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CONTENTS N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 9
32 34 46
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EDITOR’S LETTER CONTRIBU TOR S PAINTING IN PORCELAIN A prolific
designer and a nearly 200-year-old tableware brand find common ground in a passion for good design, as evidenced in Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s debut collection for Thomas Goode & Co.
BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT Obeetee’s richly
crafted carpets get the royal treatment in the hands of couturier Raghavendra Rathore with his new collection for the brand.
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ON THE COVER
ASHISH SAHI
AD commissioned American-Italian artist Francesco Clemente to create a series of covers for the Art Issue. (‘AD x Francesco Clemente’, pg 127)
contents
64 68 70 78
CONTEXT MATTER S AD turns roving-eye
reporter at the third edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial—which runs till January— to discover a theme that urges a discourse on social change.
IN ONE SITTING The ordinary, everyday monobloc chair undergoes a transformation into a chic seat, courtesy of the design-minded forces at Forma, JSW’s Group furniture brand. NO LIGHT MATTER Designer Nikhil Paul releases his second lamp—‘Monolith’—in the tantrainspired series from his brand Paul Matter.
T H E ART ISSUE
84
86 88
TRENDSPOTTING Our carefully curated
selection of products that are all the inspiration you need. R SVP Patrons, gallerists and well-wishers get on with some serious celebration as art gallery Experimenter hits the 10-year mark.
pg 142
90
AR MCHAIR ARTIST This month, Mumbai art and design watchers get the rare honour of getting a front-row seat to Sotheby’s second auction in the city, which includes elusive artist the late Bhupen Khakhar’s experiments with furniture design. SERENDIPITY 4.0 Along with the party-goers,
this December, Goa promises to become a haunt for art lovers as well, with the fourth edition of the Serendipity Arts Festival getting bigger and better.
MOULDING IDEAS A lowdown on the headline-makers in the offing at the Salon Art + Design fair celebrating art in all its forms at Manhattan’s Park Avenue Armory. HOUSE OF TREASURES Auction house Christie’s gets an opportunity to offer a remembrance to the legendary architect IM Pei, with their auction of some significant artworks from his and his wife Eileen’s collection.
ASHISH SAHI
58
www.flexform.it
AD Beatrice Rossetti - Photo Federico Cedrone
DESIGN SHOW
THANK YOU TO ALL OUR PARTNERS AND EXHIBITORS FOR THEIR SUPPORT OF THE SECOND EDITION
PHOTO CREDIT: CAMERA CREW PRODUCTIONS
MUMBAI’S LUXURY ART AND DESIGN FAIR
EXHIBITORS & PARTNERS ART
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PARTNERS
AKARA ART
POLTRONA FRAU
ALEX DAVIS
APPARAO GALLERIES
RALPH LAUREN HOME WITH SEETU KOHLI
ANGIE HOMES .CO - BY ANGIE KRIPALANI
CHEMOULD PRESCOTT ROAD
HOME
EXPERIMENTER
RAVISH VOHRA HOME
DESIGN
NATURE MORTE
ROBERTO CAVALLI HOME INTERIORS WITH
PICHVAI TRADITION & BEYOND
SEETU KOHLI HOME
STUDIO ART
SARITA HANDA
VADEHRA ART GALLERY
SCARLET SPLENDOUR SCHMALENBACH BY PLÜSCH
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ANTIQUES
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PHILLIPS ANTIQUES
TALENTI BY WILLOW VIIEW
IKKIS
TAHERALLY’S
TIMOTHY OULTON STUDIO
INDIA CIRCUS BY KRSNAA MEHTA |
TRÜGGELMANN BY PLÜSCH
A GODREJ VENTURE
FURNITURE
TRUSSARDI CASA WITH SEETU KOHLI HOME
ISTITUTO MARANGONI - ENHANCING
ALSORG
WALTER KNOLL BY PLÜSCH
TALENT SINCE 1935
ANCA SINCE 1985
LIFE VEST UNDER OUR SEAT BY SIDDHARTH
ARNAYA
LIGHTING & ACCESSORIES
BENTLEY HOME WITH SEETU KOHLI HOME
CHRISTOFLE BY EMERY STUDIO
EGGERSMANN BY PLÜSCH
COCOON FINE RUGS
FENDI CASA WITH SEETU KOHLI HOME
JAIPUR RUGS
FOGLIE D’ORO BY WILLOW VIIEW
KAVITA SINGH INTERIORS
GAURI KHAN DESIGNS
KLOVE
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LALIQUE BY EMERY STUDIO
GULMOHAR LANE
SABYASACHI FOR THOMAS GOODE
KETTAL BY WILLOW VIIEW
SAINT LOUIS BY EMERY STUDIO
LOCO DESIGN
SHAZÉ
MANGLAM ARTS
THE CARPET CELLAR
POWER TO THE KARIGAR SUPPORTED
NATUZZI EDITIONS AT KERF
VIS A VIS
BY JSW
SOMAIYA - A JSW INITIATIVE MCM UNFIRED CLAY CLADDING SCRIPT - A GODREJ VENTURE THOMAS ABRAHAM FOR IDEA DESIGN HOUSE VALCUCINE VVYOM WOODFEATHER
LUXURY PARTNER
HOSPITALIT Y PARTNER
MARBLE PARTNER
Names in alphabetical order
contents 92
WINDOW DRESSING At The
94
WHITE CUBE Sönke Hoof and
100
Khushnu Panthaki Hoof flex their artistic mind to work art and light into the allwhite neutrality of an office and make it the perfect backdrop to host art.
HEADLINE AC T The exclusive Mumbai Art Room makes an empowering statement on urban women’s rights at its annual fundraising benefit. THE FR A ME PROJEC T Nine
designers skirt the edges of convention or step over into experimental territory as they offer their modern versions of the traditional frame.
pg 135
‘Lands, Water, Skies’ (2019-2020), by Nikhil Chopra, artist in residence at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
STEPHANIE BERGER
96
Chanakya in New Delhi, Hermes’s window displays get an artistic update by Sumakshi Singh.
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BEAUTIFUL HOMES TELL BEAUTIFUL STORIES
contents AD x FR A NCESCO CLEMENTE The cover artist’s series of watercolours that meditate on the idea of home.
135
AD x NIKHIL CHOPR A The performance
142
ORGA NIZED CHAOS Author Siddharth
152
artist on his most recent nine-day spell at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Dhanvant Shanghvi’s impressions of an unforgettable encounter with artist Saskia Pintelon, her home and studio in Sri Lanka and how it left him changed. COPACABA NA Niemeyer furniture, Ando
prints, Van der Rohe monographs and a love for all things architecture are the many things that leave an unmistakable impression in the Brazilian
pg 152
ambassador’s Lutyens bungalow.
174
THE CONNOISSEUR Shanth Fernando’s Sri
Lanka home tells a history of the Paradise Road founder’s continuing tryst with design.
192
FR A MEWORK An exposed-concrete home in
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SCOUTS A round-up of some of the best
206
STOCKISTS An A-Z listing of the stores in
208
THE MOOD India Art Fair director Jagdip Jagpal
New Delhi gets elegant interiors, warm colours and cool art under Rajiv Saini’s careful eye. products that you need to own this season. our pages.
on the important things that dot her mood board.
ASHISH SAHI
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CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Ricardo Labougle Neville Sukhia Tom Parker
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hings are rocky at home. My house is upside down. We get on like a house on fire. I immediately related to the five pretty and witty watercolours that Francesco Clemente painted specially for our cover. Oh, how smug I was, that I finally understood art. From this moment on, I thought, I would no longer be confronted by questions, even by the difficult-to-decipher performance art of Nikhil Chopra, but would instead be instilled with instant intellectual critique. Or so I hoped. When Francesco sent his accompanying artist statement, it came in the form of an ancient Sanskrit text, and I was more clueless than ever. When pushed for more clarity, he emailed from New York (the watercolours were painted there, rather than at his Chennai studio), to explain that the covers depicted the teaching of the Atharva Veda, that “architecture is the leftover of an offering”. My smug buzz killed, I was once again an editor out of his depth. I felt at home. This is a special issue not only because of our collaboration with the legendary American-Italian artist who was part of the same movement as his friends Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The houses we feature include some of the finest we have ever published: the Brazilian ambassador’s residence, an impeccably proportioned Lutyens Delhi bungalow decorated with rare Oscar Niemeyer furniture and a jaw-dropping collection of Greek antiquities, is wildly sophisticated in its mix of art, design and family heirlooms; while Paradise Road founder Shanth Fernando’s Colombo townhouse represents a life lived in pursuit of great style, complete with its own three-storey art gallery. Enjoy the issue.
PORTRAIT: R BURMAN.
THE ART ISSUE
contributors
FR ANCESCO CLEMENTE ARTIST
SHOLEEN D A M A R WA L A WRITER
PRIYA KISHORE
Sholeen Damarwala is a New York-based writer whose work has appeared in Al Jazeera, Interior Design Magazine, Vanity Fair Espana, and GQ. In this issue, she writes about the Art + Design Salon in New York, ‘Moulding Ideas’ (pg 88). “It was lovely to learn about how Fernando Casasempere, a Chilean artist, uses clay as a medium to narrate his love for his South American roots.”
Francesco Clemente is a painter who studied architecture in Rome but skipped the final exam and did not graduate. He lives between Chennai, New York and Varanasi. For AD’s Art Issue, Clemente especially created a series of artworks—in ‘AD x Francesco Clemente’ (pg 127)—from his New York studio. He has been a long-time friend and admirer of Ettore Sottsass and he dedicates these artworks to the Italian designer.
JAGDIP J A G PA L
C U R AT O R
D I S N E Y D AV I S A N D NITIN BARCHHA DESIGNERS
For AD’s collaborative ‘The Frame Project’ (pg 100), founders of Material Immaterial, Disney Davis and Nitin Barchha chose to work with a neutral material to keep the focus on the art. “This was a very enjoyable project to design a frame as a prototype, especially because its so different when we’re doing multiples.
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ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST|NOVEMBER 2019
ASHISH SAHI
NEVILLE SUKHIA
COURTESY OF INDIA ART FAIR
London born and bred Jagdip Jagpal relocated to Delhi at 10 days’ notice in August 2017 to take up the position of director at India Art Fair. In this issue, she lets the AD team into her workspace in New Delhi to get a glimpse of her moodboard (pg 208). “These are a few of my favourite things which I have collected and cared for a long, long time.”
V I N C E N T ROY DESIGNER
For the ‘The Frame Project’ (pg 100), Vincent Roy chose to use materials that are typically used in a supporting role. “For our design, we looked at the idea of gold gilded frames and were reminded of the cabinet of curiosities.”
THE SPIRIT OF PROJECT SPAZIO PARTITION WALL SYSTEM, SAIL SLIDING PANELS DESIGN G.BAVUSO
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contributors SA S K I A FER NANDO
RUVIN DE SILVA
WRITER
Saskia Fernando is a gallerist and designer living in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Owner of the Saskia Fernando Gallery, she also works with local craftspeople to design jewellery for her brand Papillon du thé. In this issue, she writes about her father Shanth Fernando’s life-long affair with art in ‘The Connoisseur’ (pg 174). “It has been humbling to look back on my father’s journey as a collector. To encompass so many years in a short text was not easy. I have really tried to share his persona as that is truly how one can enjoy and understand his work.”
MARIEANNE OUDEJANS
SHEKHAR KARAMBELKER
S I D D H A RT H D H A N VA N T SHANGHVI
WRITER
A past contributor to the New York Times and TIME, Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi’s work has been translated into 16 languages. He is author of the international bestseller, The Last Song of Dusk, and a new book, Loss, is forthcoming in 2020. He shares a story on artist Saskia Pintelon in ‘Organized Chaos’ (pg 142). “Pintelon is one of my favourite artists. I wish I could champion her clean and profound talent more.”
Bar Palladio in Jaipur, her first project, served as inspiration for the frame Marie-Anne Oudejans created for ‘The Frame Project’ (pg 100). “This was such an interesting concept. While my team has done frames before, and much more detailed ones, yet to work at a really fast pace, given the deadline, was fun and challenging!”
P R AV I R SETHI
DESIGNER
Wax was the medium of choice for Pravir Sethi of Studio Hinge, when AD approached him for ‘The Frame Project’ (pg 100). “It’s always fun when we’re faced with a new kind of challenge. The idea was interesting, to take something very traditional like a gilt frame and reinterpret in a contemporary way. A lot of our work deals with the same issues as well.”
AMAN KHANNA DESIGNER
New Delhi-based designer Aman Khanna has reinterpreted clay in multiple artistic, human forms. For AD’s Art Issue, he worked in his chosen material to create a frame for ‘The Frame Project’ (pg 100).
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ASHISH SAHI
DESIGNER
ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST|NOVEMBER 2019
contributors
HEMMANT JHA
SUNIL SETHI
DESIGNER
New-Delhi based Sunil Sethi writes about one of the finest homes AD has ever published in ‘Copacabana’ (pg 152). “The Brazilian ambassador’s residence in an elegant Lutyens’ period building, has been turned into the cynosure of diplomatic Delhi by the present occupants, Andre and Beatrice Corrêa do Lago, and their museum-quality treasures, ranging from pre-Common Era antiquities to mid-century modernist furniture and art. A delicious lightness of touch and quirky humour pervades the whole place.”
FABIAN FRANCO
WRITER
B E N I TA FER NANDO
G AYAT R I R ANGACHARI SHAH
WRITER
WRITER
VIKRAM BAWA
A Mumbai-based art writer, Benita Fernando has previously worked with Mint Lounge and Sunday Mid-day. She is currently leading a storytelling project that maps personal experiences of love and loss in Mumbai. In this issue, she previews Goa’s upcoming Serendipity Arts Festival in ‘Serendipity 4.0’ (pg 86). “The festival has both amiably and daringly occupied an important part of the cultural calendar in the subcontinent.”
Goa-based architect and designer, Hemmant Jha runs a furniture company called Honest Structures. For AD’s ‘The Frame Project’ (pg 100), Jha worked with his daughter Leyla, and made a piece with light. “Light is in some ways synonymous with imagery. Everything we see is just light that is reflected. So it seemed fitting to use light itself as a framing device. This project was a lot of fun, especially since I could get my daughter involved!”
A long-time contributing editor and co-author of the book Changemakers: 20 Women Transforming Bollywood Behind the Scenes, Gayatri Rangachari Shah writes about the latest show at Mumbai Art Room (pg 96). “It was fitting to write about Shakuntala’s feminist artistic gaze for the space. The pieces are truly special.”
PÉRO
DESIGNER
For AD’s ‘The Frame Project’ (pg 100), designer Aneeth Arora and her team, in signature style, worked with a floral theme. “We have been working with upcycling clothing and shoes, and the frame project for us was almost like an exercise in that. It was also exciting to engage with a different material other than textiles.”
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photo Emanuele Tortora
table Skorpio Keramik chairs Belinda lamps Phoenix sideboards Tiffany rug Mumbai
The Place we Live
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contributors
EDMUND SUMNER PHOTOGRAPHER
A London-based architectural photographer, Edmund Sumner has been collaborating with leading architects, publishers, editors and curators from around the world since 1998. For AD’s Art Issue, he photographs a Rajiv Saini-designed, art-filled home in New Delhi, in ‘Framework’ (pg 192).
MANN SINGH DESIGNER
For ‘The Frame Project’ (pg 100), Ahmedabad-based designer Mann Singh turned to paper to make his point. “I really enjoyed the inversion of the frame as a space delineator becoming the form holding an imaginary work.”
IRINA U S O VA
PHOTOGRAPHER
Irina Usova is from Russia but feels like “an Indian at heart”, after she’s been in the country for almost 10 years now. Her work ranges across fashion, beauty, product and interiors. In this issue, she shoots ‘The Mood’ for curator Jagdip Jagpal (pg 208). “It was a unique experience shooting something so personal and individual. Jagdip’s moodboard was such a reflection of her person.”
A S H I S H SA H I PHOTOGRAPHER
Ashish Sahi has been with AD India since its launch, and in addition to his duties as art director, is now also the magazine’s eye-about-town as its busiest photographer. For this issue, he photographed art collector Shanth Fernando’s fabulous Colombo home (pg 174), Belgian artist Saskia Pintelon’s Tadao-Ando designed home and studio in Colombo (pg 142) and Brazallian ambassador to India, Andre Corrêa do Lago’s New Delhi residence (pg 152).
N I S H A MAT H EW DESIGNER
For ‘The Frame Project’ (pg 100), architect and designer Nisha Mathew played with wood to create a special frame for AD. “It was fun re-imagining the wall itself to become a holder of art!”
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PHOTO: AYESHA AMBREEN AND SAIF FAISAL DESIGN WORKSHOP.
OUR ROUND-UP FROM THE FRONT LINE OF DESIGN: TRENDS, OBJECTS, STYLE, EVENTS
discoverIES
a`UÉ G VËSe Solid, hard concrete is given an almost fluid character in this collection of everyday objects by product designer Saif Faisal, founder of his eponymous design workshop. Perfect additions for the desk or dresser, the collection comprises the ‘Fibonacci’ trays and two ‘Extrude’ desk organizers, all made with high-strength concrete produced by Nuance Studio. “We deliberately introduced air bubbles during the production to bring about character in what is usually an opaque flat material,” says Faisal.
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hen you walk into the 18,000-square-foot showroom of Thomas Goode & Co on Mayfair’s South Audley Street in London, you experience that archetypal moment of silence that comes from seeing something of breathtaking beauty and fascinating history. Founded in 1827, Thomas Goode has been crafting fine china and glassware for British (and Indian) royalty. It showed at the 1889 Great Exhibition in Paris, has been granted royal warrants by Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince of Wales, and there are tales of founder William Goode’s voyages across high seas to deliver to clients; a clientele that in later years included rock stars like Elton John, who is known to be an obsessive collector. That’s the kind of historic storytelling that serendipitously draws a Sabyasachi towards collaboration. And Johnny Sandelson, who took over Thomas Goode as chairman in 2018, in turn found “something special” about the iconic designer’s talent. “When I saw
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Sabya’s work for the first time, I found it so authentic. I thought if somehow we can translate that ingenuity and flare and vision into the production of tableware, that would be splendid,” he says. The company opened its first boutique in India earlier this year at the Oberoi in Mumbai—in partnership with Malvika Poddar. Sabyasachi came on board to create an exclusive wedding trousseau collection and it is, in signature style, a representation of nostalgia, craftsmanship and timeless beauty. The designer, as he tells us, has had a lifelong love for tea sets and he goes back to his earliest memories to draw inspiration from. “I remember, as children, we would take train journeys to Puri in Orissa. It used to be our annual beach holiday, and in that sweltering summer heat, my mother would carry her tea set with a tea cosy in a basket. In the train compartment itself, she would make her own tea with Darjeeling leaves. That was her ritual. I >
TEXT: KOMAL SHARMA. PHOTO COURTESY OF SABYASACHI X THOMAS GOODE.
ra itis tion h fi bet ne ween chin In a br dia’s mo and r e n g and s i t s makes -loved fashion de delight for a true tabletop
fascinated with her collection of porcelain ever since,” he says. The collection for Thomas Goode, hand-rendered by 43 artists from the Sabyasachi Art Foundation, is in fact inspired by his home city: “Calcutta and its decadent, wistful, slightly whimsical cultural traits.” The collection features motifs like the Bengal tiger, roses and other flora and fauna. “There are some quirky additions like the wide stripes you often see on upholstered sofas in classic British homes,” he says. While nostalgia has informed the Sabyasachi aesthetic whether it’s in textiles or jewellery or dinnerware, this time it’s the coming together of English and Indian nostalgia. In a rose madder colour with delicate gold ornamentation, one patterned dinnerplate rests on another with a slim outline of a coconut tree, as if drawn out of a miniature painting. There is a precious luxury to this collection, and while it is meant to be part of a bridal trousseau, Sabyasachi is a proponent of luxury in the everyday. “While this is a kind of family heirloom that should be handed down from generation to generation, I do believe it must be enjoyed every day—let it chip, let it crack but allow it to add to your memories,” he says. “My friend Meeta, who has taught me so much about luxury, always says that she won’t mind having tea in a chipped cup but it has to be the finest china, never a mug,” he adds. Storytelling is at the heart of the Sabyasachi brand and it certainly comes instinctively to the designer himself. Earlier last
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month, as we sat in the private dining room tucked away in the sprawling Thomas Goode store in London, eating and drinking out of fine china, surrounded by archival pieces and their often absurd histories, he left us with another serendipitous thought: “When people go to Buckingham Palace, I imagine they must be looking all around them at all things royal and beautiful, but I find myself looking specially at the china. I think I might have been seeking such a collaboration, and that is why it has come to me. Isn’t it Rumi who said, what you seek also seeks you?”
PHOTO COURTESY OF SABYASACHI X THOMAS GOODE.
< have been
www.baxter.it
TEXT: RAJASHREE BALARAM. PHOTO COURTESY OF OBEETEE.
Q >Q 56 0E/vE Raghavendra Rathore, a couturier of royal lineage, and Obeetee, the world-renowned carpetmakers with deep history, come together in a memorable collaboration for the brand’s Proud to be Indian collection
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esigner Raghavendra Rathore took all of four years to complete Obeetee’s 2019 Proud To Be Indian collection that is set to be launched next month. (The brand has previously collaborated with designers Tarun Tahiliani and Abraham & Thakore as well for a line-up of creations expressed in their distinct sensibilities for the same collection.) In a world thriving on instant turnarounds, Rathore’s prolonged contemplation on design and material is a class act of defiance, even an unfaltering refusal to rush a labour of love. And this collection embodies all the old-world aesthetics and regal grandeur that’s been long familiar to Rathore, a member of Jodhpur’s royal family. Since 2015, Rathore and Obeetee’s design team have been devouring references on history, culture, architecture, embroidery and choice of colours favoured by royalty. One of the concepts include carpets with over 90 per cent silk yarn, their shine deepened with gold and silver washes. “I have experimented with paisleys, asymmetrical designs and unusual patterns that echo the past to create unique design sensibilities,” says Rathore, whose uncompromising standards are a matching
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fit for Obeetee—the company’s carpets fetch a premium because they come invested with a rare calibre of effort that would remind you of legends of artisans of yore. In fact, a group of five weavers have been busy working on one carpet for six years now. HISTORY ROLLS AROUND One of the oldest handwoven-carpet companies in the world, and the largest in India, Obeetee is based at Gopiganj in Mirzapur, a dusty, sun-baked town on the banks of the Ganges between Allahabad and Varanasi. The looms that weave Obeetee carpets are spread around several villages surrounding the company’s massive factory, where the creations are then brought in to undergo a slew of processes, from shearing and contouring to washing and packing. “Some of our carpets are woven in Pakistan, Nepal and Rajasthan, as the artisanal expertise required is exclusive to the weavers hailing from these regions,” explains Makarand Mehendale, vice president, technical department. The geographical spread reflected in Obeetee’s diversity of designs has its roots in Mirzapur’s history. Four centuries ago, carpet traders from Central Asia traversed the Grand Trunk Road that snakes >
PHOTO COURTESY OF OBEETEE.
< through the town. According to native lore, a bunch of
traders were once engulfed by the floods brought in by the swollen Ganges. The few who survived were sheltered by indigo farmers who lived off the land. The traders later helped them set up looms and Mirzapur soon flourished into the carpet capital of India, catering initially to kings and nobles. When FH Oakley, FH Bowden and JAL Taylor formed Obeetee in 1920, they got all the weavers in the region under one mantle in order to help them reach out to an international market. The brand’s strength lies in the way it defines selfreliance—a majority of the weavers operate out of looms placed in their neighbourhoods, even their own courtyards, and retain the freedom to be both farmers and weavers. While 97 per cent of the weavers are men, in 2015, Obeetee flagged off a Women’s Weaving programme that has by now trained over 1,600 women. SPINNING A YARN The company has a huge customer base for hand-tufted and flat-weave carpets, but their hand-knotted range is among the most coveted in the world. Hand-knotting is a complex skill (the most premium carpets could have up to 425 knots in one square inch), and on an average, each weaver is expected to accomplish 6,000 to 9,000 knots a day depending on the intricacy. Designs evolve from a coalescing of ideas by in-house designers and buyers from different continents, who translate market trends and demands into mood boards. More than 6,000 designs are churned out every year; the selected ones are worked
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into a naksha, which is a master framework of colourful blocks. Weavers commit large chunks of it to memory, digging into craftsmanship and mathematical calculations. Great care is taken to match the shade of wool to the colours on the naksha. In its cavernous colour bank, Obeetee stores dyed yarns in thousands of shades. Every person in the supply chain, which includes loom inspectors, weavers, dyers, marketing teams and the designers, is expected to undergo a colour-recognition test annually. “Carpets that may have taken several months for completion have been rejected by our team when they spotted a tiny flaw,” says Mehendale. Such artistic rigour is not without its share of social responsibility. Obeetee has developed proprietary technology that has reduced water consumption by half; invested in a water-effluent plant that provides clean water to irrigate surrounding farms; and uses rice husk instead of oil or coal as fuel to produce steam for dyeing. As demand is always greater than supply in the carpet industry, one could naturally wonder if new technological innovations may eventually elbow out the manual skill involved. Rudra Chatterjee, managing director, puts it succinctly, “The rising influence of technology and machinery has only made the world recognize the unparalleled beauty of handmade things. Heritage crafts will only endure with time, if we protect it— which we intend to do. Raghavendra Rathore’s creations for the Proud To Be Indian collection is set to launch in December 2019.
TEXT: TYREL RODRICKS. PHOTO: IWAN BAAN/ COURTESY OF CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL.
0FPE /Â&#x2013;I @ The third edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial presents a series of exhibits, centred on the theme â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;...and other such storiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, that spark conversations for change
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t a panel discussion, a hypothetical question was posed to the curatorial team of the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB): â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you had to curate an art biennial using the same theme [of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;...and other such storiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;], would it have been any different?â&#x20AC;? This ideaâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;of architecture being a secondary or tertiary element in an architecture biennialâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;surfaced on more than one occasion as the media toured the primary and off-site locations of the biennial. It also served as a lens through which this writer viewed each exhibit. The curatorial team of this edition comprises artistic director Yesomi Umolu, and co-curators Sepake Angiama and Paulo Tavares. Umolu is the director and curator, Logan Centre Exhibitions at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago. Angiama, who is a curator and educator based in Europe, previously served as the head of education for Documenta 14 held in Germany and Greece, and prior to that, as the head of education at Manifesta 10 in St Petersburg. Based in BrasĂlia, Tavares is an architect and professor of architecture and urbanism at the University of BrasĂlia. Leading up to the opening on 19 September, the curatorial team spent months researching and travelling around the world to create a biennial that would showcase architectureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own inďŹ&#x201A;uences and
also its impact. Beyond architect and client, beyond the community in which it operates, beyond the built environment, and in the shadow of the behemoths that crowd the city that was home to the ďŹ rst steel-frame skyscraper (Home Insurance Building, 1885). Using their research, the team structured their theme of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;...and other such storiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; into four frames, outlined in their curatorial statement. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;No Land Beyondâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;reďŹ&#x201A;ects on landscapes of belonging and sovereignty that challenge narrow deďŹ nitions of land as property and commodityâ&#x20AC;?. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Appearances and Erasuresâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; explores spaces as sites of memories and the politics of remembering or forgetting the history of a site. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Rights and Reclamationsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; delves into the rights of humans and nature in a space and the practices that highlight the same. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Common Groundâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; showcases the people invested in the development of public spacesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;â&#x20AC;&#x153;within and beyond the ďŹ eld of architectureâ&#x20AC;?. CENTRE OF ATTENTION Central to the CAB is the Chicago Cultural Centre (CCC), where visitors get their ďŹ rst experiences of the Biennial. On 19 September, the doors of the CCC opened to reveal ďŹ&#x201A;oor upon ďŹ&#x201A;oor of exhibits by architects, designers, professors and social thinkers from around the world. In the lobby at the entrance on Randolph Street, a >
PHOTO: KENDALL MCCAUGHERTY/COURTESY OF CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL.
The Gun Violence Memorial Project (2019) by MASS Design Group and Hank Willis Thomas.
< series of four small, glass workers’ cottages comprise the first installation many visitors will see: The Gun Violence Memorial Project. MASS Design Group, an architecture and design collective, collaborated with artist Hank Willis Thomas and the organizations Purpose Over Pain and Everytown for Gun Safety to create this memorial to victims of gun violence. Each cottage is a frame of transparent ‘bricks’ that hold remembrance objects—collected during a series of workshops with victims’ families. Using an architectural form that Chicago is known for—the worker’s cottage—the collaborative has created a powerful, poignant installation that humanizes the victims of gun violence. Further ahead, on the ground floor, is one of the three Indian exhibits on display this year: RMA Architects’ installation, titled Sanitation and Equity. One of the larger installations at the cultural centre, it uses visualized data, journals, and on-site photos and films to “represent the crisis of sanitation both globally and within India and Mumbai, with the intent of propelling a rethinking of the issue”. Dissecting the topic into four parts—‘Sanitation Inequity in the World’, ‘The Ecology of Sanitation’, ‘Sanitation Inequity in India and Mumbai’, and ‘Sanitation in Film’—principal architects Rahul Mehrotra and Nondita Correa Mehrotra have constructed an exhibit that urges discourse on a necessary, but often ignored subject. From floor to floor, visitors will spot a series of panels that highlight instances of settler colonialism. These site-specific interventions together form Decolonizing the Chicago Cultural Centre, a 60|
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“decolonized reading of the building and the city of Chicago”, by the Settler Colonial City Project, a research collective founded by architects Ana María León and Andrew Herscher. This and the other exhibits that highlight injustices towards the indigenous populations of the city of Chicago convey one of the core messages of the biennial (‘Rights and Reclamations’), and also acknowledge the Native American tribes on whose land Chicago stands today. One exhibit that aims to tackle more contemporary issues— rapid gentrification and the inequitable distribution of real estate—is by the FICA Fund. Operating in São Paulo, Brazil, FICA crowdsources the purchase of apartments in the city’s downtown area, and provides these residences to families in need. In their exhibit at the cultural centre, FICA recreates the layout of their apartment, and provides a real overview of how an average middle-class family can benefit from this crowdsourced initiative. OUTSIDE THE PURVIEW Besides its main collection of exhibits, the CAB has partnered with institutions around the city—like the Chicago Architecture Centre, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago—and also set up off-site locations that introduce visitors to the best new initiatives in Chicago. Among the latter is the former Anthony Everton Elementary School in the Bronzeville neighbourhood of South Side. Designed by architecture firm Perkins and Will in 1963, the school was decommissioned in 2013—one of 49 that the city >
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Sanitation and Equity (2019) by RMA Architects. Below: Three Trees: Jackson, Obama, Washington (2019) by Walter Hood.
NECESSARY PROVISIONS Despite any reservations one might have about the curators’ intent and execution, what is striking is how successful they have been in adhering to a theme that reflects an awareness of the zeitgeist. In a year that continues to see disenfranchised citizens around the world rise up against biased systems and corrupt governments, the need for such awareness and discourse is more prevalent now than ever before. The curatorial team asks in an essay published in the biennial journal: “Can architecture be conceived of as a discipline that extends beyond finite built forms, an ever-evolving practice concerned with the constant making and remaking of social space?” Their answers lay spread citywide in installations, displays, and presentations that ask its viewers to remember the connection that architecture has always shared with the world in which it operates. Through art, structural experiments or social movements, what the curatorial team has expressed in this biennial is that the ideas, concepts or stories attached to a structure are often stronger than the foundation itself. The Chicago Architecture Biennial will be on till 5 January 2020.
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PHOTO: KENDALL MCCAUGHERTY/COURTESY OF CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL.
< shuttered over a period of time. Through the efforts of urban design studio Borderless, and president and CEO of the Emerald South Economic Development Collaborative, Ghian Foreman (who is also the building’s new owner), this former school is the site for some thoughtprovoking art interventions. After the biennial, it will be redeveloped into an entrepreneurship centre. Among the notable interventions are Polish artist Zorka Wollny’s Overtone Hive, an audio installation, and studioBASAR’s Breaking Ground: The Schoolyard Workshops. Through a series of recordings of children’s voices that are played in the corridor and a classroom, Zollny hopes to recreate “the physical memory of the building and a collective memory of the community surrounding it”. For studioBASAR’s intervention, they collaborated with students from two schools to transform the playground into a space for the community—to be built by the studio during the run of the biennial.
In One Sitting The latest offering from one of India’s largest business conglomerates is a slim, steel chair from their brand Forma
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TEXT: DIVYA MISHRA. PHOTO: SARANG GUPTA.
he idea behind this chair was to create a modern interpretation of the people’s chair,” says Tarini Jindal Handa, Managing Director, Forma. The brand from the JSW Group was launched early this year and focuses on contemporary steel furniture, with the aim of “providing >
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PHOTO: SARANG GUPTA.
< function, quality, design and value with sustainability”. The chair it hopes to unseat, in a manner of speaking, is the monobloc—the one-piece, polypropylene plastic, injectionmoulded chair that is as ubiquitous as it is reviled, for, perhaps, good reason. The monobloc was designed (to use the term loosely) in the 1970s, primarily for easy manufacturing. While its makers (unknown, since no one stepped up to take either credit, or blame) ensured that it was lightweight, weatherproof and easily stackable, aesthetics or environmental concerns never really entered the picture. This Forma chair, then, carries two often contradictory legacies on its slender frame—the first, to retain the monobloc’s characteristic high functionality, ease of use and low cost; and the second, to fashion it such that it addresses both environmental and aesthetic concerns. Since the JSW Group was founded on steel, all of Forma’s products build their design around this alloy. For this chair as well, Handa says the brief was “to use steel as a core material and come 66|
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up with a light, affordable and inviting form”. Now, with its powder-coated steel frame, this piece addresses issues of strength and lightness head on; that it is also easily stackable is a nod to its user-friendly design. Aesthetic-wise, it combines an elegant sparseness that is almost Japanese in its approach, with a Bauhausian focus on harmony between form and function. Handa describes its curved tubular frame as “soft, almost maternal” but what it also is, is extremely light—courtesy its raw material’s inherent qualities of malleability and ductility; few other materials lend themselves this easily to this kind of shaping. Work began on the chair in June this year, and the finished product was ready in four months. Available in multiple colour and seat options, this slim, sturdy, user-friendly chair is, at `1,600 plus taxes, as easy on the pocket as it is on the eye; a chair that addresses aesthetic, ergonomic, economic and environmental concerns—and you don’t even have to get up for it.
0a [YZr /SrGq With his ‘Monolith’ lamp, designer Nikhil Paul puts a Tantra-inspired spin on an aesthetic that is as spare as it is sculptural
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variations), it is, as Paul describes, “an exercise in reduction”. Unlike the studio’s previous designs that have featured small but intricate details, ‘Monolith’ focuses on form and materiality, and their interaction with function. “We wanted the form to be as close as possible to its inspiration,” he says. Now, like in the lingam, a lathe-spun metallic dome sits atop a metal column that has been simply scored and folded, with no effort made to hide its construction. It is simple and subtle in its obviousness. The material and construction, in fact, give the form a deeper sense of sculptural integrity. When switched on, the light flows from the inside of the dome, and spills down the column, interacting with the surface finish of the lamp. “That’s what decides the quality of light, which I thought was very exciting,” Paul says. ‘Monolith’ is available as a table or floor lamp, with small and large options for the table version—all of which come on with a flick of a switch, fusing light and sculpture, method and material, and modern and primordial.
TEXT: DIVYA MISHRA. PHOTO: SV PHOTOGRAPHIC.
f all the activities an exploration of tantra inspires, experiments in contemporary lighting might be some of the most unexpected. But since 2018, when he first read The Art of Tantra, by the late artist and educator Philip Rawson, Nikhil Paul, founder of design studio Paul Matter, has been doing just that. But such explorations are not unprecedented; in fact, in this, Paul follows in the footsteps of icons like Ettore Sottsass and, more recently, Indian designers and architects like Divya Thakur (of Design Temple) and Ashiesh Shah. ‘Monolith’ was actually the first design in this series, but the ‘God’ and ‘Goddess’ sconces (featured in AD’s March-April 2019 issue) were the first products launched. Made in brass, they featured sinuously intertwined, slim, curvy metallic tubes. The ‘Monolith’ lamp, on the other hand, is more on the sturdy side. Fashioned out of a single spun-metal dome (available in brass, bronze, patinated copper and other
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EÊ 0 B6 I 0 A curated collection of design for the
home
STYLIST MITALEE MEHTA
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1. ‘Cerine’ single pendant light by Josh Metersky and Aiden Bowman, `2,00,710, Trueing. 2. ‘Heart Of Torajans’ carpet (7x5 feet) from the Ikat collection, `65,000, The Carpet Cellar. 3. ‘Aerial’ bar stool, `23,430, Script. 4. ‘Volubile’ low table, limited edition of 40, Hervé Van der Straeten.
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1. ‘Southern Indian Prabhavallis’, `1,18,300, Souk. 2. ‘Lotus Bloom’ rug (8-foot diameter), from the Jaipur Wunderkammer collection by Matteo Cibic, `1,00,800, Jaipur Rugs. 3. ‘Amerigo’ coffee table by Giorgio Cattelan, starting at `51,200, Cattelan Italia. 4. ‘New Bond’ padded bench (MOP6), by Matteo Nunziati, `1,82,000, Flou. 72|
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1. ‘Ricky’ hand-knotted rug from the A Point collection by Florian Pretet, Atelier Fevrier. 2. ‘Eugene (Contemporary Colour)’ wall sconce, Preciosa. 3. ‘Serena’ low-back lounge chair, by Lievore Altherr Molina, Andreu World. 4. ‘TGEH’ console, The Great Eastern Home.
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1. ‘Madame Verdoux’ cabinet, from the Vanilla Noir collection by Matteo Cibic, `9,64,535, Scarlet Splendour. 2. ‘Tracks 1’ rug (8x6 feet), from the Tracks collection by Thierry Betancourt, ILO Rugs. 3. ‘Expose’ side table, `42,450, BoConcept. 4. ‘Edric’ chair in white ashwood, `60,350, Sarita Handa. For details, see Stockists 76|
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ROSHINI VADEHRA, PARUL VADEHRA, NADIA SAMDANI, TARANA SAWHNEY, AD EDITOR GREG FOSTER, KIRAN NADAR, PRATEEK RAJA, DEEPANJANA KLEIN
CHLOE VAITSOU
E 0 Qu ;B B 02E 0 P5 p /v E Earlier this year, Kolkata played host to a threeday event that celebrated Experimenter Gallery’s decade-long commitment to visual art. With a series of talks, a guided walk and musical performances across the city, the weekend also saw the opening of a group exhibition. To mark the occasion, founders Prateek and Priyanka Raja launched Experimenter Outpost, an initiative that promises to take exhibitions outside the gallery space and inhabit shuttered, unused and abandoned places across the world.
KIRAN NADAR, TARANA SAWHNEY
JOSHUA GIRI
NANDITA RAJA, BICKRAM GHOSH, PRATEEK AND PRIYANKA RAJA; (SEATED) USHA UTHUP, JAYA SEAL GHOSH
DIPTI KULKARNI
SHIVANI KANDHARI
NOELLE KADAR, MOHOR MUKHERJEE
PHOTOS: VIVIAN SARKY/COURTESY OF EXPERIMENTER.
DEBANJAN AND DEBNITA CHAKRABARTI
DESIGN WITH A DIFFERENCE Incorporate bespoke furniture from interior solutions brand FTS by Sharmilee to ensure your space—be it personal or professional, is transformed Moved into your new house and looking to decorate with a few bespoke pieces that will add aesthetic value to your space? Look no further than FTS by Sharmilee—a luxury brand delivering cutting-edge solutions for your interiors. Known for their exquisite furniture designs, supreme craftsmanship and timely delivery, this brand redefines product and
space design. Founded a decade ago by Sharmilee Chopra, FTS by Sharmilee employs state-of-the-art German technology to offer you unique design solutions. While select furniture pieces definitely lend an opulent touch to your space, artwork, be it original or inexpensive, adds an altogether different dimension. And to offer you a one-stop shop solution to all your interior woes, FTS by Sharmilee collaborates with art galleries, artists and designers to work cohesively, all so that you get more bang for your buck! Their latest collection of furniture, titled Legacy, draws from countless years of personal experiences and keen expertise.
The result? A space that’s a seamless extension of your personality! And if you’re the kind of person who prefers to be personally involved in the process, rest assured, you will be taken through every step along the way whilst having one-on-one access to the factory and the designers. What’s more, the assembly is always carried out by specialised personnel, guaranteeing the perfect completion of the project, with precise installation—from start to finish. For more information, visit www.ftsbysharmilee.com or follow @ftsbysharmilee on Instagram and Facebook
NANDITA RAJA, SUJOY PRASAD CHATTERJEE
DIPTI KULKARNI, DEBLEENA SEN CHADHA
RAJEEB AND NADIA SAMDANI
SHAAN SHAHANI
ANURAG TYAGI, PRIYANKA RAJA, GREG FOSTER
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DEEPANJANA KLEIN, TARANA SAWHNEY
TM KRISHNA
KISHORE AND RITA BHIMANI
NEHA ARYA, PRATEEK RAJA, ANKUR KULKARNI
USHA UTHUP, BICKRAM GHOSH
PHOTOS: VIVIAN SARKY/COURTESY OF EXPERIMENTER.
PRABHAKAR PACHPUTE, JULIEN SEGARD
PARUL VADEHRA, TARANA SAWHNEY
THE ART ISSUE
UNTITLED (1974) BY VS GAITONDE. IMAGE COURTESY OF SOTHEBY’S.
CREATING, COLLECTING AND LIVING WITH MASTERPIECES
It’s an exciting time for the Indian art world. Nikhil Chopra is officially the new Marina Abramovic, but without the tears, after moving into the Met in New York for a nine-day performance on the invitation of curator Shanay Jhaveri. Sotheby’s is about to embark on its second sale ever in India, led by the VS Gaitonde on the left, though we’ll be bidding for the Bhupen Khakhar airmchairs. Kiran Nadar has commissioned David Adjaye to design her new contemporary art museum, which breaks ground next year. And there are rumours of further private foundations by the likes of Frank Gehry et al. Our annual art issue celebrates all this and more.
TEXT: RITUPRIYA BASU. PHOTO COURTESY OF SOTHEBY’S.
_U [q r[er Sotheby’s second auction in Mumbai unveils many surprises—including a pair of armchairs that came out of Bhupen Khakhar’s lesser-known experiments with furniture
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s an artist, Bhupen Khakhar was never limited by the mediums he chose to work with; in fact, they served as testament to the versatility that came so easily to this self-taught artist, who only began studying art at the age of 38. While much of his oeuvre consists of works on canvas, paper and the occasional experiments with ceramics, the collages with which he first made his name in the art world remain one of Khakhar’s rarest art forms. In its second auction in Mumbai, titled ‘Boundless: India’, Sotheby’s presents a Khakhar endeavour that’s rarer still—two armchairs, with painted upholstery. “Presented for the first time at an auction, these two incredible armchairs from the estate of Bhupen Khakhar are considered to be one of the few pieces of furniture that Khakhar created for his home in Baroda,” says Shivajirao Gaekwar, deputy director and India specialist at Sotheby’s. “By integrating everyday household objects like these chairs [in his practice], Khakhar elevates them to objects equivalent to fine art, or functional sculpture in this case.” Manufactured and upholstered locally in Vadodara with fabric chosen by the artist, the armchairs became a canvas for Khakhar’s idiosyncratic common man, instantly recognizable by his steely gaze. The men painted on the chairs recall his series of
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works dedicated to tradesmen—the barbers, tailors and watchmenders he encountered in his daily life. The armchairs, along with several watercolours, oil paintings, mixed-media collages and ceramics form a body of priceless Khakhar artworks that highlight his exploration of the mundane and the imagined. ‘Boundless: India’ is also led by a never-seen-before artwork by VS Gaitonde that takes us back to India in the 1970s; a time of unfettered experimentation, and great leaps in science and technology. Gaitonde’s Untitled (1974) was created when India was at the threshold of the space and atomic age. This telling artwork features five planet-like orbs suspended in space, while the vertical canvas, broadly divided into horizontal swathes of ochre and bronze, is reminiscent of the horizon. Also in the auction are some rare architectural drawings by Ditchburn, Mistri & Bhedwar—the firm behind a number of Mumbai’s early-20th-century art deco buildings—along with artworks by FN Souza, Amrita Sher-Gil, Sadanand Bakre and Prodosh Dasgupta. With their second auction in Mumbai, Sotheby’s offers connoisseurs a glimpse into India’s recent past through the eyes of its most perceptive artists. The ‘Boundless: India’ sale is on 15 November at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Colaba, Mumbai; the exhibition opens to the public on 14 November.
THE ART OF LIVING STYLISHLY! Whether you’re on the hunt for the perfect housewarming gift or décor items that spell opulence, luxury décor brand Arnaya has a range of exquisite pieces that are perfect for the festive season
CANDELABRA These delicately designed Moroccan culture-inspired candle stands are perfect for cosy winter evenings. The uniquely shaped candle stands have a circular hollow inside the frame that holds a cavity for the candles to be placed in.
CASCADING BOOKENDS Quite like the name, this set of bookends is inspired by cascading waterfalls. The rocky edges are moulded to form a semi-circle on either side while the brown geometric strip signifies the water sliding over them. This set of bookends is ideal for book lovers and bibliophiles.
EIRA WINE RACK The Eira Wine rack, with perfectly shaped cavities to hold both glasses and bottles, is the best thing to gift for the friend who likes sipping on their glass of Pinot or Chardonnay. This piece is inspired by a frozen lake in which the snow and water merge together.
THE WINGED BOOKENDS With its minimalistic design, this colourful set of bookends is visually engaging along with being ergonomically efficient. Created by fusing two geometric shapes, one side of the piece resembles the flat side of a book, while the other side has a sloped surface.
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TEXT: BENITA FERNANDO. IMAGE COURTESY OF SAHIL NAIK/ EXPERIMENTER, KOLKATA AND THE SERENDIPITY ART FESTIVAL 2019.
BËÉ`V[b[rl ¨ The fourth edition of Serendipity Arts Festival in Panjim, Goa aims to be expansive yet rooted
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he fourth edition of the Serendipity Arts Festival (SAF)— which starts on 15 December in Panjim—will have twice as many projects, according to festival director Smriti Rajgarhia. Some of the exhibitions build upon the themes of preceding years, allowing the festival to unfold like a multi-part story with each edition. Such is the case with interdisciplinary artist Ravi Agarwal, one of the photography curators at SAF this year. For the previous edition, Agarwal had curated ‘Intimate Documents’, an exhibition of photographic practices that use the camera for personal, confessional narratives. This year, Agarwal brings ‘Imagined Documents’, where photographs construct reality rather than represent documentarian truth. Agarwal hopes that his curation will show “photography as an expanded language”. The eight photographers picked by Agarwal have strong social content. Sharbendu De, for instance, presents a series he made at a remote village on the Myanmar border. Agarwal focuses on the Wonderland-like quality and the rudimentary lighting of De’s series, which culminate in “imaginary scenes of the village people’s desires with their landscapes”. Agarwal is also curating a series by Goan artist Sahil Naik in ‘Urban Reimagined 2.0’, which will be shown at the promenade along the Mandovi River. In the series—which will include works
like Portraits of Home/Exit Wounds (pictured)—Naik will resurrect history, going back to 1977-78, when a number of Goan villages were submerged to create the Salaulim Dam. The exhibition intends to tie in with SAF’s continued interest in public spaces and urban environments. In the same vein, St+art India—the not-for-profit organization that’s transformed India’s urban landscape through its public art projects—will repeat their takeover of Panjim’s streets, with a new set of public art experiences. SAF hosts important practices from South Asia, commenting on notions of homelands, cultural exchanges and the diaspora— themes that are at the heart of the Goan experience. Rajgarhia says that SAF’s visual arts category this year will explore the connection between invention and creativity as well. Artist Sudarshan Shetty is curating an as-yet-untitled exhibition that will take a closer look at indigenous technology that arises out of real needs and is made with minimal resources. Visitors can expect to find Amogh Sahaje’s Hundred Suns, a cooking apparatus made of small mirrors to harness solar energy, and Chandra Bhan Prasad’s temple to Angrezi Devi, or the goddess of English, in this exhibition. Serendipity is all set to present its most ambitious edition yet. The Serendipity Arts Festival will run across venues in Panjim, Goa from 15 to 22 December. Entry is free.
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TEXT: SHOLEEN DAMARWALA. PHOTO COURTESY OF ADRIAN SASSOON, LONDON.
/4 0 uB As the eighth edition of the Salon Art + Design opens at the epic Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan, looks at London-based Chilean artist Fernando Casasempere’s abstract sculptures
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he Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan is a spectacular space with its 140-year-old history as a military armoury and more recently, a cultural institution holding some of the most stunning performing and fine art exhibitions. This month, it is home to the Salon Art + Design fair, where 56 art galleries from 14 countries will be presenting contemporary art and design in the charming, historic rooms. Part of this showcase is a 95-kilogram clay sculpture by London-based Chilean artist Fernando Casasempere. Folded Organic Form (pictured) is part of a series of four sculptures that the artist—who is represented by British gallery Adrian Sassoon—created earlier this year in his sunlit studio in Hackney Wick. Each piece is sublimely connected to the other, sinuously bending like a dance company, although Casasempere’s intention is for them to convey their own individual narrative. “Yes, they are beautiful together, but I also like that they have their own life and soul to communicate this primordial, almost ritualistic quality about them,” says Casasempere. The free-standing sculptural pieces originated from humble beginnings—a big balloon of clay that was physically manipulated and shaped by Casasempere using the weight of his arms and legs to mould the piece into curvaceous forms. Casasempere spent close to three months mixing the clay sourced from industrial leftovers in his
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ongoing attempt to find an artistic solution for material otherwise considered waste. “When I moved to London in 1997 from Chile, I brought close to 17 tones of my own clay and then later 22 tones because it was part of my talk about the environment and reflected the colour of my continent,” he says. “But since 2005, I have been using European clay to honour the place where I now live and the colour and texture represents my journey as an artist.” Once the clay was ready, Casasempere spent another eight months moulding it into its current shape—closed at the top but hollow on the inside, as if challenging the viewer to dig deeper than the superficial. “Beauty is a complex word; but as an artist, I have the constant need to conceal a brutal presence in my pieces that ignite a dialogue between the material and my concerns with the environment.” While his previous work has been displayed at several public spaces in both Chile and Britain as well as museums around the world, this is the first time Casasempere’s sculpture will be displayed at the Salon Art + Design fair in New York. “In a big city, with big noise, if I can give viewers a few minutes of silence to think about their place in the world, then I think my work is done,” he says. “What more can an artist ask for?” Salon Art + Design runs from 14 to 18 November at the Park Avenue Armory, Manhattan.
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TEXT: RITUPRIYA BASU. PHOTO COURTESY OF EILEEN AND IM PEI FAMILY ARCHIVE.
4eĂ&#x2039; aX EĂ&#x2030;SehĂ&#x2030;e Eileen and IM Peiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wide-ranging art collection, which provides a telling reďŹ&#x201A;ection of their life, goes to auction at Christieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
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orld-renowned architect IM Pei and his wife Eileen lived their lives enveloped by the art they thoughtfully gathered during their 72-year marriageâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; a collection that will be sold through an auction hosted by Christieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in the ďŹ rst half of the month in New York. (The preceding months saw two auctions as well, one in Paris and the other, Hong Kong.) To the Peis, this was more than just an aesthetic assemblage of iconic pieces by groundbreaking artists; these paintings, drawings and sculptures were imagined by some of their closest friends, which included the likes of Barnett Newman, Jean Dubuffet, Zao Wou-Ki and Franz Kline. Ranging from Chinese paintings to Dutch-American abstract expressionism, the coupleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collection hinted at Eileen Peiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strong curatorial eye, honed while studying art and landscape architecture at Wellesley College, as well as their congenital connection to China, their country of birth. IM Peiâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;famed for creating the Louvre pyramid in Parisâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;believed that the best way to keep his imagination perennially sharpened was to surround himself and his family with friends of equal talent and creativity. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Great artists need great clients,â&#x20AC;? he once remarked; and yet, always more of a comrade than a client, his friendship often inspired the artists to leave little handwritten jottings along with
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their works. Henry Moore, for instance, once left a note underneath his sculpture Reclining Figure (1983) that simply read, â&#x20AC;&#x153;For my good friend IM Peiâ&#x20AC;?. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; collection is a personal reďŹ&#x201A;ection of how they lived. No matter which country we travelled to, they always seemed to have friends, many of whom were artists, architects, gallerists and museum directors, always ready to welcome them,â&#x20AC;? remembers the coupleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s daughter, Liane. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My parents cherished these friendships. Even when these friends were far away, it never felt like that. We lived with their art every day and so they were always present.â&#x20AC;? Featuring pioneering works like Untitled 4 (1950) and Untitled 5 (1950) by Newman, Dubuffetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s La Brouette (The Wheelbarrow) and 27.3.70 by Zao, every piece from the collection presents a unique perspective into the artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s practice: the bold, almost architectural Untitled (1955) by Kline captures his energetic and dramatic approach to the abstract form through the gestural sweeps of pigment across the canvas. Forever intertwined with the history of the Peis, each of these striking artworks double up as the coupleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lasting memory, their distinctive taste and deep curiosity about the ďŹ erce potential of creativity. The Christieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s auction runs from 1 to 13 November in New York.
TEXT: AVNI RAUT. PHOTO COURTESY OF HERMÈS.
j[`Vaj VÉee[`Y For the maison’s first artist window in India, Sumakshi Singh conjured up a fantastical display for Hermès
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ermès’s window displays have always been a subject of fascination and intrigue. Last month, the Hermès store at The Chanakya, New Delhi unveiled a new window installation created by artist Sumakshi Singh. It presents her take on Hermès’s 2019 theme, ‘In Pursuit of Dreams’. Titled ‘Pages from a Dream Journal’, Singh has handcrafted a magical world for the window display. While the deep blue hue of the installation’s raw silk backdrop engages one’s attention from afar, upon a closer look the intricacies of the narrative gradually unfold through its individual elements. When Singh was invited to offer ideas for the installation centred on dreams, her “immediate impulse was to create a dreamscape of a weightless world of levitating objects, and ethereal plant forms that echo the insubstantiality of dreams—a world where gravity does not seem to have a strong hold”. Once she started sketching out her ideas, she realized she would have to focus on visual merchandising too, leading to a collaboration with the Hermès team to develop the narrative that would weave the brand’s products into it. The final composition comes together harmoniously, ensuring that even as the objects fit seamlessly into the installation, they also stand out. The materials Singh worked with fit well with the theme and
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the visual effect she intended to create. A number of elements came together, including a galleon composed of wooden ribs and organza, featuring Hermès’s ‘Brides De Gala Shadow’ scarf as the sail. “Architectural elements (appliqué on translucent fabric) and birds made in silk and lace started to bridge the gap between the solid form of the products and the delicate flora. It also became clear to me that I was playing with ideas of weightlessness and space, but I also needed to play with time,” she adds. Hence, she introduced objects in suspended animation—a bird in mid-flight, a swing paused in motion and cherry blossoms and kite tails caught in the wind. The lighting, too, has played its part in visually elevating the composition. Backlit panels of painted wood and acrylic have been used to depict mountains while some of the sculptures have been lit from within. The green and yellow LEDs, representing fireflies, dot the entire installation. One can also spot floating pages within the installation. Singh intended to give the impression of these pages having emerged from a dream journal that is placed in the second window. The elements, products and the landscapes that have been exhibited in threedimensional forms in the windows, can be found illustrated in these pages.
TEXT: DIVYA MISHRA. PHOTO: VINAY PANJWANI.
Gallery White by SĂśnke Hoof and Khushnu Panthaki Hoof, featuring the BV Box by Dayanita Singh and drawings by Balkrishna Doshi.
M Ă&#x192; J In the hands of architects SĂśnke Hoof and Khushnu Panthaki Hoof of Vastushilpa Consultants, an office space in Vadodara, Gujarat is transformed into an art gallery and an arts education space
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n 2017, on the third ďŹ&#x201A;oor of a commercial building off Vadodaraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Vasna-Bhayil main road, change was in the air. The space, previously built as an office, was to undergo a transformation. The architects enlisted for the project were SĂśnke Hoof and Khushnu Panthaki Hoof of Vastushilpa Consultants and their job was to convert the office into a setting that was pretty much its spatial opposite: an art gallery and arts training centre. The space would come to be known as Gallery White, and along with an art gallery, was meant to house the Vadodara Visual Art Centre (VVAC)â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a visual arts training and education space founded by arts entrepreneur Vinit Nair. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Vinit has been running the Vadodara Visual Art Centre since 2015,â&#x20AC;? says Khushnu, adding, â&#x20AC;&#x153;In 2017 he purchased the new space to increase the area and facilities of the VVAC, and Gallery White.â&#x20AC;? Spread over 5,880 square feet, the spaceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s initial purpose had directed its original design, which focused on optimizing the layout and reducing costs. This meant that there were many aspects of the structureâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;like ceiling heights, beam depths, and column sizes and positionsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;that could not be changed. The developerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original design had divided the area into six spaces, and Khushnu and SĂśnke had to ďŹ gure out how to both accommodate the VVACâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s functional areas (classrooms, artistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; studios and
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storage areas) and clear space for the gallery. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The most challenging part was positioning the gallery within the existing structure, as we wanted a large, column-free space,â&#x20AC;? says SĂśnke of the exercise. Though it was challenging, aside from their architectural know-how, both architects brought to the table a set of skills that seemed almost uniquely designed to ďŹ t the project. Khushnu has served as a curator for a number of exhibitions at museums and galleries, which gave her an understanding of how light and space should ďŹ&#x201A;ow within an exhibition area; SĂśnkeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experience in interior design, as well as his work in materials and carpentry, helped engineer the galleryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s footprint for ďŹ&#x201A;exibility. After all the internal partitions were pulled down and a single, slightly curved wall added (â&#x20AC;&#x153;for a sense of direction as well as to demarcate the gallery from the art centreâ&#x20AC;?, Khushnu says), the common lobby and reception area now leads to a sequence of three spaces of different sizes. The sliding doors and translucent dividers let in light and allow for customizable spaces. While currently done up in white (and even named so), the architects say that it follows the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;white cubeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; format only up to a certain extent: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Gallery White is only white to start with,â&#x20AC;? Khushnu says, and SĂśnke adds: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re seeing it as more of a blank canvas.â&#x20AC;?
u ^[`Ă&#x2039; SUr
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his year marks a decade since the Mumbai Art Room (MAR) was conceived. The small but inďŹ&#x201A;uential curatorial laboratory showcasing cutting-edge exhibits in the heart of Mumbaiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Colaba art district was founded by American curator Susan Hapgood. Today, MAR is perhaps the only space in India where the next generation of curators are mentored, nurtured and supported at critical points in their career to ensure their growth as exhibition makers. One of the highlights of the cultural calendar of this space is its annual fundraising beneďŹ t held in November, at patron Roohi Jaikishanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s glamorous sea-facing home. This year offers up works by multidisciplinary contemporary artist Shakuntala Kulkarni, whose body of work focuses on the plight of urban women navigating the complexities of patriarchy. For the beneďŹ t, Kulkarni has designed limited-edition headgear, which were on display in the India Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Against the backdrop of a growing global movement to bridge the gender gap, Kulkarniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s works are timely and on point. Using abundantly available materials like cane, the artist explores the idea of
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body armour for women, employing the expertise of rural artisan skills that she fuses with her urban contemporary thinking. The materialâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bends and binds are a vivid social commentary on the state of women. On the one hand, the armour protects, but on the other, it is also a cage that conďŹ nes. As noted art critic and curator Ranjit Hoskote states about the pieces, â&#x20AC;&#x153;...the body pays for this protection with its freedom. The armour becomes a cage, protected by, yet trapped within, an exoskeleton.â&#x20AC;? Kulkarni, originally trained in painting, has shifted from ďŹ&#x201A;at surfaces to sculpture, performance and new media. She once created and wore full-body armour and stood in a large public park in Mumbai to highlight problems women face. Not only did she attract eyeballs, she had people come up and ask about her work, thereby engaging in dialogue with folks who may otherwise never have seen her art. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s precisely MARâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mission too: to exhibit shows on a non-commercial platform for as diverse an audience as possible. Shakuntala Kulkarniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s limited-edition artworks are available for sale via the Mumbai Art Room.
TEXT: GAYATRI RANGACHARI SHAH. IMAGE COURTESY OF MUMBAI ART ROOM.
Celebrating a decade contributing to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s art circuit, the Mumbai Art Room presents a new series by artist Shakuntala Kulkarni
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FROM THE DESIGNER'S PORTFOLIO Studio Wodehouse The Studio is known for its high-end design expertise for the luxury residential projects of their discerning clients. It works with real estate developers in Mumbai, Pune and Alibag to offer all encompassing solutions for interior and architectural design, execution, project management and manufacturing. With floor-to-ceiling glass doors and exquisite master suites, Villa 6B by Studio Wodehouse in Alibag is a stunning example of their aesthetic brilliance.
THE DESIGNER Shonali Mahajan Studio Wodehouse is the brainchild of Shonali Mahajan, whose design sensibilities are inspired from her travels and experiences across Italy, the Middle East and India. Mahajan graduated from the Domus Academy in Milan with a major in Interior Design and dived into the world of design and interior solutions. She experiments with different styles and various materials, challenging conventions to create fascinating residential concepts for Studio Wodehouse.
FROM THE DESIGNER'S PORTFOLIO ABACA Inspired by nature and a simplistic design philosophy, ABACA features an extensive range of furniture, lighting solutions and accessories, suited for the outdoors. Known for their responsible manufacturing practices and keen attention to detail, its products are curated from ateliers in South East Asia and Europe. Since ABACA’s all-weather furniture is made from contemporary, light-weight materials, it is elegantly robust and convenient to move around.
THE DESIGNER Rashida Baker Asrani Rashida’s tryst with interiors began in 1999, when she sourced Italian modular kitchens to refurbish her cooking space. It was during her trip to South East Asia that she developed an affinity towards handcrafted outdoor furniture. Having found her calling, Rashida gave up her career in law and founded ABACA in 2004. With ABACA, Asrani is constantly focussing on quality, value and functionality.
THE FRAM
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ME PROJECT
How should art be framed? This is the question that asked nine designers from various fields, as part of a project that rethinks the traditional picture frame. Taking inspiration from Banksy’s selfdestructing artwork, with a paper shredder hidden in the frame, thinks beyond gold baroque WRITER GAURI KELKAR . PHOTOGRAPHER SARANG GUPTA
M AT E R I A L I M M AT E R I A L You’d think the non-intrusive quality of inscrutable concrete would be right up a frame’s alley. And it is—well, almost. “The frame was meant to be for a piece of art; so from that perspective, we decided to work with a neutral colour. Grey was the most efficient, and concrete is a nice neutral material,” says Nitin Barchha, one of the founders of product design studio Material Immaterial along with Disney Davis. The frame, in this case, in its role as second fiddle to art, clearly holds its own. “I liked the idea of a frame within a frame,” Barchha adds. The stepped design is a clear nod to the studio’s recent stepwell-inspired collection. And stoic concrete, despite all its grey, cannot help but catch the eye—a happy side effect of a keen eye and deft design.
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MANN SINGH A humble material, in this case paper, ends up creating a design narrative that is compelling, strangely enigmatic, and, as its creator Mann Singh says, employs some “themes of Baroque. The frame holds a non-existent mirror with a material (paper) and a structure (what structure?) unequal to the task.” Ahmedabad-based Singh’s use of paper was far from conventional and nowhere close to any origami ever seen before. “The use of paper accentuates the fiction of the frame, it being wholly unsuited as a structure while at the same time, imposing distinct constraints over the forms it would allow. This drove Singh’s imagination to achieve the forms expressed in the sketch.” Unusually, imbued with deep meaning, paper becomes more than just paper: “When one looks closely at the piece, you might discern what seems to look like the outline of a sinister face.” Singh’s idea and vision for his version of the frame is clearly a hit—on paper, that is.
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Wonderful wall accents and soaring ceilings aside, the flooring of your space is one of the most important aspects of home design. And we can’t overstate the importance of making your floors stand out. It’s time we stopped looking at flooring as just tiles laid together in a uniform fashion. Today, the kind of floors you choose for a room can infuse it with plenty of character. Don’t believe us? Well then, it’s time we introduced you to Welspun Flooring. One of India’s fastest growing conglomerates, the Welspun Group offers a wide variety of products in the bed and bath category, with Welspun Flooring promising the finest in flooring solutions. Form meets function here, just so that you can bring home the tiles of your dreams, transforming your space into a luxe haven. Take their Click N Lock tiles, for instance. A revolutionary technology sees these
individual tiles smoothly locking into one another. No wonder, then, that this is the brand’s flagship product. And that’s not all! When you opt for these Click N Lock tiles, know that you’re signing up for a noise-free, dust-free and glue-free installation process. Think of these as magic tiles that can easily be laid over existing flooring, that are also scratch and stain resistant. So, you don’t have to worry about the hassle of dismantling your old flooring. Better still, the brand is committed to a five-year warranty on these tiles, so you don’t have to stress about durability, either! If you’d like to consider a few more options, Welspun Flooring also offers carpet tiles, broadloom carpets (wall-to-wall) and Greens or artificial grass that you can lay out on the terrace area to create a beautiful green zone. Their Fusion Flooring (Mix-n-Match) lets you
experiment, create signature designs and even a combination of hard and soft flooring for commercial purposes, all at reasonable rates that offer great value. The brand also has established a Rs 11.5 billion Welspun Flooring manufacturing facility in Hyderabad that covers a whopping 300 acres. Their aim? To manufacture 10 million sq mts of flooring in the first phase, targeting a turnover of Rs 1,000 crores in the next three to four years. By the end of 2019, they aim at having as many as 500 dealers and distributors, in order to continue to offer their customers the finest in both quality and service. We think it’s safe to say that Welspun Flooring is ushering in a much-needed flooring revolution. For more information, visit www.welspunflooring.com
AMAN KHANNA Observing the way human beings are becoming as inanimate as the stuff they surround themselves with is a serious preoccupation with New Delhi-based Aman Khanna. That he chooses to depict the “fragility of the human condition” through whimsy is evident in his work, as well as this frame. “It’s all about faces,” he says. The expressionless outline of the faces at the corners take on the subtle humour of a caricature when you account for an image. “Usually, you use frames for portraits, which are generally really serious. So the moment you put a portrait into something like this, you’re forming a character in the background. Because that’s what the function of a frame is: to be in the background. But we wanted to add another dimension to that function. This shows that something like a portrait can, at times, be taken with a subtle humour.” Quirkiness, clearly, is the best way to lament about, comment on and indict mankind.
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P R AV I R S E T H I A frame that disappears, vanishes clear out of existence kind of overturns the traditional idea of a frame making like a silent sentinel in the background. And Studio Hinge’s Pravir Sethi wanted to show exactly that. So, along with a team comprising his “coconspirators” Tripti Sahni, Jaymin Tanna, Shanaya Dastur and Starlyn D’Souza, he chose the best thing next to thin air to showcase the gradual disappearance of the frame: wax. “There were two concepts at work. One was to take something that wasn’t precious and make it look like a precious material—like a devaluation of the traditional frame,” Sethi explains. And the other was to “subvert the relationship between the frame and the framed.” And as it melts out of existence, the frame reasserts its individuality, with the “frame itself producing the art”.
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N I S H A M AT H E W There is a certain there-but-not-there quality to the frame, which Nisha Mathew—designer and co-founder of Bengaluru-based architectural firm Mathew and Ghosh Architects—envisioned “as an extension of the surface of the wall, as a part of its mass”. The idea was to ensure that the viewer engages only with the art “as an expansion or gentle outward swell towards the viewer”, while the frame doubles down into the background, much like the wall. Wood, she decided, was the material that would best serve this purpose. “We needed something that had the plasticity of thick plaster, but we finally opted for wood, which could be easily shaved down, and also made it easy to mount the artwork.” The wood that you choose will then take the colour of the wall it’s meant to hang on. This frame encompasses, as nothing else could, its primary function: to be a backdrop to what it contains.
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PÉRO Flowers, lots of them and in a profusion of colours, shade the outline of the frame that fashion brand Péro envisioned. It was in keeping with the studio’s current preoccupation with all things floral. “Our ongoing season is centred on the idea of flowers, more specifically, millefleurs, which means thousand flowers,” says founder Aneeth Arora. Happily, the frame that she chose to work with, when presented with options on which to cast the design, had a trellis running around the circumference, so the idea of a floral design seemed apt. For a first-timer in frame design and in woodwork, Arora’s masterful colourful creation certainly grabs attention.
Vero Air c-bonded. Now with the new bathroom furniture series Brioso. With its consistent rectangular formal language, the Vero Air bathroom series is synonymous with architectural and straight bathroom design. The patented c-bonded technology seamlessly combines the washbasin and vanity unit. Shown here with the Brioso vanity unit in Chestnut Dark. For more information: +91 79 66112300, marketing.india@in.duravit.com or www.duravit.in
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PHOTO: JIGNESH JHAVERI.
HEMMANT AND LEYLA JHA “We framed a picture with light.” Light became art and art had a digital reawakening in the hands of Goa-based Hemmant Jha, who believes that digital technology has “de-materialized our experience of art.” The designer, whose default sensibility is minimalism, stretched his penchant for fuss-free functionality into the realm of light. He and his daughter Leyla hit upon the idea of using a light source, such as a ‘pico-projector’ mounted within a shallow box assembly, and a spherical reflector. “A pattern is then laser-cut to create an edge-lit box, projecting the design around the object you are framing. We achieved something similar here using an LED light source.” The best thing about this is the facility to calibrate the intensity of the light, giving new meaning to personalization.
MARIE-ANNE OUDEJANS It was her first project and it continues to play inspiration and muse in the most unexpected ways. For Jaipur-based Marie-Anne Oudejans, her debut interior commission in Jaipur, Bar Palladio, with its soft-blue tone and floral imagery, has become the gift that keeps on giving. As it did, yet again, with her design for the frame. She chose to go with a “flat frame to be able to paint the floral design from Palladio”. The seed of the idea was in the traditional Mughal paintings where “you often find a border with flowers painted”. Working with Vikas Soni and his team on the floral, bluetoned frame, the designer’s ode to the project that started it all is a pretty piece of work.
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V I N C E N T R OY Wood, brass, black Chinese ink and gold leaf. For his version of the frame, Vincent Roy carefully choreographed this quartet of materials into what has become a sunburstlike sculpture. The Pondicherry-based furniture maker and founder of Wood’n Design says, “The overall shape was inspired by a ship’s wheel.” Any perceived limitations in the course of achieving the desired shape were easily surmounted: “We are not into woodcarving, so we created elements externally as part of the frame.” Roy’s machinations steered the functional frame towards artistry, because “a well-designed frame enhances not only the art or the backdrop attached to it, but also the given space where it is placed”.
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T H E
C O N C E P T S
For often, the process of making is as beautiful as the ямБnal object
V I N C E N T R OY
P R AV I R S E T H I
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M AT E R I A L I M M AT E R I A L
MANN SINGH
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â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ATHARVA VEDAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; TRANSLATION EXCERPTED FROM THE HINDU TEMPLE BY STELLA KRAMRISCH.
FRANCESCO CLEMENTE
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Name and Form are in the Residue. The World is in the Residue. Indra and Agni are in the Residue. The Universe is in the Residue. Heaven and Earth, all Existence is in the Residue. The Water, the Ocean, the Moon and the Wind are in the Residue.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Atharva Vedaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, XI.9.1-2. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This quote from the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Atharva Vedaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, describes the world not as a centre, but as the margin of a much larger event. Overwhelmed by capitalist man-made catastrophe (called progress), no one likes to hear about larger realities. Nonetheless, architecture, and everything else, can only be understood in relation to a larger view. To me, architecture means â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;: walls, a roof, a door and a window. In my four watercolours, I painted the adventures of architecture in a larger world, ZKHUH WKH KRXVH Âż UVW EXUQV WKHQ GURZQV WKHQ Ă&#x20AC; RDWV KDSSLO\ DQG Âż QDOO\ LV VSOLW in two by lightning. The â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Atharva Vedaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; says that the world is the leftover of DQ RIIHULQJ $UFKLWHFWXUH LV DOVR WKH UHVLGXH RI D VDFULÂż FH RI DQ RIIHULQJ D ZD\ IRU WKH KXPDQ PLQG WR UHĂ&#x20AC; HFW WKH PDJQLWXGH RI WKH XQLYHUVH DQG PDNH LW VPDOO vulnerable and also improbably sweet.â&#x20AC;?
ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST
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Nikhil Chopra (born 1974) is The Metâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2019-2020 artist in UHVLGHQFH )RU WKH ¿ UVW SDUW RI KLV UHVLGHQF\ KH OLYHG DW 7KH 0HW )LIWK $YHQXH IRU QLQH FRQWLQXRXV GD\V LQ 6HSWHPEHU +H LPPHUVHG KLPVHOI LQ 7KH 0HW¶V FROOHFWLRQ DQG LWV SK\VLFDO OD\RXW REVHUYLQJ KRZ DXGLHQFHV PRYHG WKURXJK WKH JDOOHULHV +H WKHQ GHVLJQHG D VSHFL¿ F LWLQHUDU\ KH WUDYHOOHG IURP WKH (J\SWLDQ 7HPSOH RI 'HQGXU WR WKH WKUHVKROG EHWZHHQ WKH 0RGHUQ DQG &RQWHPSRUDU\ JDOOHULHV DQG WKH VSDFH KROGLQJ 7KH 0HW¶V $IULFDQ 2FHDQLF DQG $QFLHQW $PHULFDV FROOHFWLRQV DQG WKHQ FRPSOHWHG KLV MRXUQH\ LQ WKH /HKPDQ :LQJ +LV SDWK LQHYLWDEO\ WUDYHUVHG H[WUDRUGLQDU\ VSDQV RI WLPH DQG JHRJUDSK\ UHSUHVHQWHG E\ WKH REMHFWV DW 7KH 0HW +LV UHÃ&#x20AC; HFWLRQV RQ WKH KLVWRULHV RI WKHVH REMHFWV DQG WKH VWRULHV RI WKHLU DFTXLVLWLRQ E\ 7KH 0HW ZDV FRPPXQLFDWHG WKURXJK DFWLRQV VRQJV DQG WKH PDNLQJ RI D PRQXPHQWDO ODQGVFDSH $W HDFK VLWH &KRSUD WUDQVIRUPHG D ODUJH FDQYDV LQWR VRPH IRUP RI VKHOWHU 2Q WKH FDQYDV LWVHOI KH GUHZ DQ LPDJLQHG ODQGVFDSH ² VN\ HDUWK ZDWHU ² DQ DPDOJDP RI SODFHV KH KDV VHHQ UHPHPEHUHG RU LQYHQWHG Edited excerpt from Shanay Jhaveriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s curatorial note
The artist on his work ‘Lands, Waters and Skies’: “My body, like yours, is a ‘museum’ that holds a collection of memories. These images and experiences are in a constant state of flux; they move from New York to Kashmir, where my family comes from, and from all my past homes to where I live now, in the Indian state of Goa. I cannot ignore that I am at The Met, amid objects that have travelled in ways that lead to questions about ownership and how meaning is constructed from display. Our point of view within that context is equally important. I come from contemporary India and I carry the subcontinent’s colonial past with me.”
“I am awestruck by one of the public’s perennial favourites, The Temple of Dendur in the Sackler Wing. The audacious human ambition of ‘saving’ this extraordinary monument from drowning under the waters of the Aswan Dam, dismantling and reconstructing it, piece by piece, in this enormous wing, inside the Museum, is baffling. For me this act epitomizes what has long been perceived as the role of the Western museum or rather how it positions itself as a steward of cultural heritage.”
“The drawing I created in front of you over these nine days reflected my interest in animating and embodying our micro-histories—stories as opposed to histories. In doing so, I resist existing linear narratives in favour of complexity. The writer John Berger once asked: ‘Where are we when we draw?’ The question seems to be expecting a spatial answer, but mightn’t it be a temporal one? Isn’t the act of drawing, as well as the drawing itself, about becoming rather than being?”
“I am deeply moved by [a] mid-20th-century body mask from the Asmat tribe in Papua New Guinea. The mask stares back at me through the glass case, and I can almost hear its voice and see it move. Its gaping eyes and mouth are as horrific as the beheading of the enemy tribesman. In my research into the Asmat and their way of living, I was saddened to see the end of the last of the non-industrialized frontier of human culture.”
“I don’t view The Met as a neutral space. As an artist, I try to hold a mirror up to the world and capture what is being reflected. I am not a historian. My eyes, ears, nose, mouth, stomach, legs, and hands are the filters through which I experience the history embedded in the objects and spaces in the physical world and the narratives around them. Memory is ultimately of the body, for me and for you.”
ORGANIZE A gift from her husband, the Tadao Ando-designed home and studio of Belgian artist Saskia Pintelon in Sri Lanka is strikingly evocative of her stark, spirited, and deeply intimate art WRITER SIDDHARTH DHANVANT SHANGHVI PHOTOGRAPHER ASHISH SAHI
ED CHAOS
I
first saw Belgian artist Saskia Pintelon’s work in a private collection in Colombo. The painting mounted on a tall grey wall was stark and simple, thick circles of tar black overlapping, evoking a mood of contemplation as well as despair. That work, as so many of her others, had an oceanic quality: commanding, inscrutable, daunting, private, full of risk as well as reprieve. “It is really a matter of ending this silence and solitude, of breathing and stretching one’s arms again,” [Mark] Rothko said once, when describing his work. Perhaps Pintelon is inspired by Rothko—some of her work pays him a kind of oblique homage, although it quickly tears off into its own original turf of witch power and personal symbology. Though you are reminded of Rothko when you look at Pintelon’s work, you come to admire that their similarities are vital but their divergences have been dazzling. Pintelon brings to her work market wit, island indolence, smart concision, deep-sea light; the tropical veins of Sri Lanka run through her canvases, imbuing resilience and doom, inexplicable delight, a broken-hearted tenderness for ideas and for a lost time. Her subjects are women, and families; they are abstractions that pay service to Sri Lanka’s narrative of loss and cunning; she is drawn to markets and to the sea, to children. Pintelon lives in a glorious concrete palace overlooking Mirissa Bay. Designed by Tadao Ando, the house was a gift from her husband, the industrialist and philanthropist Pierre Pringiers (husband and wife were born under the moon in Capricorn; if the cliche is true, this makes them tireless workers, reserved, inventive, generous, mercurial—and they are). Ando’s house doubles as a private museum for Pintelon’s work—large, grey, exposed-concrete walls radiate a museum calm; a discipline is marked in the arrangement of objects. Some guests might be overwhelmed or made awkward by the stern, seamless perfection her house honours; some might even describe it as ‘cold’ or self-important. But it had a strangely liberating effect on me. One night, at dinner, Pintelon and I began to swirl to Arabic EDM that rang through this terrific house—like dervishes, we swirled, like soldiers at a concluding war, we rejoiced. Perhaps other guests were horrified by our break from dinner-party decorum. But neither she nor I cared. I glimpsed at the dark sea past the long glass wall. Come die in me, the waves seemed to say, a quality of final rest her paintings have also evoked. Come die in me. A few years ago, I invited Pintelon to participate in an arts festival, Sensorium, that I had co-founded in Goa along with a dear friend, the art patron Dattaraj Salgaocar. I flew to Sri Lanka to invite her, and to see what she might make for Sensorium. The festival’s theme that year was love, but not conventional love, certainly not banal, romantic love, or even idealized spiritual love, but a love for peril, a love ahead of union (which is the love for solitude), and sexual love, where an ephemeral encounter rainbows over the boringly celebrated model of eternal love. “I have these old sepia photos of wedding couples in Ceylon,” she said, her brow
furrowing. Her studio is a long, rectangular space with a large refectory table overlain with canvases; paintbrushes in glass basins, tubes of oil paint, feathers and skulls of little rodents complete this workroom pastiche. “I could do something with these photos, I think.” The works arriving at Sensorium were framed and mounted in black. But the original wedding images were distorted—the women looked horrified or unsettled. Monstrous. This, I thought, was an honest depiction of married life. The pursuit of love had vandalized them, left them unrecognizable, even to themselves. While I have shown and championed Pintelon’s work in India, I am often asked: Why is she not better known? Perhaps because much of the art world has a genius for celebrating a kind of ritualized mediocrity. This clique will often jump on a ship simply because four vaguely well-known and unnecessarily wealthy collectors are navigating to auction heaven. Successfully and elegantly, Pintelon has avoided not only the bourgeoise conceits of the art fair but also the dirty ambush of the gallery circuit. Perhaps because she lives and works in Sri Lanka—removed from a world city centre, her landscape and its abundance inure her motivations, leaving them free and pure. There is none of the performance one observes in a museum-level artist who often cartwheels for a cabal of curators to further a career. Meanwhile, Pintelon remains secure in her accomplishments, secure in a museum house made by Ando where her legend will susurrate before a vital audience. The relative anonymity shrouding Pintelon’s maverick talent is fate’s protective carapace against the distractions of celebrity. (Rilke wisely cautioned us that fame was only “the sum of misunderstandings that cluster around a name.”) This is not to detract from Pintelon’s rising influence; earlier this year, she was part of a three-artist showing in Belgium’s Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens. Younger Indian collectors such as Radhika Chopra Anandan are responding to her work with applause and love. Last year I finished a writing residency at the fabulous One World Foundation in Ahungulla, not far from Pintelon’s home. Kathrin Messner, the founder, had allotted me a cottage adjoining her own, although mine had the added privilege of a large Pintelon painting (it had survived a tsunami but bore its haunting). After a long day of writing and swimming, I would sit on a white couch and gaze at Pintelon’s work. The critic Roland Barthes said the key objective of reading literature was to provide a moment of transcendence; he borrowed the slightly misunderstood phrase, le petit morte—or the little death. This is sometimes used to describe the pleasure of an orgasm, or that slow dissolve experienced in the solitude of reading a novel, when divisions between consciousness and imagination blur. Come die in me. The painting was an invitation. Slowly, my hands picked up a book I’d been trying to read in vain—To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. “What is the meaning of life? That was all—a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years, the great revelation had never come,” Woolf writes. “The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead, there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark; here was one.”
A succession of Brazilian envoys have occupied this prized Lutyens-period property in the heart of New Delhi since 1959, when the Brazilian government acquired it from a local business family for the princely sum of `6.4 lakh. Facing page: Ambassador André Aranha Corrêa do Lago with his wife Beatrice on an Oscar Niemeyer bench. The imposing artwork on the wall is by Emanoel Araújo, and was specially commissioned by the Brazilian government in the 1970s for the residence in New Delhi.
COPACABANA
In the New Delhi home of the Brazilian ambassador to India, an intergenerational collection of art, objects and furniture is brought together with a light hand and an impeccable sense of balance WRITER SUNIL SETHI . PHOTOGRAPHER ASHISH SAHI
This pedimented and pillared porte cochère also features Indian jali work. Facing page: The marble porch leads to airy verandas with cane furniture and bamboo blinds that ďŹ&#x201A;ank the front door of the house.
This picture and facing: Originally an open terrace, the oval room was converted into the main reception area overlooking the garden in the 1960s. The bench by Niemeyer is from the 1970s; the large oval table by Eero Saarinen holds a display of Brazilian art and crafts. The chairs and table are by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe while a melange of folk and classical objects are seamlessly arranged throughout. The carpet is a family heirloom.
This picture and facing: In the small sitting room, two chairs by the 1940s Anglo-American architect designer TH Robsjohn-Gibbings face a pair of 3rdcentury BC Greek urns from southern Italy on either side of the ďŹ replace. Above the Etruscan and Greek sculptures on the mantelpiece hangs a drawing by Niemeyer. More Italian antiquities are displayed on a table and in an alcove. The painting on the wall in the corner is by Argentinian artist Eduardo Hoffmann.
An outhouse has been converted into a recreation area with a pool table. The chairs are by Czech artist Milan Knížák. Facing page: The bookshelves in the library were designed by the ambassador himself. The sofa and glass table are by Mies van der Rohe. On the glass table is a Roman torso, circa 2nd-century BC. The chairs are by Frank Gehry.
An early-19th-century Japanese screen graces the walls of the master bedroom. On the chest against the wall are drawings by 1930s Czech artists Bohuslav KubiĹĄta and Vlatislav Hofman. Facing page: In the television lounge, two monumental architectural prints by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando hang above an early-19th-century Spanish chiffonier. Alongside are three photographs of Mies van der Rohe projects from the 1930s.
In a guest bedroom, the velvet embroidered bedcover is from Kashmir and the drawings on the wall are by Jean Cocteau. Facing page, top: The table in the small dining room is set with official crested Brazilian china and crystal. Above the ďŹ replace hangs a photograph by Brazilian photographer Cristiano Mascaro; on the wall are works by Brazilian artists Raquel Garbeloti, Ralph Gehre, Maria Laet, Walton Hoffmann and two 17th-century prints of Brazil. Above the mirrored art deco cabinet is an Ingo Maurer lamp. Facing page, bottom right: In the small dining room, the painting is by Indian artist Raoul Rewal. The art deco table, tea set and 18th-century chairs are all French. Facing page, bottom left: Louis XVI furniture graces another guest bedroom. The drawings above the desk are by Christian BĂŠrard and the bronze sculpture, circa 1966, is by Miguel Berrocal.
This picture and facing: Several Brazilian ambassadors made additions and amendments to the residence including one who installed an arcaded swimming pool in the 1960s in the rear garden.
An ornamental fountain in the front garden is a variation of another in the much larger rear lawn. Facing page: Afternoon tea is laid out in the garden on a table cloth printed with a pattern of azulejo ceramic tiles by Brazilian artist Athos BulcĂŁo.
Set in 2.2 acres of gardens, the colonial-era property is an amalgam of prevailing Indo-European architecture. Facing page: The pillared porch of an outhouse in the garden.
Mid-17th-century prints of Brazil by a Dutch artist line a wall of the formal dining room. The sculpture in the alcove is by Brazilian artist Walton Hoffmann. The table is set with an assortment of traditional Brazilian straw baskets, Marajoara ceramics and 19th-century Brazilian silver. The glassware is Portuguese and the porcelain is in classic Mottahedeh tobacco-leaf design.
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ndré Aranha Corrêa do Lago, the Brazilian ambassador to India, is 6 feet 7 inches tall; his French-Swiss wife Beatrice comes in a few inches lower at 6 feet 2 inches. When asked how they met, this imposing, goodhumoured couple have a well-honed answer: “Sitting down!” they chime together. And proceed to describe the Paris dinner party where they were seated together. A whirlwind courtship led to marriage in 1990, and later, four children. They have been on the move since, and were most recently in Japan, where they spent five years. A CUT ABOVE The discreet charm and warm informality of the Corrêa do Lagos are not the only things that make them stand head and shoulders above New Delhi’s diplomatic corps. They have inherited the most elegant of Lutyens-period bungalows—a gleaming white residence with airy verandas, a pillared portico and outhouses—that Brazilian envoys have occupied since 1959. Many of them have left their imprint on the 2.2-acre property, building a chancery, a screened swimming pool and enclosing loggias in the main house to create reception rooms. Ambassador Corrêa do Lago, a passionate architecture enthusiast who serves on the current Pritzker Prize jury, which selected BV Doshi for the prestigious award in 2018, confesses to having eyed the New Delhi post for years. As a specialist in multilateral diplomacy and climate change, he visited India frequently, fascinated by its growing clout as cultural superpower and economic powerhouse. So when the job finally fell in his lap, the well-proportioned beauty of the colonial residence was the icing on the cake. When contemporary diplomats move countries, their baggage tends to contain select personal chattel. Not so for the Corrêa do Lagos; like plenipotentiaries from another age, theirs would require a caravan of camels. As he shows you into his library, the ambassador half apologetically admits that he could only carry 3,000 of the 12,000 books in his collection. Almost two shelves are given over to virtually every monograph published on Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, whose signature furniture adorns the room. READING HISTORY A devotion to modernist design is but one of the many strands of taste that unites the couple. They both come from cosmopolitan families of inveterate collectors, one reason why room after room of their home yields distinctive troves of treasure. The ambassador’s
grandfather, Osvaldo Aranha, was a distinguished Brazilian statesman and foreign minister; his father, like himself, a diplomat, while his brother Pedro is an obsessive collector of literary manuscripts and letters. His wife, Paris-born Beatrice, is of mixed French, Italian, Spanish and Greek ancestries. Her grandfather was Paul-Louis Weiller, the famous French aviation hero of World War I and later, a wealthy financier and philanthropist. A wall of the small sitting room is hung with Weiller’s portraits by Marie Laurencin and Jean Cocteau; nearby are magazine pin-ups of her Greek grandmother, a celebrated Miss Europe of 1930. But it was only when she married into a Brazilian family of distinction did she realize that homes there were often “an assimilation of the old and new”. This seamless blend of the antique and modern—Spanish-colonial and Oscar Niemeyer furniture, indigenous folk sculptures and 17th-century Dutch prints of Brazil—encouraged her to share a storied legacy. A principal component of this is a splendid collection of Apulian vases and pottery from southern Italy, circa 3rd century BC, inherited from a godfather, an eminent lawyer and collector. An entire room is dedicated to these splendid objects from the classical world, and with characteristic aplomb, they are juxtaposed with a suite of furniture by the influential 1940s Anglo-American architect TH RobsjohnGibbings, whose modernism, inspired by ancient Greece, led him to design homes for luminaries such as publisher Alfred A Knopf and shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis. SENSE OF PLAY But not all is lofty, grand and venerable in this remarkable residence with its vistas of green gardens and old trees. The place abounds in light touches and diversions—a photograph of Audrey Hepburn in her My Fair Lady Ascot hat signed by Cecil Beaton (a gift), or a large, lugubrious portrait of Queen Victoria with her life story inscribed all over in minute copperplate (a wedding present). Asked how he acquired a drawing by the late New York pop artist Keith Haring, the ambassador recounts the amusing incident of how, having spotted the artist outside the Centre Pompidou, he walked up and asked if he would make him an impromptu drawing. Haring was willing but there was no pen or paper to hand. Undeterred and unembarrassed, Corrêa do Lago rushed into the museum shop where the plainest papers available were drawing sheets for children. Thus armed he went in search of the artist, found him, and—voila!—became the proud owner of a Keith Haring artwork. Enthusiastic collectors, bibliophiles and aesthetes, not everything in the Corrêa do Lagos’ globetrotting caravan came to them through acquisition or inheritance. Some of it is from the serendipity of the lands through which they’ve passed.
THE CONN
Saskia Fernando, of Sri Lanka’s leading design family, writes about her father Shanth Fernando’s home and everything that went into making it the collector’s paradise that it is PHOTOGRAPHER ASHISH SAHI
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The main entrance foyer is paved with British-period cobblestones and features an antique Dutch storage chest with three marble Burmese Buddha heads discovered at Chatuchak in Bangkok; they are backed by a Mahen Perera artwork. Facing page: The front door—flanked by a collection of aged grinding stones—was previously part of the oldest Hindu temple in Colombo, and was restored for use here.
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At one end of this corridor at the entrance sits a Dutch-period armoire in ebony and satin wood, a Flemish bronze chandelier, and a Chinese stone head and storage jar on the left, both Ming dynasty. Facing page, top left: The courtyard is paved with granite bricks from a demolished Britishperiod hospital in the Hill Country of the island and features two verdigris sculptures by artist Sanjaya Geekiyanage. Facing page, right: The outdoor dining table in the courtyard—the central tree, a cluster fig, determined the architecture for the space. Facing page, bottom left: Vincent Van Duysen ‘August’ outdoor chairs were ordered by Shanth Fernando at Ambiente in Germany.
The formal sitting room features a French gilt fine-crystal chandelier—bought at the Saint-Ouen flea market in Paris—that reflects on the glossy black-lacquer ceiling. A calamander Dutch-period bench and Italian sofas form the circle with Pierre Frey black-and-ivory fabric on the central sofa. The artworks here are by artists Mahen Perera, George Keyt and Jagath Ravindra.
The Indo-Portuguese rosewood settee (also facing page) in the second-floor lobby came from a dignitary’s villa and is joined by a pair of nadun-wood Burgomaster chairs. One of the homeowner’s most prized possessions, the 1930s George Keyt painting of Sangaraja Pirivena Kandy is flanked by a pair of Ming storage jars.
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In the first-floor lobby, a Dutch armoire made of Sri Lankan precious wood is combined with a collection of 15th-century Khmer bronze mirrors. Two installations of 16th-century Dutch-period fine woven storage baskets adorn the walls. Facing page: The double-height ‘god room’ features a collection of Christian statues from the Portuguese period, heads of saints and religious objects.
The red library, painted in coral red, contains an organized clutter of lacquer boxes from Ladakh; Chinese ginger jars; and a sailing ship model, purchased in Amsterdam, on a Chinese opium bed found in Yogyakarta. On the wall is a Rajni Perera artwork titled Greed (2015, mixed media on inkjet print), the ďŹ rst painting sold by the artist in Sri Lanka.
Above: The master bedroom is painted in chocolate and ebony. Atop the Indo-Portuguese console table are an antique stone torso, cane storage boxes from Indonesia, and David Paynter drawings. Above right: This corner of the main bedroom features paintings by Saskia Pintelon, Donald Friend, Ivan Peries, Dumith Kulasekera and George Claessen, as well as an Indonesian wooden sculpture. Far right: The guest bedroom is painted in indigo and chocolate horizontal stripes, and is styled with paintings by Haku Shah and Chandra Bhattacharjee. The bedspread is dark-brown nappa leather. Right: Also in the guest room, an ivory and silver installation sits on a calamander console with beaded storage baskets from Indonesia, and a Lionel Wendt photograph of a detail from Rathi (1936), a George Keyt artwork, previously owned by Fernando.
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Homeowner Shanth Fernando in the first-floor gallery, which houses a collection of Lionel Wendt photographs. Facing page: The staircase leads up three levels. Here, from ground to first, there is a contrast of titanium cement walls and a dividing blade wall in black gloss-lacquer paint with a row of reproduction finials. The landing has an antique wooden life-size statue of a saint purchased in the north of Sri Lanka.
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Above: The top-ďŹ&#x201A;oor art gallery features works by leading Sri Lankan contemporary artists Dumith Kulasekera, Jagath Weerasinghe, Gayan Prageeth, Chandraguptha Thenuwara and many others. Facing page: The second-ďŹ&#x201A;oor modern art gallery is dedicated to a collection of George Keyt paintings with works by Richard Gabriel on the far right, and (below) a collection of Sri Lankan modern art.
The lap pool is tiled with Indian green slate, and features cut-out apertures that frame the view.
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n 1983, at the age of 34, a man by the name of Udayshanth Jayantha Fernando stood in line outside a gallery in Sydney at three in the morning, waiting to purchase a work by the Australian artist, Donald Friend. It has been more than three decades since then, but little has changed. That young man was my father, and today, he has a reputation for buying the best works from the exhibitions in his own gallery! Growing up, our lives were filled with memories of dusty antique shops. To this day, my father will travel to remote parts of the island or small towns in Europe to seek out additions to his ever-growing collection. It is this never-ending desire (bordering on obsession!) that most clearly demonstrates his determination and dedication to collecting, and creating beautiful spaces. So important is the position of every object and the flow of every room that he is often known to arrive at houses and rearrange their coffee tables. For my father, there is never an excuse for being poorly dressed or owning kitsch children’s toys; every tiny detail of your life must be tasteful. BREATHING STYLE My father has lived and breathed creativity ever since leaving Australia in the early 1980s. He packed up his family to return to a country on the brink of a civil war. With an already successful business of exporting and designing toys, he set out to create his lifestyle brand. It is the image of my father wrapping gifts behind an antique counter, with a cigarette in one hand and his thick-point pen (with which he would simultaneously be sketching!) in the other hand, which demonstrates the passion of an individual who designs almost every object he sells. A designer of interiors and homeware, he has mentored countless craftspeople and artists since establishing his first store, Paradise Road in 1987. There is no clear line of separation between him and his business. The business is, and always has been, a labour of love, given life to by the unconventional nature of a magnificently talented individual. To complete his first boutique hotel project, Tintagel, the design took so long that people were starting to wonder if the company had run out of funding. In fact, it was because all the minuscule details—including things like the trompe l’oeil on the pillars in the lobby—were devised after the architectural renovation had begun. Architecture and interiors have been important elements throughout my father’s life. Every home before his existing one was carefully selected. “Location, location, location,” he repeats, like a mantra. Our first house in Sri Lanka was a Geoffrey Bawadesigned penthouse that the architect first visited after we had moved in. Latterly, my father lived in homes that he continued to transform, but the shell had to be workable. His passion for architecture was sparked at a young age, and he recalls a wellknown local architect discouraging him from pursuing the field— although one imagines he would have been excellent at it. His respect for Bawa as a guru and his dear friendship with the late Kerry Hill are no doubt connections that influenced his eye for spaces. It is the absolute addiction of creating and having his hand in many different streams that thrills him the most. Building properties, designing the interiors, designing the objects that fill the interiors and then collecting the art and
furniture that are placed therein; he is at the helm of it all. Every project he has undertaken is completed in the manner of an artist working on a masterpiece, but it is in his home, which he completed in 2016, where he has truly been able to enjoy the process to his heart’s content. My father’s three-storey home was always intended to house the private gallery of artworks that he had collected since the 1970s. He recalls owning his first art piece as a teenager. Around the time he opened Paradise Road Galleries—the home of so many successful first solo shows by artists—he began fervently collecting coveted pieces of modern and contemporary Sri Lankan art. Alongside these works of art, the house is also home to an equally valuable collection of antiques, predominantly Dutch Period Sri Lankan, alongside furniture and objects from his travels in Europe and the region. The eclectic pieces of this collector, dealer, curator, designer, patron and connoisseur leave not a corner in his home empty. Every space is meticulously arranged. FLUID SPACE To design this house, he sought out an architect to whom he could dictate the style. He eventually chose Philip Weeraratne, an architect with experience in modern, minimal buildings and homes. The interiors took time, and received the same attention to detail as all of his other commercial projects. The spaces, in fact, continue to change. When my father gets bored with a carpet and occasionally feels a painting would be better placed somewhere else, they are moved. And moved again. His home is his canvas— an experimental space, where he has the freedom to change things whenever he so chooses. To the discerning eye, the style of my father’s home carries the monochrome, understated identity of Paradise Road, but it is also a home—his home. Every painting and objet d’art in his collection holds a story. The works of younger artists like Rajni Perera and Chudamani Clowes flank works from his complete collection of the ‘43 Group’, Sri Lanka’s most well-known modernists. But my father’s collection is not just about monetary value, though he won’t hesitate to boast about a bargain, which, in fact, is representative of the strength of a work and the individuality of an artist. In many cases he will share wonderful anecdotes on how he obtained a piece and how much he fought to have it. A few works have pride of place, such as the 1930s George Keyts and the Lionel Wendts that capture the spirit and substance of his modern art collection. Looking at all his well-placed acquisitions is one of his true pleasures. There is little difference in the process of the young collector that he was in Sydney, with a handful of pieces, to now; there were never any gaps that needed to be filled or defined—it was, and remains, purely about owning quality and not quantity. My father often relates the story of the one and only Keyt painting he ever sold, an erotic work hanging in our sitting room. This story is closely followed by another of a “more valuable” Keyt acquisition that took place soon after. Here is a man who believes in divine providence, and that he has received ample amounts of it, to curate with effortless elan, what is truly a celebration of Sri Lankan art, culture, heritage and most of all, style.
WRITER GAURI KELKAR . PHOTOGRAPHER EDMUND SUMNER
A New Delhi home on a slim plot of land has its exposed concrete structure warmed by arresting art and Rajiv Sainiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s signature elegance
RAME WORK
A Tallur LN sculpture in the foreground offsets the large canvas by German artist Andreas Schulze, bought from Sprueth Magers in London. Behind the sofa, the wall, clad in Brazilian marble, conceals a door leading into the theatre.
Above: The mixed-media work by Julien Segard and the crushed aluminium cans by Manish Nai seemed to make such a perfect match that Rajiv Saini decided to pair them together on this Brazilian marble wall in the informal dining space. A custom chandelier by Federico Peri, sourced from Nilufar in Milan, hangs above the custom black-glass dining table, paired with Finn Juhl chairs. Facing page: A linear skylight grazes the concrete wall and ďŹ&#x201A;oods the landing with natural light. A large ink-on-paper drawing by Vishwa Shroff engages with the architecture of the space.
A red stone mosaic floor set with glass brings colour to the central glass-roofed, three-storeyed atrium; a cutout in the mosaic floor, it aligns with the opening of the mandir and transmits light to the floor below. A pair of custom bronze sliding doors screen off the mandir, which is clad entirely in white Thassos marble.
Above: The dining area in the entertainment lounge in the basement features a custom-made 20-seater table. Saini created the illusion of a naturally lit court in this basement by delineating the space with bricks, placing plants and stretching a Barasol ceiling above, which mimics daylight during the day and morphs into yellow light in the evening. Above right: This seating area in the basement lounge features a wall full of books, mixedmedia ceramic sculptures by a French artist, and works in concrete by Krupa Makhija. The cast-bronze circular end tables are custommade, as are the brass lights. Interspersed with the lights, a series of small ink drawings by Ram Kumar line the ledge behind the sofa. Right: A large bar counter placed between two columns anchors the entertainment lounge. On the left is the dining area, with a large diptych by Reena Saini Kallat; the ceramics on the console are by a French artist. On the right is an elevated seating area with a sculpture by Tallur LN.
Below: A narrow three-metre lap pool is sandwiched between the building and boundary wall. Saini sits in a bronze-lined cut-out in the wall, which doubles as a seat. Right: The grey of the limestone ďŹ&#x201A;oor and the concrete on this landing is broken by the red of a Muzzumil Ruheel canvas. Bottom right: Sunlight streaming through the glass-roofed, steeland-wood staircase on the Abir Karmakar painting creates the illusion of a doorway. Custom-made brass lights dot the three-storeyed concrete wall. Bottom left: A covered walkway runs along the pool, leading to the entrance of the building. The trellised wooden doors behind the car park open up to connect the indoor space with the patio when the homeowners are entertaining.
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p a flight of steel-and-wood stairs, on one of the exposedconcrete landing walls, there is a remarkable Abir Karmakar painting of a traditional door. It is gently lacerated by light pouring in through a glass-roofed skylight, and is made more compelling by its placement. The absolute rightness of incongruous elements— the art, the light, the grey wash of concrete—clearly indicates the aesthetic ambition of this New Delhi space and the intent of its creator. In a Rajiv Saini-designed home, the presence of art is not surprising. It was the lure and the muse for this project but it was also the canvas of an exposed concrete skeleton perched like a modernist relic on a narrow plot of land that tugged at his imagination. It presented constraints that called for interesting innovations in architecture and interiors. SOFT LANDING When Saini was brought on board by the homeowners, the site was just a collection of columns and slabs. “There was no facade, no delineation of spaces. What drew me to this project was the sort of Brutalist nature of the exposed concrete. I wanted to counter that with the warmth of wood, textures and colour, to soften the space,” he says. After multiple discussions to understand the multi-generational family’s needs, the home was planned to accommodate both private spaces and areas for family gatherings. Ensuring adequate natural light too was high on the list, as the ceilings were in concrete, which further reduced the amount of light. This, Saini achieved by creating a glass-roofed, air-conditioned central atrium that funnelled natural light into the central parts of the house. He then hunkered down with his team—project lead Ankush Bhandari and two junior designers from the firm—to create an engaging, interesting paradox. He set out by softening the hardscape of exposed concrete with his signature addition of warm materials, well-placed art and elegant lights. While the bedrooms have timber for a warmer, private-space feeling, “we wanted to keep the concrete exposed wherever it had been used, like on the ceilings. I wanted the floors to almost seamlessly blend with the concrete, so we went with grey limestone flooring. We just wanted it to be there—just sort of do its job,” Saini says. A departure from that would have an impact, which is the exact—and intended—effect of the red stone mosaic flooring on the atrium floor, abutting the
ground-level mandir. “Because the atrium is a glass-roofed space, this stone mosaic gave it a quasi-outdoor feel which was the idea; it is like coming into an aangan, a sort of inner courtyard. I wanted to delineate that space with a change in material.” The bathrooms, however, were where Saini went all-out, with decadent textured marble walls, brass accents and a spa-like atmosphere. AN ARTISTIC ARRANGEMENT And then there was the art, the not-so-secret code that sets a Saini-designed home apart. Despite the certainty of its presence, however, the art itself is never predictable. You never know what you will see hanging on walls, or nestled in corners—which is as it should be, and as it was. “The homeowners were as involved in picking out the right kind of art as they were when discussing the length of the hanging for a particular wardrobe and the depth of their drawers. We made trips to Europe to find just the right pieces—to galleries in Paris and London—and bought a few artworks from overseas”. The works finally chosen ranged from ceramics to paintings to installations, and included works by artists like Vishwa Shroff, Krupa Makhija and Parul Gupta. An additional upside to this collective, collaborative pursuit of art is that it generally leads to a long-term interest in collecting. “Most clients, including the homeowners of this house, are genuinely interested in the process of viewing and enjoying art. These owners, too, like most other clients I work with, have now gotten addicted to visiting galleries regularly and continue to buy art.” For each work chosen, Saini found an interesting space. “It is an equal mix of sculptural pieces and art on the walls. Flat things on walls are easy; I always like to have more 3D works when you have a space that lends itself to such works. More and more, I find myself looking beyond the conventions of a framed work or displaying works in a different way.” Because what lends a home and an artwork a unique spirit is really the placement—a fact made evident by the brilliant red Muzzumil Ruheel at one landing, and a compelling Vishwa Shroff ink-on-canvas drawing at yet another. The three-level home is buttressed from below by a warmly lit basement meant solely for the purpose of entertaining guests; that rounds out the spaces on this plot of land which is abutted by thick foliage. Saini worked with landscaping studio Waho to complement the already-existing green lung, and even found space for a 3-metre-narrow pool alongside the house. The restrictive canvas, then, was simply an opportunity to tease out much more than the plot apparently permitted. “Restrictions make you think more and lead to a different vocabulary of design. I like that. It is always nice to not have carte blanche. Otherwise it’s just repetitive.” In this house, the art is eyecatching, yes, but Saini’s creative manoeuvring around tight corners is artistry.
scouts
N E WS R E E L From the hottest products to the coolest launches, here’s the lowdown on the latest in the market
ON A HIGH
Arnaya, an international luxury lifestyle brand, reimagines the natural beauty of marble and stone by blending it with wood, metals and semi-precious stones to create bespoke designs. Named after lofty mountains chains, the ‘Sierra’ collection by Nikita Mehta (pictured) is all about elevation and altitudes that are offset by recesses and cavities. When lined together, this collection of 3D tiles creates a brilliant play of light and shadow, and promises to bring your walls to life with their convexity and protuberance. (arnaya.in)
L O U N G E WO RT H Y Giving your bedroom a new seasonal update can often pose a challenge. This holiday season, if you find yourself craving breakfast in bed with plans to stay put for the rest of the day, look no further than the all new ‘Oxford’ bed (pictured below) built for lazy Sunday mornings. This luxurious bed, with a large headboard upholstered in purple cotton velvet, spells indulgence for the bedroom. Designed by Henrik Pedersen for BoConcept, a premium furniture Danish brand, the voluminous ‘Oxford’ invites you to spend your early nights and lazy mornings in comfort and style. (boconcept.in)
T I M E LY C O L L A B O R A T I O N
IOTA recently joined forces with Arosio Milano–the company known for its handmade wooden wall clocks–as its retailer in India. The hand-carved ‘Essential Maple’ clock (pictured) features a silent quartz German mechanism. The outer layer is inlaid with maple, Italian walnut, chestnut, and Canaletto walnut, while the surface has a natural opaque finish. With a 60-centimetre diameter, this clock is hard to miss. (iotafurniture.com)
BIGGER . BETTER . STRONGER .
At Greenply, only the best is good enough. Nineteen years after launching the Green Club, the company is more inspired than ever. In keeping with the indomitable spirit of change, Greenply has introduced ‘Green Club 5 Hundred’—a flagship product, equipped with Penta 5 tech. The future of plywood is here, and it looks better than ever. (greenply.com)
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scouts HEAD FOR ST YLE
Designed by Carlo Colombo for the contemporary Italian furniture brand Flou, the ‘Alam’ bed (pictured) is a breathtaking double-size bed that exudes class and retro style. The elegant metallic trims on the sides of the headboard that anchor the cover are available in three finishes—polished gold, matt burnished, polished black nickel—and have been thoughtfully crafted to match the range of cover materials available. (flou.it)
L U X U RY O N T H E F L O O R
Conceptualized by Mumbai-based designer Ravi Vazirani, the Jaipur Rugs’ flagship store (pictured) in the city is spread across 4,000 square feet, with a focus on materials like cement, wood and metal, in keeping with the industrial theme. The ‘Manchaha’ gallery on the mezzanine floor showcases covetable, one-off exclusive pieces, handmade by women in rural India. (jaipurrugs.com)
STA R ( C K ) ST Y L E
The revamped ‘Starck 1 Barrel’ vanity (pictured) heralds new colours, interior lighting and a matching mirror. Designer Philippe Starck and Duravit have tweaked the classic design to make the vanity and sink more than just a washing area. The design is topped off with new, trendy satin-matt lacquers, ranging from White to Night Blue. The sleek design of the Starck 1 collection makes it an effortless fit for your dream bathroom. (duravit.in)
SILENT CONFLIC TS
A contemporary group show curated by Ashna Singh at Studio Art in New Delhi brings together 12 well-known artists, whose work “compels us to question whether we perennially succumb to life’s situations, creating repeated patterns of behaviour, or do we effectuate our option to use those situations as a catalyst for growth, with an aspiration to live consciously—unleashing the internal chains that restrict our progress and don’t allow us to shine as our true selves. The conflict within could continue…but unlike other wars, the choice to end this conflict is ours.” (studioartgallery.in)
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T H E R I G H T M OV E S
Established in 1997 as a design and manufacturing service, Loco Design has evolved into a design house with an established history in luxury, specializing in interior and product solutions. Inspired by the ‘3L Shatranj’ chess set, the newly launched games room concept was unveiled at the AD Design Show 2019. It brings together a distinct style defined by a blend of the classic and the vintage. (locodesign.in)
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ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST|NOVEMBER 2019
Harry Anand, Abhimanyu Lodha, Saurav Sapra, Bani Sapra, Aarti Lodha, Hinna Anand & Kunwar Anand
Masterchef Alex Sanchez
Satish Gopalakrishnan
Jordan Edwards at the Chivas bar
Kanishk Malhotra
GQ GENTLEMEN’S CLUB
Kanika Goyal & GQ’s Almona Bhatia
Delicious fare at the JW Marriott Chandigarh
WHERE: JW Marriott Chandigarh All roads led to the JW Marriott Chandigarh for GQ’s Gentlemen’s Club last month. The evening saw the city’s cool set mingle over canapés and Chivas 18, poured by drinks ambassador Jordan Edwards. Guests also enjoyed a three-course dinner, curated by Chef Japvir and masterchef Alex Sanchez of Americano, Mumbai. The menu included “corn ribs” with a secret spic mix, a parmesan-crusted lamb rack and harissa-glazed salmon. The meal ended with Sanchez’s signature Tiramis Americano.
Sardar Singh at the Volvo XC90 display
Dr Aman Sachdeva at the Shazé display Chitakshi & Varun Dham
Atman Sandhu, Rubina Brar, Anaanya Dagar & Faaiza Seyid at the Citibank display
Abhinav Sharma Sonali Dahiya & Navniet Saine
Pankaj Chaudhary
Sumit Passi
stockists
ANDREU WORLD: BENGALURU 09886653005; NEW DELHI 09711733808; PUNE 02026161644 (ANDREUWORLD.COM) ATELIER FEVRIER: (ATELIERFEVRIER.COM) BOCONCEPT: HYDERABAD 09121355570; MUMBAI 02249731531; NEW DELHI 01141663554 (BOCONCEPT.COM) 206|
CATTELAN ITALIA: ITALY 0039-04-45318711 (CATTELANITALIA.COM); AT AND MORE STORIES: MUMBAI 09821040007 (ANDMORESTORIES.COM); AT VENTURA LIVE LUXURY: BENGALURU 09590411119 (VENTURAINTERIORS.COM) FLOU: NEW DELHI 01146102000 (FLOU.IT) HERVÉ VAN DER STRAETEN: PARIS 0033-01-42789999 (VANDERSTRAETEN.FR) ILO RUGS: INDIA 09400065159 (ILORUGS.COM) JAIPUR RUGS: JAIPUR 141-3987400; MUMBAI 07230005538; NEW DELHI 07230005522 (JAIPURRUGS.COM)
ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST|NOVEMBER 2019
PRECIOSA: INDIA 07045145575 (PRECIOSALIGHTING.COM) SARITA HANDA: MUMBAI 022-40052686; NEW DELHI 09555733344 (SARITAHANDA.COM) SCARLET SPLENDOUR: KOLKATA 033-40501000 (SCARLETSPLENDOUR.COM) SCRIPT BY GODREJ: INDIA 18002661661 (SCRIPTONLINE.COM) SOUK: CHENNAI 04442664376; MUMBAI 02224951954 (SOUKONLINE.IN) TRUÉING STUDIO: NEW YORK 001-914-2169374 (TRUEING.CO) THE CARPET CELLAR: NEW DELHI 011-41641777 (CARPETCELLAR.COM) THE GREAT EASTERN HOME: MUMBAI 022-23770079 (THEGREATEASTERNHOME.COM)
PHOTO: ASHISH SAHI.
The merchandise featured in the magazine has been sourced from the following stores. 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.
12TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
OCT 2019 200
Super south STARRING DULQUER SALMAAN, MAHESH BABU & NAYANTHARA THE BEST OF KANNADA, MALAYALAM, TAMIL & TELUGU CINEMA
T H E M O O D : J AG D I P J AG PA L A governor of the London School of Economics and a former trustee of the Wallace Collection, the director of the India Art Fair has successfully delivered two editions of the fair, which is now hailed as the leading arts event in the region
“We ditched the annual catalogue for a new print magazine. Specially designed to make art accessible and enjoyable to readers, the magazine features everything from interviews with emerging and leading artists, collectors and curators, to insightful articles by art writers, historians, and others.”
“Snowy has good instincts and is a natural problem solver. For this reason, I consider him my therapy pet! I bought this folder at The Tintin Shop in Covent Garden, London and use it to organize my papers.” “Raw Mango’s textile designer Sanjay Garg is an absolute genius. While I rely on COS for my workwear, this brocade dress makes for comfortable and practical (it has pockets!) specialoccasion-wear.”
“I got this portable solar lamp at Tate Modern back in 2012. Designed by artist Olafur Eliasson and engineer Frederik Ottesen, it is part of a social enterprise led by the duo to bring clean, reliable, affordable energy to those living without electricity, in off-grid areas.” “I have been a Marimekko fan since I was young, and over the years, I have collected dresses, pouches, and bags by the Finnish designer [Maija Isola]. This bold and colourful printed tote is in its signature style. It is also very large and spacious, perfect for travel.”
“Even though I was born and raised in London, I take great pride in my Indian heritage. I obtained my OCI card in February 2014 and it changed my life as it led to my relocating to Delhi in 2017.”
“I miss my Marin bike which is currently stored in my very accommodating brother Raj’s garden shed in London. I bought it 15 years ago when cycling became my main form of transport.”
“This delightful papier mâché object by Renuka Rajiv is from the artist’s exhibition The Future is Not My Gender at FICA—one of the best shows I saw in 2018.” “Back in 1971, I stayed overnight at the Red Fort in Delhi with my late father. When I visited the site recently, it was a very emotional moment for me.”
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ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST|NOVEMBER 2019
“I have been using Apple products since the mid 1980s— now that’s being brand loyal. My latest purchase is an iPad mini.”
“I first met performer and artist Yasmin Nupur Jahan in 2014, and I have followed her work ever since. This abstract work by the artist is part of the Patterns of a Tactile Score series, which she made for a solo show in Delhi in 2018.”
AS TOLD TO SAMIR WADEKAR, PHOTO: IRINA USOVA.
“Here is a picture of my late father, Darshan Singh, from the early 1960s. He was always a snappy dresser and I hope I am half as stylish as he was.”