam’s influence on Indian
art comes from both the power of his own brush and his legacy carried
forward by the growing number of Gond, folk, and contemporary
Indian artists following in his footsteps. His spirit of experimentation
and wild aesthetic sensibility shine among the pages of Indian art
history, and the music of Gond art continues to sing loud to many of us.

Nathdwara
Text Madhuvanti Ghose Photographs Hashim Badani
O
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Nestled in the Aravalli hills, the bustling town of Nathdwara is famed
not just for its Shrinathji (Krishna) temple but also for the traditional
P
artists who are known to live there since the 17th century. It is here
that the beautiful cloth paintings known as the pichvai took bir th.
These artists settled behind the temple in what is known today as the
chitrakaron ki gali (artists’ street). This is unique, even in a place like
India, which has seen the survival of many artistic traditions from the
past. Even today, over 300 artists continue to live and practise their
a r t i n N at h d wa ra , ke e p i n g t h i s 3 0 0 -ye a r- o l d t rad i t i o n a l i ve .
This special Art issue of AD is dedicated to these artists, as it is to
Suresh Sharma, the artist who painted this Morakuti (peacock) pichvai
cover especially for AD, a contemporary version inspired by designer
Vikram Goyal’s brass repousse panels, which in turn are inspired by the
traditional Morakuti pichvais of Nathdwara. Suresh is also one of the
founders of the Artists of Nathdwara (AoN), an organization founded in
2015 with the mission of promoting the authentic traditions of the
painted pichvai across the world—and to bring its beauty to us all.

ARTIST DILIP SHARMA IN HIS ANCESTRAL
FAMILY SHOP IN THE BAZAAR OF NATHDWARA,
SURROUNDED BY SHRINATHJI ICONS FOR
VAISHNAVA PILGRIMS TO CARRY HOME.

FACING PAGE: A STREET PROCESSION ON THE
OCCASION OF THE CELEBRATION OF SHARAD
PURNIMA, THE AUTUMN FULL MOON. LEFT: WALL
PAINTINGS MADE ON THE OCCASION OF A
WEDDING IN THE FAMILY, OUTSIDE A NATHDWARA
HOME. RIGHT: A NATHDWARA RESIDENT, SEATED
IN ONE OF THE WINDING ALLEYWAYS OF THE
TOWN, READING HIS NEWSPAPER. BELOW: ONE OF
THE TRADITIONAL HOMES IN THE CHITRAKARON
KI GALI, THE ARTIST ENCLAVE RIGHT BEHIND
THE SHRINATHJI TEMPLE, WHERE THE EARLIEST
ARRIVALS TO NATHDWARA BUILT THEIR HOMES.

ABOVE: THE SKYLINE OF NATHDWARA FROM
A HOME IN CHITRAKARON KI GALI. RIGHT: A
GOLDEN PICHVAI BEING PAINTED BY PARMANAND
SHARMA. FACING PAGE, TOP: THE HOME STUDIO
OF PARMANAND SHARMA, THE MUKHIYAJI (CHIEF)
OF PAINTING AT THE SHRINATHJI TEMPLE AND
CO-FOUNDER OF THE ARTISTS OF NATHDWARA
ORGANIZATION, IN CHITRAKARON KI GALI. FACING
PAGE, BOTTOM: A MORE MODERN HOME IN THE
WINDING LANES OF THE CHITRAKARON KI GALI.

RIGHT: NINETEENTH-CENTURY FRESCOES DEPICTING
THE RAAS DANCE ON THE DOMED CEILING OF THE
MIRABAI TEMPLE IN NATHDWARA. BELOW: THE STUDIO
OF ARTIST HEMANT SHARMA WITH THE LOW DESK IN THE
FOREGROUND WHERE HE SITS AND PAINTS BY THE WINDOW,
SCATTERED WITH BOWLS OF PIGMENT. FACING PAGE, TOP:
THE LOTUS POND BEHIND THE EKLINGJI TEMPLE, BETWEEN
NATHDWARA AND UDAIPUR. FACING PAGE, BOTTOM: SENIOR
ARTIST GHANSHYAM SHARMA PAINTING IN HIS STUDIO.

ABOVE: ARTIST SURESH SHARMA IN HIS
STUDIO SKETCHING THE PICHVAI ON THE
AD COVER. RIGHT: PIGMENTS AND BRUSHES,
THE PRIMARY TOOLS OF A NATHDWARA
ARTIST. BELOW: “MONSOON PICHVAI” BY
VIKRAM GOYAL, HANDCRAFTED BRASS
REPOUSSÉ INLAID WITH MALACHITE,
LAPIS LAZULI, AMETHYST, AND ABALONE.

glimpse of Shrinathji in the midst of the served as accurate records of a particular
teeming crowds that come to see him daily. darshan, operating as reminders of imp-
All eight darshans are planned with keen ortant religious experiences for those
attention to the season, the time of day, who commissioned them. Finally, there
and the mood of the deity. The sectarian were large pichvais that were usually made
temples in Nathdwara and elsewhere to adorn the back wall of a sanctum, behind
also celebrate special festivals throughout the deity. Artists and patrons could not
the year; these are staged with yet more paint what they wished. The tilkayat or
fanfare, and elaborate settings are created the goswami in charge of the temple would
daily. Shrinathji is adorned differently decide what could be depicted, and they
on each occasion, with regulations usually followed traditional prototypes.
dictating how he will be dressed every Nathdwara’s distinctive style flourished
day and what accoutrements and amusing during the 19th century with the arrival
playthings will be laid out before him. of European prints, Victorian postcards,
Nathdwara is famed not just for its and photography, and the availability of
temple but also for the small group of new chemical colours. The town’s artists,
traditional artists who arrived there in including major names like Sukhdev,
the 17th century along with Shrinathji. Narayan, Ghasiram, and Champalal, were
Nathdwara and its artists are unique, masters at taking these diverse influences
The temple town of Nathdwara in even in a place like India, which has seen and making them their own. In their
Rajasthan has grown around the haveli the survival of many artistic traditions heyday under Tilkayat Govardhanlalji
of Shrinathji, the principal devotional from the past. It is here that the beautiful (1862–1934), they proudly signed their
image for the Vaishnava Pushti Marg (the cloth paintings known as the pichvai were names as chitrakars, or artists, and took on
Path of Grace) sect, that was brought here developed to hang behind the svarup. The commissions nearby, in Udaipur, Kotah,
from Vraj (present-day Vrindavan region) pichvai, literally meaning “displayed at Jhalawar, and Dungarpur as well as further
in 1672. By the late 15th and the early the back”, can be painted or embellished afield, in Ahmedabad and Mumbai.
part of the 16th century, a very powerful and is part of the unique Pushti Marg Suresh Sharma, whose work is featured
devotional (bhakti) movement had deve- aesthetic traditions; it is an important part on the cover of this issue, is from one such
loped around Krishna and some of the of the shrine furnishings that help set the important artist family whose ancestors
sacred sites associated with his early life stage of a particular festival or season. are said to have come with Shrinathji
around the banks of the river Yamuna. The artists who accompanied Shrinathji to Nathdwara in the 17th century. His
Krishna is said to have appeared before settled behind the temple in what is known grandfather, Bhurelalji, received the
the founder of the sect, Vallabhacharya today as the chitrakaron ki gali (artists’ National Award in 1977, and is still a source
(1479–1531), a Brahmin from the Andhra street). Led by their mukhiyaji (chief), the of inspiration for him. Suresh helped to
region, and commanded him to go to hereditary artists of Nathdwara perform found the Artists of Nathdwara in 2015,
Mount Govardhan where he discovered seva for Shrinathji by adorning the walls of which seeks the revival of the pichvai and to
the svarup (the living image of Krishna) of the entire temple complex with fresh wall make the art of Nathdwara better known
Shri Govardhananathji, who came to be paintings every Diwali. They have always both nationally and internationally.
known as Shrinathji to his followers. been responsive to the tastes of their The visual and performing arts are
Vallabhacharya developed the basics different patrons, whether tilkayats still a part of daily life in Nathdwara.
of the seva (devotional service) that the (anointed heads) or kings. They were also These traditions have been nurtured for
sect followed but it was his younger son, sensitive to the artistic winds that blew the last few centuries by the intimate,
Vitthalnathji (1516–1586) who introduced their way, whether from Mewar itself, in mutually beneficial relationship between
an imaginative and more elaborate which kingdom Nathdwara was located, the temple, its wealthy patrons, and its
veneration, influenced by the contem- or from nearby princely states such as pilgrims, who come from all walks of
porary aesthetics and etiquette of the Kotah and Kishangarh, whose rulers were life. However, old patterns of patronage
Mughal court. A great deal of attention devout followers of the Pushti Marg. By are no longer relevant in today’s rapidly
was paid to the shringara of Shrinathji, the 19th century, a distinctive Nathdwara changing Nathdwara. The arts—whether
which came to emphasize raga (music and style had emerged that was characterized miniature painting, pichvai painting, or
poetry), bhoga (food offerings), and shringara by dreamy-eyed cows and human figures other crafts that still survive in the lanes
(adornment) that were varied for every with full bodies, bell-shaped skirts, and around the temple—need new patrons if
daily darshan. Floral decorations, costume, large, almond-shaped eyes. they are to continue. As the Pushti Marg
jewellery, wall hangings, and pichvais, It is important to remember why these rapidly spreads around the world I hope
which served as backdrops to the svarup, paintings were created. Within the Pushti that new patrons step forward and ensure
were all important elements. The sect Marg, there is an ancient and important that the artistic traditions that have made
developed such elaborate traditions in these tradition known as chitra seva, in which the Vallabha sampradaya (sect) so unique,
areas that one cannot help but be impacted devotees could venerate painted represent- are able to flourish and grow.
aesthetically when one catches a fleeting ations of the actual svarups. Paintings also (theartistsofnathdwara.org)

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TRA D IT I O N A L G U JA R ATI A RC H I T ECT U R E A N D T H E F I N EST
C O L L E CT I O N O F P I C H VA I A R T O F T H E N AT H D WA R A
TRA D IT I O N , W E LC O M E TO T H E O N E- O F-A- K I N D H O M E O F
A RT IST, S C H O L A R , A N D A RT C O L L ECTO R A M I T A M BA L A L .
THE MAIN HALL OF THE HOUSE WITH A 19TH-CENTURY WOODEN GARUDA AND OTHER POLYCHROME SCULPTURES FROM SOUTH INDIA, A CROW PAINTING BY ARTIST ANJOLIE
ELA MENON, A 5TH-CENTURY VISHWAROOP SCULPTURE FROM SHAMLAJI, A LATE-18TH-CENTURY GOPASHTAMI PICHVAI, AND AN M.F. HUSAIN DRAWING, AMONG OTHER OBJECTS.

A HINCHKO (SWING) OVERLOOKING THE GARDEN COURTYARD LEADING TO THE HOUSE SHRINE. FACING PAGE: IN THE CENTRE OF ANOTHER
PART OF THE HALL IS A LACE PICHVAI WITH MORE WOODEN POLYCHROME PIECES FROM SOUTH INDIA, INCLUDING A YALI SCULPTURE.

RIGHT: A 4TH-CENTURY VISHNU SCULPTURE ALONG
WITH OTHER SMALL SCULPTURES. FAR RIGHT: PART
OF THE OUTER FACADE OF SUMERU. BELOW: THE
DINING ROOM AND ITS COURTYARD WITH A CHAMPA
TREE, DECORATED WITH 5TH-CENTURY SCULPTURES
FROM SHAMLAJI, AND 16TH-CENTURY WOODEN
MUSICIAN FIGURINES FROM PATAN ON THE WALL.

LEFT: A 16TH-CENTURY WOODEN TORSO OF MAHAVIR
FROM GUJARAT. BELOW: FEMALE FIGURES IN SANDSTONE
FROM AN 18TH-CENTURY JAIN TEMPLE IN AHMEDABAD.
BOTTOM: SANDSTONE SCULPTURES IN THE GARDEN.
The eclecticism in
these artworks has
a touch of magic in
how they are arranged
alongside each other.”
—Amit Ambalal

THE INTERIOR OF KAMAL CHOWK, AMBALAL’S PICHVAI GALLERY. AMONG THE MASTERPIECES ARE PERHAPS THE EARLIEST PICHVAI IN THE COLLECTION DEPICTING THE “SAPTASVARUP
UTSAV”, OR THE FESTIVAL OF SEVEN SELF-MANIFESTED ICONS, AS WELL AS A LARGE LATE-18TH-EARLY-19TH-CENTURY PICHVAI OF KRISHNA WITH GOPIS FROM JAIPUR. THE GALLERY
ALSO INCLUDES PAINTED PORTRAITS OF TILKAYATS (HEAD PRIESTS OF THE NATHDWARA SHRINE) AND SIGNED WORKS OF NATHDWARA ARTISTS LIKE GHASIRAM HARDEV SHARMA.

ABOVE: THE COURTYARD OF AMBALAL’S ART STUDIO.
RIGHT: MADE IN 1800, THIS PICHVAI IN KAMAL CHOWK
SHOWS ANNAKUT, THE ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF THE
NARRATIVE ABOUT HOW THE PEOPLE OF THE BRAJ
REGION OFFERED FOOD TO MOUNT GOVARDHAN.
LITURGICALLY, THESE ARE OFFERED AS MOUNDS OF
RICE TO THE DIFFERENT MANIFESTATIONS OF KRISHNA.
NOTE THAT THIS PICHVAI IN PARTICULAR DEPICTS A
ZARDOZI FLORAL MOTIF AGAINST A BLACK BACKDROP.
FAR RIGHT: A 1530 WOODEN CEILING FROM BURHANPUR,
MADHYA PRADESH GRACES THE SPACE. FACING PAGE,
TOP: THE INTERIORS OF AMBALAL’S STUDIO. FACING
PAGE, BOTTOM: THE ARTIST IN ACTION IN HIS STUDIO.
The wooden facade and stone

terrace of Ambalal’s studio were
rescued from a 200-year-old house
from the old part of Ahmedabad.

THE WOODEN FACADE AND STONE TERRACE OF AMBALAL’S STUDIO WERE RESCUED FROM A 200-YEAR-OLD HOUSE FROM THE OLD PART OF AHMEDABAD.

n the bustling city of Ahmedabad, Amit bhai, art and life are so harmoniously
a magnificent house stands on the cusp woven together that they are almost one. In
of both the traditional and modern, his studio next door, one comes face to face
reverberating with memories and countless with his magical, often autobiographical
conversations on life, art, and history. This visions of satire, parody, and brushstrokes as
is the home of artist, scholar, and art he laughs and tells stories from his artistic
collector Amit Ambalal. Born in 1943, practice spanning over four decades.
Ambalal (lovingly known as Amit bhai) However, the most ethereal part of this
hails from an influential Gujarati mercan home is the exceptionallycurated pichvai
tile family in Ahmedabad, where his gallery, or Kamal Chowk, as Amit bhai calls
mother’s artistic ingenuity; his visionary it. With marvellously carved wooden
father; his guru, artist Chhaganlal Jadav, brackets from Gujarat and the 16thcentury
and his friendships with scholars and artists Mughal ceiling from Madhya Pradesh’s
collectively shaped his life and artistic Burhanpur, the interior architecture befits
career. With over 30 solo exhibitions, the collection of pichvais and paintings from
several publications, expertise on the visual Nathdwara; arguably the best in the
culture of Nathdwara, and a rare, keen eye country. Stepping back in time, Amit bhai
for art—not to forget his inimitable wit fondly remembers his mother’s devotion to
and humour—Amit bhai’s persona is as Vaishnavism that supplemented his own
intriguing as his home and art collection. deep interest in the visual vocabulary of
When French American architect Nathdwara paintings, which he’d started
Bernard Kohn visited Ahmedabad upon buying during his college days. “My interest
the invitation of celebrated architect in Nathdwara did not grow as a collector
B.V. Doshi, Amit bhai’s father, Ambalal but because it touched my artistic
Sarabhai, commissioned him to make their sensibilities,” he says. The “simplicity,
house, Sumeru, which translates to elegance, and bright colours” fascinated him
“wonderful Meru”—named after a sacred and led to his research and publication of the
mythical mountain. A wave of eclecticism seminal monograph Krishna as Shrinathji:
pervades across the house, where old Rajasthani paintings from Nathdvara published
traditional Gujarati architectural features by Mapin in 1987. His incredible collection
have a constant timeless dialogue with their and scholarship has been part of several
20th and 21stcentury counterparts. “My exhibitions, most notably “Gates of the
father was fully involved in its construc Lord: The Tradition of Krishna Paintings” at
tion,” says Amit bhai. “As Kohn was heavily the Art Institute of Chicago in 2015. This
inspired by the architecture of Mandu (in year, Amit bhai authored another volume,
Madhya Pradesh), he constructed those Shringara of Shrinathji conceptualized by
sloping walls, reminiscent of mountains.” Vikram Goyal and published by Mapin, in
There is a certain sense of discovery in which he decoded the multilayered and
this house. As one begins at the courtyard complex adornments of Shrinathji from the
and the gardens, you come upon the rare and unpublished collection of the late
sensuous 18thcentury “apsara” stone Gokal Lal Mehta.
sculptures. The main hall of the house is Amit Ambalal lives in this home with his
dotted with art, from the mighty 19th wife and two sons, among his art as a
century wooden Garuda from South India, backdrop to life. “It’s not a museum. There
paintings of his guru Jadav to works gifted is an eclecticism in these artworks and a
by Atul Dodiya and Jogen Chowdhury– touch of magic in how they are arranged
there is a space for everything and a alongside each other,” he says. A business
harmony between each work. man turned artist, a satiristpainter and
A lovely spot to soak in the beauty of this a scholar, he continues to weave new
home is on the hinchko (swing) overlooking narratives that live seamlessly between
the garden courtyard, the 5thcentury tradition and modernity.
Vishwaroop sculpture from Shamlaji As we sit in the living room again, next
temple, Gujarat, and a rare 18thcentury to the magnificent wooden Garuda, the
Gopashtami pichvai from Nathdwara. The protector, within the sloping walls of the
lightfilled dining area is perfect for house and under a central open atrium, one
conversations accompanied by cups of becomes deeply aware of the artistic virtu
tea, with a champa tree and sculptures osity of this man and how he has carved a
from Shamlaji temple as the backdrop. For life for himself and his art.

PROPORTIONS
AND THE UNIQUE
NEIGHBOURHOOD OF SUTTON
PLACE DREW CURATOR ANDREW BOLTON
AND FASHION DESIGNER THOM BROWNE TO
ACQUIRE THIS TOWNHOUSE ON MANHATTAN'S EAST SIDE.
W R I T E R M ITC H E L L OW E N S P H OTO G R A P H E R W I L L I A M A B R A N OW I C Z ST Y L I ST H OWA R D C H R I ST I A N

GROOMING BY BILL WESTMORELAND AT ART + COMMERCE.
ANDREW BOLTON AND THOM BROWNE (HOLDING HECTOR, A WIREHAIRED DACHSHUND) ON THE STEPS OF THEIR MANHATTAN TOWN HOUSE.

“Andrew and Thom are
not purists, but they do
BELOW: IN THE DINING ROOM, REGENCY KLISMOS
CHAIRS ENCIRCLE A CIRCA 1800 DINING TABLE. appreciate design and craft.
THE 19TH-CENTURY SOFA IS UPHOLSTERED IN
A SCALAMANDRÉ DAMASK; JANSEN SCONCES
FLANK A GEORGES ROUAULT PAINTING AND A 17TH- That’s really important to them.”
CENTURY CRUCIFIX. RIGHT: TEA SETS ARE DISPLAYED
ON A JACQUES ADNET TROLLEY IN A VESTIBULE.
THE PAINTING IS BY R. LEROY TURNER. BOTTOM —David Kleinberg
RIGHT: A PAINTING BY DUILIO BARNABÉ HANGS
OVER A MID-CENTURY TUFTED SOFA BY EDWARD
WORMLEY. THE CUSTOM PILLOWS BY ANTHONY
LAWRENCE-BELFAIR ARE DRESSED IN A CLAREMONT
TOILE WITH CANVAS TRIM FROM ARABEL FABRICS.
FACING PAGE: IN THE SITTING ROOM, A PAIR OF
JACQUES QUINET COCKTAIL TABLES STAND ON
A VINTAGE SWEDISH FLAT-WEAVE RUG FROM
DORIS LESLIE BLAU. THE CIRCA 1939 MÄRTA
BLOMSTEDT ARMCHAIRS ARE CLAD IN SHEEPSKIN.
ART: GEORGES ROUAULT © 2022 ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK/ADAGP, PARIS.

“The proportions
are so magical—
that’s what seduced
us.” —Andrew Bolton

ART: © JOHN KIRBY, COURTESY OF FLOWERS GALLERY.
LEFT: A PAIR OF 18TH-CENTURY ENGLISH PAINTED

SETTEES AND A DIEGO GIACOMETTI TABLE STAND
IN FRONT OF THE DRAWING ROOM FIREPLACE. THE
SOFA IS ROSE UNIACKE; THE WALNUT LIVE-EDGE
COCKTAIL TABLE IS BY GEORGE NAKASHIMA. ABOVE:
A SELF-PORTRAIT BY ANH DUONG HANGS IN A MIRROR-
CLAD VESTIBULE. ABOVE RIGHT: A SCULPTURE BY
AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS STANDS ATOP A CIRCA
1950 GILBERT POILLERAT TABLE IN THE MAIN-FLOOR
GALLERY. RIGHT: AN EMPIRE GILT-AND-PATINATED-BRONZE
CHANDELIER HANGS ABOVE A DIEGO GIACOMETTI
COCKTAIL TABLE IN THE MAHOGANY-PANELLED LIBRARY.
THE SOFA IS MID-18TH CENTURY; THE MIRROR IS ROCOCO.

ABOVE: A SCENIC WALLPAPER BY GRACIE
ENVELOPS THE PRIMARY BEDROOM. THE BLACK
WALNUT HEADBOARD IS BY GEORGE NAKASHIMA,
AND THE CUSTOM-UPHOLSTERED BOX SPRING
IS BY CHARLES H. BECKLEY. THE LINEN BEDDING
IS FROM THE WHITE CO., CASHMERE BLANKET
FROM A TOUCH OF LACE, AND WOOL RUG BY
PATTERSON FLYNN. RIGHT: THE DRESSING ROOM’S
MID-CENTURY WALNUT-FRAMED DAYBED BY
EDWARD WORMLEY FOR DUNBAR IS UPHOLSTERED
IN A GREEN LINEN FROM CLAREMONT; IT’S PAIRED
WITH BOLTON AND BROWNE’S OWN COCKTAIL
TABLE. FACING PAGE: THE PRIMARY BATH IS CLAD
IN ARABESCATO MARBLE. THE POLISHED NICKEL
SQUARE CEILING LIGHTS ARE BY VISUAL COMFORT.

AN ENSEMBLE OF GEORGIAN-ERA FURNITURE—A LEATHER-TOPPED OCTAGONAL TABLE, CANE-
BACKED CHAIRS, AND GILT-FRAMED MIRRORS—STANDS ON THE SECOND-FLOOR STAIR LANDING.

collection has more breadth than that of when Kleinberg asked photographer
a classical Georgian domain. There are William Abranowicz to show him the
no ancestral portraits or views of Venice. digital images in black and white, just
Instead, an Anh Duong self-portrait with for fun, during the photo shoot, he was
a teddy bear is in the dressing room, a Miaz pleasantly surprised to see that the rooms
Brothers blurred painting is mounted had an unexpected timelessness. “Unless
above the dining room’s George III you knew what you were looking at, you
sideboard, and works by Duncan Grant, wouldn’t know what year the house was
Roger Hilton, Norman Rockwell, and decorated—though that wasn’t the goal,”
others discreetly embellish seemingly the designer says.
every space, including a heart-stopping Shared with Hector, a dashing little
What do Elsie de Wolfe, Renzo Crucifixion from the workshop of 16th- dachshund, Bolton and Browne’s
Mongiardino, Harrison Cultra, Georgina century Dutch artist Jan van Scorel. rooms are all about mental processing
Fairholme, and David Kleinberg have in “Thom’s a good Catholic boy,” rather than visual pizzazz. Serenity and
common? Yes, all are interior decorators Kleinberg observes of his long-time contemplation aside, the building turned
of signal influence, but more importantly, friend, who always said that, one day, the out to require a near-gut renovation, due
they all lavished their expertise on the three amigos would do a house together. to its dated infrastructure: new baths,
selfsame house. The red-brick beauty on Surprisingly, none of the couple’s art new kitchen, new floors, replacing win-
Manhattan’s far East Side that architect came under discussion until after the dows, removing a terrace conservatory,
Mott Schmidt created in the early furniture, carpets, and mirrors had been and reconfiguring the top floor’s former
1920s for Anne Vanderbilt, a moneyed installed. “When I asked what Andrew servants’ area to accommodate a primary
widow who was giving up her late hus- and Thom owned, the most fascinating bedroom and bath, a kitchenette, and
band’s Fifth Avenue castle for something pictures began to come out of boxes— a dressing room. “We were hoping
a bit less egotistical and a lot more elegant. I was floored,” says Kleinberg, recounting for wonderful discoveries during the
“The proportions are so magical—that’s how he, Browne, and Bolton eventually renovation,” the history-minded Bolton
what seduced us,” says Andrew Bolton, walked around, cradling pieces in their says, adding that not a fragment of
Wendy Yu curator in charge of the arms, and discussing where each would Mrs. Vanderbilt’s glorious Asian staircase
Costume Institute at the Metropolitan look best. “It’s a very old-fashioned way murals, executed by Allyn Cox, remained.
Museum of Art (and, with Anna of doing things,” the designer adds. “The “Even the original chimney pieces were
Wintour, one of the forces behind the art wasn’t bought for the house.” gone, as was the black-and-white marble
annual Met Gala). He and his partner, Decoratively speaking, Bolton and floor in the foyer.”
Thom Browne, the fashion star who was Browne were taken with the house’s Those losses were, in some ways,
recently named the next chairman of the origins, back when Anne Vanderbilt Kleinberg’s gain. Much of the original
CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of lived in beautiful but relatively restrained architecture remains, but Craig Doyle, a
America) and who made headlines in 2018 decors, so archival imagery was gathered principal at Kleinberg’s firm, dressed the
when the Ermenegildo Zegna Group and studied to take the measure of what plain ceilings with decorative features so
acquired 85 percent of his namesake brand had come before. Luckily, the new soigné that surely Schmidt would
in a deal that valued the company at $500 homeowners’ tastes meshed with those have approved. Ditto some moulding
million, encountered the residence while of the long-ago society doyenne. Says embellishments. “Andrew and Thom are
house-hunting a couple of years ago. Browne, “Andrew’s are a little more not purists, but they appreciate design
They initially had Greenwich Village in decorative than mine but in the best, and craft,” Kleinberg says. “That’s really
their real estate sights, but they kept being most refined way”, while Bolton calls important to them.” So was Bolton’s
drawn back to Sutton Place. “It’s one of his partner’s eye “more eclectic than sole request: a Chinese Export–style
the most special neighbourhoods in the people think it is. Whether it’s early 19th wallpaper—somewhere, anywhere—that
city,” Bolton continues, and, arguably, century or mid-century modern, he’s all not only addressed his fanciful side but
the house that he and Browne now own about precision and proportion.” Which would serve as a footnote to one of Elsie
is its most alluring. The 70-foot-wide explains why the rooms that Kleinberg de Wolfe’s legendary leitmotifs. Instead
facade may seem well-mannered and and his clients assembled together range of placing the paper in a prominent
spatially economical—the house is just widely across the centuries and schools of place, though, Kleinberg wrapped it
one room deep—but the architecture has aesthetic thought, but they don’t confuse around the primary bedroom, turning
a distinctive spirit that Browne describes the eye or puzzle the mind. There is a it into a virtual garden that nobody but
as “a dominant persona, and we were sense of harmony that outfitting a space, the owners will likely see. “Andrew and
perfectly happy submitting to that and say the dining room, with whiplashing Thom are very public figures,” Kleinberg
doing what the house wanted”. gold René Drouet chairs from the 1940s, allows of his friends, “but they are also
Coincidentally, the building’s Anglo- an English Regency sofa upholstered in very private people. That’s why this
American politesse makes an appropriate emerald-green damask, a 17th-century house feels so right. The door opens, and
background for the figural art to which crucifix, and a gutsy George Nakashima I know precisely who lives there. That’s
the couple gravitates, though the table does not necessarily suggest. Indeed, when decoration is successful.”

W R A P P E D I N H A N D - H E W N L I M E S T O N E B R I C K S , E V O LV E D
A N D E X PA N D E D O V E R D E C A D E S , A N D F I N A L LY G I V E N
P O E T I C S H A P E B Y C H A N N A D A S WAT T E , J AY M E H TA’ S
F A M I LY H O M E I N P O R B A N D A R , G U J A R A T , H O U S E S
S O M E O F H I S M O S T E C L E C T I C A R T C O L L E C T I O N .
W R I T E R D E E P T H I S A S I D H A R A N P H OTO G R A P H E R A S H I S H S A H I
THE INFORMAL LIVING ROOM IS IMAGINED IN WARM EARTHY HUES ACCENTUATED WITH BURMA TEAK FURNITURE. A SELECTION OF BLACK-AND-WHITE
IMAGES OF HIS FAMILY AND CLOSE FRIENDS FROM HOMEOWNER JAY MEHTA’S 50TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS FILL THE WALL. A BOLD AMIN GULGEE
COPPER SCULPTURE FLANKS THE MIRROR. THE MIRROR REFLECTS A LIMESTONE-CLAD COURTYARD CENTRED WITH A MANICURED FRANGIPANI TREE.

THE GRID-LIKE ABSTRACT PAINTING BY FRIEND TANYA GOEL IS MEHTA’S FAVOURITE, AND INSPIRES THE COLOURS OF THE FORMAL SITTING ROOM. PRABAKHAR
KOLTE BLACK-AND-WHITE INK DRAWINGS FORM THE BACKDROP FOR A SPECTACULAR CERAMIC LAMP AND A CERAMIC MAO ZEDONG. A SELECTION OF
ANTIQUE BRIC-À-BRAC FROM PHILLIPS ANTIQUES CROWDS THE CENTRE TABLE. FACING PAGE: INTERIORS CONSULTANT JAMES MOORE WORKED HIS
MAGIC BY LAYERING PRECIOUS SILK CARPETS IN DEEP REDS ON THE FLOOR IN THE TWO-BEDROOM HOUSE OVERLOOKING A VERDANT GREEN LAWN. A
FABULOUS VINTAGE PRANCING METAL LION FROM NEPAL FORMS A CONVERSATION PIECE AND ON THE OTHER END ARE ALTAR CANDLE STANDS FROM GOA.

This has always been a
house in evolution.... But
I was unhappy with it till I
invited Channa [Daswatte] to
look at it. What you see today is the
house that he designed.” —Jay Mehta
ABOVE: AN ANTIQUE FOUR POSTER CALCUTTA BED FRAMES TWO

BUDDHADEV MUKHERJEE PAINTINGS ON THE WALL. TOP: AN ANTIQUE
DUTCH BURGHER COLONIAL SATINWOOD AND MAHOGANY CABINET IS
USED FOR STORING GLASSWARE. ANTIQUE LAMPS AND A PEACEFUL
GRANITE NANDI OFFSET THE HONEYED HUES OF THE WOOD. RIGHT: THE
SERENE BLUE GUEST ROOM FEATURES A CALCUTTA FOUR-POSTER BED
FROM MAHENDRA DOSHI ANTIQUES AND A SIDE TABLE DESIGNED BY
DASWATTE FOR ONE OF HIS SRI LANKA HOTEL PROJECTS. AN EARLY-
20TH-CENTURY AJANTA PAINTING, SCENES OF BUDDHA LIFE AT LUMBINI
FOREST, FROM THE FAMILY COLLECTION AND A VINTAGE CARPET
FROM THE CARPET CELLAR. FACING PAGE: THE DINING ROOM IS BLUE
AND CHEERFUL DURING THE DAY AND TRANSFORMS INTO A DREAMY
LANDSCAPE BY NIGHT AS THE ARTISAN-PAINTED INDIAN CEILING MURAL
OF WISPY CLOUDS AND BIRDS COMES ALIVE, AWASH WITH A PALE LIGHT.
REPRODUCTION CHAIRS FROM THE 18TH CENTURY WOLVENDAAL CHURCH
OF SRI LANKA SURROUND A CUSTOMIZED TEAK DINING TABLE. AN OLD
WOODEN DOOR FROM SAURASHTRA WAS TURNED SIDEWAYS AND HUNG
ON THE WALL AND PAINTED WITH GILDED FLOWER MOTIFS BY ARTISTS
FROM UDAIPUR. THE WHITE MARBLE FLOOR IS PART OF THE ORIGINAL
HOUSE AND A MEMORY MARKER FROM MEHTA’S FATHER’S BEDROOM.

“When I first came to Porbandar
and saw the stacked bricks of
limestone that constitute the local
architecture, that image stayed in my
mind. I thought of Frank Lloyd Wright and
wanted to pay homage to the local materials
and the regional architecture.” —Channa Daswatte
LEFT: THE PORTICO WAS EXTENDED INTO A COMFORTABLE SPACIOUS AREA

WHERE ONE COULD ALIGHT AND “ADJUST ONE’S SKIRTS” DASWATTE QUIPS.
THE BRASS URLI (BOWL) IS FILLED WITH FRESH FLOWERS DAILY. JODHPUR
STONE HAND-CARVED JALI BOX WINDOWS KEEP OUT THE HARSH SUN AND
PROVIDE VENTILATION WITH PROTECTION. ABOVE LEFT: A LONE GUARDIAN
DVARAPALA STANDS ON A HEWN BLOCK OF WHITE LIMESTONE AT THE FAR
END OF THE FRONT PORTICO, A NOD TO THE LIMESTONE QUARRY NEARBY.
THE LONG, LOW WOODEN BENCH IS SIGNATURE DASWATTE, DESIGNED TO
“SIT WHEN YOU COME IN AND [BE] TERRIBLY USEFUL”. ABOVE: THE OCULUS
COURT OPEN TO THE SKY DIVIDES TWO BEDROOM SUITES FOR GUESTS TO
SLEEP PRIVATELY. EACH ROOM HAS A LIVING SPACE FOR GUESTS TO WORK,
READ, REST, AND BE CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER WITH A COMBINED DINING
SPACE. THE OPEN SKY IS REFLECTED IN A GENTLE, LOW, GURGLING FOUNTAIN.
BALI SANDSTONE MANDALAS INSPIRED BY DIAGRAMS FROM AJIT MOOKERJEE’S
BOOK TANTRA ART ADD SERENITY. FACING PAGE: A METAL FRAMEWORK AND
WOOD TRELLIS COVER THE POOL AND TIMBER DECK AND FURTHER BRING
TOGETHER THE NEAT RECTANGULAR LINES OF THE HOUSE. THE DAPPLED
SUNLIGHT SHIFTS THROUGH THE DAY MAKING IT A DAY LONG SHADOW PLAY.

A STONE OUTDOOR DINING TABLE AND PIERRE JEANNERET CHAIRS RECREATED BY PHANTOM HANDS SET THE SCENE FOR NIGHT DINING. SEVERAL VARIETIES OF INDIAN
ROSE AND JASMINE PLANTED IN GARDENS ALONGSIDE BY MEHTA’S MOTHER CREATE A HEADY FRAGRANCE IN THE LATE EVENING. THE DELICATE LIMESTONE SCULPTURES
ON THE WALL ARE ALSO FROM HER COLLECTION. FACING PAGE: BESPOKE RED ANDHRA KALAMKARI CANOPIES ON THE CEILING, A SELECTION OF RARE TANJORE PAINTINGS
ON THE WALL, AND ATHANGUDI-INSPIRED TILES DESIGNED BY SRI LANKAN ARTIST LAKI SENANAYEKE ON THE FLOOR TOGETHER PAY HOMAGE TO SOUTH INDIA. A STONE
PLATFORM FORMS THE BASE FOR THE ANTIQUE CHETTINAD TEAK PILLARS AND INTRODUCES LIGHT FROM ABOVE FOR AN ENTRANCE COURTYARD TO WELCOME GUESTS.

THE REAR LAWN FORMS THE LOCUS FOR OTHER BUILDINGS ADDED RECENTLY: A GYM AND A TWO-BEDROOM HOUSE. A VARIETY OF
TALL COLOURED GRASSES, INCLUDING VETIVER, CREATE MOVEMENT IN THE EVENING WINDS AND KEEP THE VISTA ALWAYS GREEN.

Close to the city of Porbandar, Gujarat, the ages beautifully with the natural elements patterns lead the eye upwards in wonder,
birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, and in and takes on a mottled grey black patina,” even as one regularly hears the real call of
proximity to the ancient green hills of he says, and it worked well because “this peacocks in the gardens outside.
Barda lie the limestone mines of Ranavav. was a house that evolved, built on three The corridor transitions through an anti
Art collector and entrepreneur Jay Mehta’s levels…the present dining room was a que, intricately carved Chettinad wooden
grandfather established cement factories room that belonged to Jay’s parents and door. It extends past another limestone
here in 1956 and the family home, Hill the kitchen was located where the living courtyard with a frangipani tree to the
Bungalow, stands on the highest point of room now is. There were tennis courts third level of the home that then opens to a
an undulating landscape. When the house out in the front that no one used and the lightfilled family room. Lined with art,
needed expansion, Mehta turned to house ended in an octagonal room that was family photographs, and glass doors along
eminent architect Channa Daswatte to once his bedroom! So [with my design], the length of the room, it overlooks a
redesign his home. there was no smashing through, only a swim ming pool accessed through a
Mehta has a deep interest in design, arc transformation, by harmonizing spaces wooden deck. It is Mehta’s favourite spot,
hitecture, and a passion for art. Daswatte is together that held memories.” where friends and guests gather to chat and
an architect but also an intrepid cultural Today, the house is a refuge, the stillness eat outdoors in the cool, breezy evenings.
diplomat with projects that span across inside only broken by the twitter of the A monumental abstract Tanya Goel
India, the Middle East, and Africa. Former innumerable birds from a sanctuary close painting inspires the colour palette of the
collaborators in several other international by that frequent the gardens outside. The formal sitting room, the right wing of the
projects, the two share a common shared interiors are designed around Mehta’s ecle house, overlooking the pool on one side
sensibility of restraint, beauty, and utility. ctic art collection and Daswatte’s ability to and the formal front gardens through large
“This has always been a house in evolution. organize disparate elements into neat lines. windows. “Almost every room in the
In the early ’80s when I came to work and The main door way leads into a long house has two large windows, it is an obse
stay at Saurashtra Cement, it was a house corridor that forms the axis of the house. ssion that Jay has with cross ventilation,”
with essentially two bed rooms. It Originally dark, now a small lightfilled Daswatte adds. A gym facing the adjoining
expanded variously over the next decade courtyard with plants greets visitors. Resc green parks and another twobedroom
and evolved with more rooms, but I was ued and polished Burma teak pillars from a small house were subsequently added and
unhappy with it till I invited Channa to Chettinad home lit softly create drama, as Londonbased interior designer James
look at it. What you see today is the house do the geometric green and yellow Moore created soothing palettes of carpets
that he designed,” says Mehta. Athangudiinspired tiles on the floor and fabrics, carefully chosen art, and con
Daswatte reminisces, “When I first designed by the famous Sri Lankan artist versation spaces throughout the house.
came to Porbandar and saw the stacked Laki Senanayeke, and recreated by Bharat The rooms look out at beautiful gardens,
bricks of limestone that constitute the local Floorings. He explains that Senanayeke imagined by Daswatte and laid by land
architecture, that image stayed in my mind. was “bored by the repetitive tiling patterns scape specialist Ashish Teli. The garden
I thought of Frank Lloyd Wright and and worked his artistic genius by using flanking the driveway in front of the house
wanted to pay homage to the local materials different patterns and then rotating it so has mossfilled moats on either side filled
and the regional architecture.” After a visit that the continuity of design would not with lilies and water plants.
to the nearby limestone quarries, he knew break, and a flowing pattern would be The truism “no house is ever done”
that he wanted to use this stone and “trans achieved”. Floor uplighting heightens comes to mind as Mehta plans to add “ano
form what was existing” and so emerged a bespoke kalamkari fabric canopies on the ther fourbedroom unit so that it becomes a
beautiful house wrapped with handhewn ceiling. Stretched taut and fitted neatly into proper guest house” and laughs as he says,
limestone bricks. “Limestone, as a material, the coves, the grand peacock and bird “Let’s see how it evolves further!”

A
S H O N A N D H AR PA L R A N D H AWA’S STAT E LY
S E P I A
D E L H I H O M E I S E L EG A N T LY L AY E R E D W I T H
T I N T E D
A RT, K I L I M S, SA N D STO N E JA L I S, A N D
D R E A M
1 8 T H - C E N T U RY R A JAST H A N I M I N I AT U R ES.
H O M E
W R I T E R A R S H I A D H A R P H OTO G R A P H E R PA N K A J A N A N D
THE LIVING OR RECEPTION ROOM BOASTS A COLLAGE OF 18TH-CENTURY RAJASTHANI MINIATURES. TWO 18TH-CENTURY FRAMED FRENCH TEXTILES
FROM ANTONIO VITULLI, A DEALER IN LONDON, ARE HOISTED ON THE WALL. THE ANTIQUE TEXTILE ON THE SIDE TABLE IS FROM CHRISTIE’S.

THE 17TH-CENTURY SANDSTONE JALIS FROM CHRISTIE’S DIVIDE THE DINING AND DRAWING ROOM. THE FRENCH-INSPIRED SANDSTONE FIREPLACE HAS BEEN CRAFTED BY IQRUP DESIGN.
THE PAINTING OF THE BHARATPUR MAHARAJA ON A HUNT WAS BOUGHT FROM PHILLIPS ANTIQUES, MUMBAI. THE BRONZE KRISHNA BUST BY SUDHIR KHASTGIR IS FROM THE 1950S.

We needed more space now that we
had a child, and my sister-in-law Iqrup
[Dhamija] really helped me achieve that
with this home by expanding it and putting it
together with her expertise.” —Shon Randhawa
ABOVE LEFT: A 19TH-CENTURY PICHVAI PANEL IN

THE ENTRANCE HALLWAY. ABOVE: THE MIRROR
AND WALL LIGHTS IN THE DINING ROOM ARE FROM
JONATHAN SAINSBURY IN LONDON, WHILE THE
ANTIQUE CONSOLES ARE FROM MAHENDRA DOSHI
IN MUMBAI. LEFT: THE GLASS PAINTINGS WERE
PURCHASED FROM PHILLIPS ANTIQUES IN MUMBAI,
WHILE THE MID-CENTURY-INSPIRED DESK WAS
CRAFTED BY IQRUP + RITZ, AS WERE THE LIGHTS.
FACING PAGE: HARPAL RANDHAWA’S STUDY IS
SURROUNDED BY GREEN. THE WALL DISPLAYS AN
ORIENTAL-INSPIRED HAND-PAINTED PANEL BY DE
GOURNAY. THE SANDSTONE-AND-WOOD DESK, THE
WOOD-AND-LEATHER BOOKCASE, THE CHAIRS,
COFFEE TABLES AND LAMP ARE BY IQRUP DESIGN.

ABOVE: IN THE LIVING ROOM, THE ANTIQUE IVORY HOWRAH CARRIAGE
WAS UPHOLSTERED AND RESTORED BY IQRUP DESIGN. THE LACQUER
TABLE IS BY VAUGHAN DESIGNS, LONDON. ABOVE RIGHT: IN THE DINING
ROOM IS A DE GOURNAY HAND-PAINTED PANEL INSPIRED BY THOMAS
AND WILLIAM DANIELL’S EVERYDAY SCENES FROM INDIA. RIGHT: THIS
ANTIQUE COLONIAL DINING TABLE IS MADE OF ROSEWOOD; THE DINNER
SERVICE IS BY PIERRE FREY. THE BOOKSHELVES ARE BY IQRUP DESIGN.
I wanted this home to

be an homage to Harpal
and my journey in life and
every object here adds to
those layers.” —Shon Randhawa

LEFT: THE MAIN BEDROOM’S SHOWSTOPPER IS THE
LATE-17TH-CENTURY WALL PANEL BEHIND THE BED
WITH EMBROIDERED CREWEL WORK. ALL OF THE
FURNITURE IN THE ROOM HAS BEEN UPHOLSTERED
BY IQRUP DESIGN; THE FIREPLACE TOO HAS BEEN
DESIGNED BY THEM. BELOW: THE ANTIQUE BED
IN THE GUEST BEDROOM WAS MADE BY FARIDA
HOOSENALLY IN MUMBAI. THE PALAMPORE-INSPIRED
TREE OF LIFE PANEL HAS BEEN FRAMED BY PIERRE
FREY; ANOTHER ONE STANDS ON THE OPPOSITE
SIDE OF THE BED. THE NEEDLEPOINT CARPET IS
FROM GALLERY YACOU IN LONDON, WHILE THE INLAY
CABINET IS FROM MEHRA’S ART PALACE IN DELHI. IN
THE ENTRANCE HALL FACING THE GUEST BEDROOM
IS AN 18TH-CENTURY ITALIAN EMBROIDERED WALL
PANEL FROM ANTONIO VITULLI, IN FRONT OF
WHICH IS A PAIR OF DECCAN-PERIOD WOODEN
TEMPLE ATTENDANTS FROM PHILLIPS ANTIQUES.

What adds to the home’s
old world charm is the simple,
uncomplicated nature of the
landscaping by Savita Punde of
Design Cell.” —Iqrup Dhamija
ABOVE: THE POOL IS SURROUNDED BY A

LANDSCAPED LAWN AND A WATERFALL
THAT OVERLOOKS THE HOUSE, WITH A
ROTUNDA PAVILION. LEFT: A VIEW OF THE
COURTYARD FROM THE DINING ROOM; THE
FIREPLACE IS BY IQRUP DESIGN, THE AJIT
KUMAR DAS PAINTING ABOVE—NATURAL
DYES ON TEXTILE—IS FROM GALLERY ART.
MOTIF, DELHI. FACING PAGE: THE VERANDA
OVERLOOKING THE POOL AND THE FRONT
GARDEN IS DECORATED WITH AN ANTIQUE
HERIZ CARPET AND CANE-LINE FURNITURE.

THE RANDHAWAS’ DELHI HOME WAS INITIALLY BUILT IN 1991 BY HARPAL’S PARENTS. IT WAS LATER EXPANDED AND ADAPTED
INTO A FAMILY HOME IN 2002, WITH INTERIORS BY IQRUP DESIGN. SEEN HERE IS A SANDSTONE FOUNTAIN IN THE DRIVEWAY.

rossing the sprawling stretches my journey in life—from being born and
of green and the brightest raised in India to living in London after
seasonal blossoms to step marriage—and every object here adds to
into Shon and Harpal those layers,” Shon says.
Randhawa’s south-west A cluster of 18th-century Rajasthani
Delhi home might feel like miniatures circles a 19th-century convex
walking through a portal mirror in the reception room; here, not
in time. You may even only are the busts antique, but so are
imagine glasses clinking to the textiles lining the furniture. There’s
the calming tunes of a vinyl a bronze Krishna sculpture by Sudhir
playing somewhere in the background, Khastgir tucked in here, a painting of
and none of this is accidental. Shon’s the maharaja of Bharatpur hoisted there.
wish for her home to be dipped in the Every surface of the Randhawa home
sepia-tinted, colonial-era vintage came is made of and for art, and all of it taps
to life when the couple into a bittersweet nostalgia for an era
had a child and decided long gone.
to move to this address However, unlike other Delhi homes,
nearly 20 years ago. “We this one steers clear of marble except for
were living with my the bathrooms, and is almost entirely
parents-in-law who had clad in teak and smoked oak wood,
built this house 30 years which complement its inherent warmth
ago. We needed more space and lived-in-ness—even though Shon
now that we had a child, and admits to not having spent as much time
my sister-in-law Iqrup really as they would have liked to in it. “What
helped me achieve that with this also adds to its old world charm is the
home by expanding it and putting it simple, uncomplicated nature of the
together with her expertise,” Shon says landscaping that has been done by Savita
about interior architect and designer, Punde of Design Cell,” Dhamija says.
Iqrup Dhamija. Indeed, the Randhawa home, despite
For Dhamija, the home seemed to its prolific expanse, is designed for the
have always been there—“like a period simple and dreamy life, where time has,
house”, and it’s hard to disagree. It does quite literally, slowed down to a pause
defy time, as the structure’s bones are for a moment of respite. There’s a tennis
visibly inspired by the stately buildings court, a crystal-blue pool with a stone
of Lutyens’ Delhi, where the Randhawa waterfall, and spaces to dine and unwind
siblings spent a significant part of their outdoors. There’s also a courtyard with
childhoods. Spread generously across a fireplace facing the dining room and
two floors, the residence encloses two above it stands the pièce de résistance—a
drawing rooms, four bedrooms, a family seemingly unassuming kalamkari
room, a study and a home office in painting of humble pink flowers by
the garden, and a veranda. But what Ajit Kumar Das. Rather poetically, it
truly ties all of them together is the art foregrounds a burst of bougainvillea in
that Shon has carefully curated over an identical pink. Shon marvels at how
the years, handpicking each portrait, it has found its perfect spot. “I initially
carpet, piece of china, and object with didn’t know where to put it, but it
care, because to her, “art is not just the somehow just fit in there, and yet stood
paintings”, it’s about mirroring life. out,” she says, before adding that she
When you enter, a 19th-century would like to invest in contemporary
pichvai greets you in the hallway; art as well. “I don’t want it to seem like
further down, there’s a Thomas and we are stuck in a time warp!” she laughs.
William Daniell–inspired hand- “But I want to do so only after learning
painted de Gournay wall panel in the more about contemporary art.”
dining room. There’s also an ancient For her, home is about stitching
wooden staircase bought at a Pataudi fragments of their lives together
House clearance sale in Delhi that has meaningfully, because after all, what are
now comfortably settled into its second homes really made of if not layers of the
home. “It just fits here. I wanted this several worlds we reside in, and the ones
home to be an homage to Harpal and that reside within us.

THE LAST WORD IN TRAVEL
PHOTO: ERRIKOS ANDREOU/CONDÉ NAST TRAVELLER INDIA
Asian Pa i nts’ t re n d f o re c a s t i n g p r a c t i ce of
y
t
ColourNe xt comple te s 20 ye ars and AD looks at
r
a
t h i s l aye re d re s e a rc h i n i t i at i ve . A n d i t wa s c e r t a i n l y
P
a n even i n g to rem em b er w h en t h e J aq u a r G ro u p o p en ed
r
i ts h e ad q u a r te rs i n G u r u g ra m to t h e a rc h i te c t u re a n d
e
t
d e s i g n c o m m u n i t y fo r t h e i r a n n u a l C a nva s p a r t y w i t h
f
A
a p o e t r y s e s s i o n by n o n e ot h e r t h a n G u l za r s a h i b.
T H E
L A N G U A G E
O F
C O L O U R
TEXT: GAURI KELKAR. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF ASIAN PAINTS.

T WE NT Y YEARS AGO, AS IA N PA INTS BEGA N ITS FO R ECASTIN G
E ND E AVOU R O F C O LO U R NEXT. IT A NA LYS ED A ND R ES E A R C HED S O C I O-
EC ON O M I C, E NV I R O N M ENTA L , A ND C ULTUR A L C O NTEXTS TO C UL L
O U T PAT T E R NS I N H OW W E LIVE , DR AW INS I GHTS INTO C O NS UM ER
B E HAV I OU R , A ND ART I C ULATE THE S I GNS O F O UR TIM ES. O N TH E
2 0 T H ANNI V E R SA RY O F C O LO UR NEXT, A D TA KES A LO O K AT THI S
U NI QU E T R A D IT I O N O F T R END FO R ECASTIN G, AS W ELL AS THE M O RE
R EC E NT D E V E LOPM E NT OF AS IA N PA INTS C O LO UR OF THE YE A R .
By 2003, when Asian Paints was six decades deep in the decorative paints
busine ss, they de cide d to dial things up and try out something neve r done
be fore in India: tre nd fore casting. Be cause why not? “The re are global
colour fore caste rs for fashion, home de cor, e ve n graphic de sign, but none
representing India, where colour is truly democratic and cuts across society
and class barriers,” says Amit Syngle, MD and CEO, Asian Paints. The brand
alre ady had a window into consume r pre fe re nce s and insight into how
e nvironme nts affe cte d colour choice s. “It was only natural that we made
some thing of that to analyse and re pre se nt colour choice s from an Indian
perspective.” So goes the ColourNext origin story, which was—and continues
to be—an exercise in thought leadership. “We focus on identifying the signs
of our times and represent that visually by using tools of research and colour
psychology.” In a dynamic world whe re exte rnal e nvironme nts influe nce the
human mind at an e phe me ral le ve l, de coding shifting be havioural patte rns
into visual touchstones is clearly an involved process. The trends, therefore,
are the outcome of this colossal hive of activity that begins almost a year in
advance . The brand’s core te am collaborate s with a pane l of e xpe rts from
across industrie s to arrive at tre nd storie s, and ze ro in on colour pale tte s,

materials, and design elements for that year. And year after year, since 2003.
In the two de cade s it has be e n around, ColourNe xt has e volve d a robust,
se amle ss proce ss, sharpe ning me thodologie s, de e pe ning intuitive ne ss,
scaling up the science, and working at the cutting edge of trend forecasting.
“We have traine d instincts and cle ar marke rs whe n an ide a is just about to
take off—and we se e our pre dictions manife st all around us, some time s
e ve n globally.” That, in its 20th ye ar, ColourNe xt continue s to re sonate
with de signe rs and archite cts—e ve n across industrie s like “automobile s
to consume r goods”—is a te stame nt to the pre cision with which it
e choe s the human condition through colour, style , mate rial, and de sign.

T R E N D S E M E R G E F R O M A M I X O F S E C O N D A R Y
R E S E A R C H , I N T E R V I E W S W I T H TA S T E M A K E R S
A N D I N N OVATO R S , C O R E G R O U P D I S C U S S I O N S ,
A N D D E L I B E R AT I O N S T O A R R I V E AT T H E
D I R E C T I O N S T H E B R A N D I S F O R E C A S T I N G
F O R T H E Y E A R . T H E Y T H E N M A P E A C H S T O R Y
T O K E Y W O R D S , E M O T I O N S , C O L O U R , A N D
M AT E R I A L Q U A L I T I E S TO A R R I V E AT T H E F I N A L
F O R E C A S T. F O R 2 0 1 5 , T H E C O L O U R O F T H E
Y E A R WA S “ C O R A L R A D I A N C E ” ( A B O V E L E F T )
A N D T H E T R E N D F O R T H E S A M E Y E A R WA S
“ S TA R T U P ” ( T O P R I G H T ) , T O R E P R E S E N T T H E
WAY S I D E A S O F I N D I V I D U A L I T Y, I N N O VAT I O N ,
A N D Q U I R K I N E S S W O U L D I N F L U E N C E D E S I G N
T O C R E AT E C O O L U N P R E T E N T I O U S S PA C E S .

T H E PA N E L O F E X P E R T S I S P I C K E D B Y T H E C O L O U R M A R K E T I N G
T E A M AT A S I A N PA I N T S . O N T H I S PA G E , A 2 0 1 6 T R E N D , “ F L O C K ” ,
I S D E P I C T E D T H R O U G H D E C O R A N D M O O D S H O T S . I T B U I LT O N T H E
I D E A O F I N T E R C O N N E C T E D N E S S , O F P E O P L E F I N D I N G S H A R E D
T R A I T S W I T H O T H E R S , U N T E T H E R E D B Y G E O G R A P H Y, C U LT U R E ,
O R P H Y S I C A L B O R D E R S , T H A N K S T O T H E I N T E R N E T. T H E Y F L O C K
T O E A C H O T H E R , F I N D I N G S T R E N G T H I N C O L L E C T I V E U N I T Y .

D E C O R A N D D E S I G N R E P R E S E N TAT I O N
U S I N G T H E S H A D E “ C H E R I S H ” , T H E 2 0 2 1
C O L O U R O F T H E Y E A R , A S O O T H I N G
C O U N T E R P O I N T T O T H E O N G O I N G
U N C E R TA I N T Y CAU S E D BY T H E PA N D E M I C.
T H E C O R E G R O U P W I T H I N A S I A N PA I N T S A N D T H E C O N S U LTA N T S
A R E Q U I T E D I V E R S E , E A C H B R I N G I N G A D I F F E R E N T P E R S P E C T I V E .
T H E Y B E G I N A L M O S T A Y E A R I N A D VA N C E — A S E A R LY A S
F E B R U A R Y— A N D H AV E T H E I R T R E N D S A N D C O L O U R PA L E T T E S B Y
S E P T E M B E R . T H E WO R K O N C O M M U N I C AT I O N A N D E X H I B I TS B E G I N S
T H E N A N D T H E L A U N C H H A P P E N S A R O U N D J A N U A R Y– F E B R U A R Y.

D E C O R R E P R E S E N TAT I O N S U S I N G E L E M E N T S O F
2 0 2 2 ’ S “A R T I F Y ” T R E N D ( L E F T ) ; ( B E L O W ) T H E
2 0 2 2 C O L O U R O F T H E Y E A R : “ T R A N S C E N D E N T
P I N K ” . T H E F O R M E R A R T I C U L AT E D T H E I M PA C T
T H AT T H E D I G I TA L M A R K E T P L A C E H A S H A D
O N D E M O C R AT I Z I N G T H E A R T W O R L D , W H E R E
A R T I S T S A N D C O L L E C T O R S C O U L D D I R E C T LY
I N T E R A C T W I T H E A C H O T H E R , T H E F R E E D O M O F
E X P R E S S I O N , I N T E R A C T I O N , A N D A C C E S S I B I L I T Y.
“ T R A N S C E N D E N T P I N K ” E M E R G E D O U T O F A D E S I R E
T O E M B R A C E A N E W N O R M A L A N D N O T B E B O G G E D
D O W N B Y T H I N G S B E YO N D O N E ’ S C O N T R O L .

AN EVENING
TO REMEMBER
I N N OV E M B E R , T H E J AQ UA R G R O U P H A D I TS A N N UA L CA N VA S G E T-TO G E T H E R AT
T H E I R E X PA N S I V E H E A D Q UA R T E R S I N M A N E S A R , G U R U G R A M , A N D N O N E OT H E R T H A N
G U L Z A R H I M S E L F G R AC E D T H E O C CA S I O N W I T H H I S P O E T RY, FO L LOW E D BY A R E C I TA L
BY T H E WA DA L I B R OT H E R S , A N D AC C O M PA N I E D BY A D E L ECTA B L E M E N U BY C H E F
M A N I S H M E H R OT R A . W H AT A T R E AT FO R T H E A R C H I T ECT U R E A N D D E S I G N C O M M U N I T Y !
1 2
3 4 5
7 1. Gulzar. 2. A performance by Sufi

musicians, the Wadali Brothe rs.
3. Mohit Kansal. 4. Ekta Pare kh,
Kanhai Gandhi, Vive k Gupta,
Nina Puri, Rajiv Pare kh. 5. Anca
Florescu Abraham, Alan Abraham.
6. Pronit Nath, Shabnam Gupta,
Shre sht Kashyap. 7. S.K. Me hra,
Gulzar, Ajit Jain, Divya Dutta.

1 2
1. Sunita Kohli. 2. Kanav Mehra, Parichay

Me hra, Shoumik Guha, Amrita Guha,
Mohit Haje la, Sunita Kohli, Ranbir Mehra,
Sande e p Shukla, Bibhor Srivastava.
3. Rajat Kapoor, Parvez Amin, S.K. Mehra,
Manish Mehrotra. 4. The outdoor decor.
5. Kiran Shetty. 6. Nimeran Singh, Amritha
Ballal. 7. Vaibhav Dimri. 8. Zarir Mullan.
9. Nina Puri, Sanjay Puri, Kanhai Gandhi.
10. AD e ditor Komal Sharma, Mohit
Hajela, AD publisher Armaity Amaria.
3
7
4 5 6
8
10

style book DESIGN NEWS, TRENDS AND MUST HAVES
FROM THE MARKET
IF WA LLS
COULD SPE AK
De Gournay’s latest hand-painted chinoiserie
wallpaper looks back at history—specifically
that of Belvoir Castle, one of England’s most
beautiful stately homes, and the seat of the
Duke and Duchess of Rutland for over 500
years. Drawing from the rich history of the
castle, de Gournay has faithfully recreated the
wallpaper from the Wellington Room—where
the Duke of Wellington stayed in the 1850s—
with its rich, verdant scene: butterflies and
birds caught mid-flight, and blushing peonies
in full bloom. (degournay.com)
ME M OR IES OF
M OR OCCO
The latest collection of dhurries by Blue
Knot promises to whisk you off to Morocco.
Titled Moor, the range draws on a trove
of motifs—from horseshoe and multifoil
arches to honeycombed walls and colourful
tiles—to create patterns redolent of the
spirit of Moroccan souks. Crafted using the
age-old Panja weaving technique—which
hinges on the intergenerational knowledge
of the karigars—the artisanal rugs are
lightweight, making them the perfect fit for
the Indian home. (blueknot.com)

LE T ’S GO
OUT DOO R S
Gloster by Willow View wants you to
step out—and their latest collection
of outdoor furniture gives you
enough reason to. Case in point: the
Carver table and Sway dining chairs
(pictured), the latter designed by
Henrik Pedersen. The minimal,
sleek form of the table is made from
extruded aluminium—which is then
coated in Java, White or Meteor
colours—while the chairs, with their
teak frames and sling seats, envelop
the body for maximum comfort.
(willowviiew.com)
T H E N EW
ES S ENTIALS
For over 120 years, Miele has been known
for its masterful approach to craftsmanship
in developing intelligent home appliances.
Highly technology-driven, every machine is a
time-saver, eco-friendly and energy efficient,
offering comfort, precision, efficiency, and
durability. With a range of washing machines
(pictured), kitchen appliances, vacuum
cleaners, and high-precision ovens, Miele
uses technology, skill, and craftsmanship to
make clever products. (miele.in)
CLOS E R TO NAT UR E
Alila Diwa Goa is a cornerstone Hyatt
resort, located only 500 metres from the
serene white-sand Gonsua beach. The
resort has everything you’d need—from
a mini theatre, spa, and fitness centre to
multiple dining venues and infinity pools
overlooking lush paddy fields. In the
trademark Alila legacy, the resort blends
regional architecture with the magic of the
city’s cultural richness, all while staying
true to the spirit of Goa. (alilahotels.com)

stockists
1ST DIBS: (1STDIBS.COM)
ANDREU WORLD: BENGALURU
09886653005; NEW DELHI
09711733808; PUNE 020-26161644
(ANDREUWORLD.COM)
BAKER STREET BOYS:
(BAKERSTREETBOYS.COM);
SEE 1ST DIBS
CASEY MCCAFFERTY:
(CASEY-MCCAFFERTY.COM)
CASSINA: (CASSINA.COM)
CATTELAN ITALIA: ITALY 0039-04-
45318711 (CATTELANITALIA.COM)
DAMIEN LANGLOIS-MEURINNE:
CATCH SOM E S U N (DL-M.FR)

Poltrona Frau’s latest, expanded offering DIMOREMILANO: DIMOREMILANO.COM;
for outdoor spaces—titled Souvenir d’Italie
(pictured)—features a bouquet of products: AT THE INVISIBLE COLLECTION:
sofas and side tables designed by Ludovica (THEINVISIBLECOLLECTION.COM)
+ Roberto Palomba and Leplì Outdoor,
along with a family of pouffes imagined by HOMMÉS STUDIO: PORTUGAL 00351-
Kensaku Oshiro, now redesigned for the 913-713153 (HOMMES.STUDIO)
outdoors. Brought together in a symphony
of colours and materials, the range invites HUBLOT: INDIA 022-49735609
you to relax, put your feet up, and catch (HUBLOT.COM)
some sun. (poltronafrau.com)
K2 FURNITURE: (K2FURNITURE.GR)
KOKI DESIGN HOUSE:
(KOKIDESIGNHOUSE.COM.AU);
SEE 1ST DIBS
OBEETEE: MUMBAI
09956402798 (OBEETEE.IN)
PINTO PARIS: (PINTOPARIS.COM)

COM I N G H OM E
RIK VAN VEEN: (THEARTLING.COM)
To showcase the versatility, beauty,
and diversity of British Columbia’s STUDIO LIAM LEE:
(BC’s) timber products, Canadian
(STUDIOLIAMLEE.COM);
Wood has built a 6,000-square-
foot villa in BTR Greens Community, AT OBJECTIVE GALLERY:
Hyderabad (pictured). Dubbed the
(OBJECTIVEGALLERY.COM)
Canadian Wood MAK Villa, the home
flaunts BC’s sustainably harvested, STUDIO SUPEREGO:
durable, and resilient wood species, (DESIGNDESIGN.IT)
from western red cedar to yellow
cedar to western hemlock, each of
THE MERCHANDISE FEATURED IN THE MAGAZINE
which adds a sense of warmth to
HAS BEEN SOURCED FROM THE STORES LISTED
the space. (canadianwood.in)
IN THIS SECTION. SOME SHOPS MAY CARRY A
SELECTION ONLY. PRICES AND AVAILABILITY WERE
CHECKED AT THE TIME OF GOING TO PRESS,
BUT WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT PRICES WILL
NOT CHANGE OR THAT SPECIFIC ITEMS WILL BE
IN STOCK WHEN THE MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED.

IT'S WHAT'S NEW NOW
PHOTO: TARUN VISHWA/GQ INDIA
IMAGE TAKEN FROM GOSWAMY, B.N., WONDROUS IMAGES, CALICO MUSEUM OF TEXTILES, 2014, CAT. 16, PP. 80-81
The
Curator
AMIN JAFFER
An examination of this late-18th-

century painting reveals the
religious, historic, and cultural
significance, as well as the
craftsmanship, of the pichvai.
PICHVAI, BURHANPUR OR DECCAN, LATE 18TH CENTURY,

CALICO MUSEUM OF TEXTILES, AHMEDABAD.
T his vignette of Krishna playing

a flute accompanied by an
affectionate cow is part of a larger
to illiterate worshippers. Temples
possessed sets of hangings representing
the different leelas (attitudes) of the
celebrated on the full moon of the lunar
month of Ashvin—September to
October—marking the end of the
composition that shows the divinity divinity, which were changed daily mon soon. On the full moon night,
surrounded by female devotees gazing at according to the calendar of festivals. Krishna and Radha are worshipped
him adoringly while in postures of Each pichvai was intended to project a along with the moon and given offerings
celebratory dance and prayer. Realized specific mood, expressing distinct of flowers and kheer (milk pudding). In
in gold with pigments on a dark-blue emotions and conveying an atmosphere full, the panel expresses the adoration
cotton background, this painting evokes associated with the different ritual that the devotees of Krishna feel for him
a night-time scene. The dark back- celebrations honouring the divinity. The when he plays his flute. The charismatic
ground is enlivened by rich figures and dark ground and extensive use of gold power of the divinity all around him is
foliage in gold, the latter consisting of and silver of this example are associated arti culated in ever y aspect of the
lush trees and of floral blossoms in the with pichvais that were made for the painting, from the devoted expressions
air gently falling to the ground. The Pushtimarg community who moved to of the gopis (female cowherds) to the
painting is a pichvai—a panel of fabric the Deccan in the 18th century. The attentive posture of the beings that
depicting the worship of Krishna deep background colour embellished surround him. At the top of the
designed orig inally to be hung in with paint of precious metals creates an textile—in what represents the
temples of the Pushtimarg tradition for intoxicating, other-wordly nocturnal heavens—are depicted the gods on their
specific festivals and rituals associated effect, enhanced by the delicate postures vehicles, and below is the Yamuna river,
with the divinity. and refinement of the figures. flowing with fish and lotus flowers.
Aside from their aesthetic impact, The mood and colouring of the The magical atmosphere is underlined
pichvais played an important role in painting suggest that it was made for by the precious materials in realizing
narrating aspects of the life of Krishna Sharad Purnima, a religious festival the composition.

PHOTO: BIKRAMJIT BOSE/AD INDIA

PHOTO: JIGNESH JHAVERI/AD INDIA

Architectural Digest India - January-February 2023

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ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2023 INDIA ₹200

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HOMES IN THE WORLD

Our Art issue celebrates the art. We re-open pages from

richness of the 300-year- the iconic publisher Tara,

old tradition of pichvai from which has created magic

the town of Nathdwara with indigenous visual arts.

with a morakuti or peacock In other news, Tarun Tahiliani

cover hand-painted by artist transforms a heritage

Suresh Sharma (pg 110). cantonment bungalow in

08 EDITOR’S LETTER Bengaluru into his new

10 CONTRIBUTORS boutique. And Sabyasachi

THE ART ISSUE lands in New York with his

13 DISCOVERIES sweeping flagship store.

This year, our annual art

traditional art. The Vayeda

Brothers remind us of the

beauty of Warli. The founder

of the Durjoy Bangladesh

Foundation gives us a peek

48 FOLK TRADITIONS Curator Madhuvanti Ghose

AD digs into the history and takes us on an evocative

PHOTO: COURTESY OF TARA BOOKS.

folk art traditions from pichvai—with atmospheric

across India: Madhubani by images by Hashim Badani.

Sita and Ganga Devi, Bhil 68 AMIT AMBALAL

art by Bhuri Bai, Warli by Traditional Gujarati 90 PORBANDAR

traditions from Kolkata, and collection of pichvais, limestone, evolved and

Amit Ambalal in Ahmedabad. architect Channa Daswatte,

That’s what drew curator Porbandar, Gujarat, houses

Andrew Bolton and fashion some of his most eclectic

designer Thom Browne to art collection. It is both a

acquire this townhouse on reflection of and an homage

Manhattan’s East Side. to the local landscape.

102 AFTER PARTY 124 STYLE BOOK

116 THE LANGUAGE OF Our selection of this

COLOUR season’s best design

AD looks at the making of products, followed by an A-Z

Asian Paints’ ColourNext—the listing of stores in the issue.

brand’s annual, celebrated 128 THE CURATOR

colour forecast, the first of Amin Jaffer looks at a

Decorated by AD100 122 AN EVENING TO and reveals its cultural

designer Iqrup Dhamija, REMEMBER significance and exquisite

Shon and Harpal Randhawa’s In November, the Jaquar craftsmanship.

30-year-old villa in Delhi Group had its annual

mansion—elegantly layered headquarters in Gurugram,

with art, kilims, sandstone and none other than Gulzar

jalis and 18th-century himself brought his poetry,

Rajasthani miniatures—that followed by a recital by the

wil take you back in time. Wadali Brothers.

AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Selwin Edward HEAD – AD OPERATIONS Sachin Pujari

CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER – SALES Jabir Merchant

6 AD ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2023

Published By Condé Nast

U.S. Revenue & APAC Pamela Drucker Mann

Chief of Staff Elizabeth Minshaw

Published Under Joint Venture

Condé Nast is a global media company producing premium content

PHOTO: SARANG GUPTA.

8 AD ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2023

IN THE HAMPTONS OF MUMBAI

ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST ` 200 SEPTEMBER 2019

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HOMES IN THE WORLD