Boito’s silk panels
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

“It’s exciting to see textiles and craft move beyond clothing and find a place on our walls. When we treat them as art, they gain greater visibility and become something we live with, engage with and appreciate every day. It also gives traditional weaving techniques the space they deserve, allowing their stories and craftsmanship to be seen in a new light,” says Richa.

Work of art

The conversation between craft and contemporary design extends beyond textiles. At KULx Studio in Mumbai, founder Kush Bhavani collaborates with Filipino artist and designer Bianca Carague on Pravāla, a collection inspired by coral and its intricate growth patterns. Rather than reproducing coral literally, the duo translates its branching structures into sculptural bronze forms and hand-carved wooden vessels. Repetition, accretion and mutation shape pieces that evolve from a single point into increasingly complex forms.

KULx Studio’s coral centrepiece
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

For the festive table, sculptural vessels and centrepieces offer an alternative to conventional floral arrangements, bringing visual interest through organic forms rather than elaborate displays. Their appeal also lies in their potential to be collected as design objects in their own right.

A different kind of intricacy informs Brass Fields, a collaboration between Namit Khanna, founder of Delhi-based Nama Home, and Indonesian designer Owen Pradipta Golim of Domestic Mass. Inspired by the layered contours of Indonesia’s rice terraces, the collection translates the landscape into brass wall art, drawing on Moradabad’s metalworking heritage and the Ulchai engraving tradition.

Nama Home’s Brass Field
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

“There is so much intricacy involved in a craft like Ulchai, where artisans engrave fine patterns into metal using specialised hand tools. Yet, many people are unfamiliar with the skill and the generations of knowledge behind it. As demand for traditional crafts declines, we need new ways to bring them into contemporary life. The hope is that when people encounter these pieces in their homes, they become curious about the craft, the people behind it and the traditions we risk losing,” says Namit.

Nama Home’s Brass Field
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Architecture provides another starting point for Deco Passage, a collaboration between New Delhi-based designer Vaishnavi Walvekar of Vāhe Ensemble and Filipino industrial designer Clark Mendoza. Drawing on the Art Deco histories of Mumbai and the Philippines, the collection translates stepped silhouettes, geometric patterns and architectural rhythms into three sculptural objects.

Vāhe Ensemble’s Deco Passage
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Capiz shell creates a material connection between the two places. Derived from the windowpane oyster, it has long been used in Filipino homes and heritage buildings as a translucent alternative to glass, as well as in decorative objects and lighting. Goa offers an architectural parallel: before glass became widely accessible, translucent windowpane oyster shells were fitted into wooden window frames, softening sunlight, providing privacy and allowing air to circulate through small gaps.

In Mumbai, Art Deco emerged during the city’s early 20th-Century expansion, blending international design influences with Indian imagery. The city’s Victorian Gothic and Art Deco ensembles were inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2018. In Deco Passage, these architectural references meet the pearlescent qualities of capiz shell and the designers’ experiments with stainless steel, bringing together Mendoza’s interest in geometry and pattern with Vaishnavi’s sculptural approach to collectible objects.

“Every home, regardless of its location or design, holds something sentimental. The festive season only amplifies these feelings. I think we’re witnessing a return to our roots, particularly among our generation. With more nuclear families and fewer large, traditional family celebrations at home, there’s a growing desire to recreate the rituals and traditions we grew up watching our parents and grandparents practise,” she says.

Vāhe Ensemble’s Deco Passage
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

The exchange between Indian and Southeast Asian craft traditions continues in Between Two Blooms, Shared Blooms and Tower of Blooms, a collaboration between architect and designer Nynika Jhaveri of Studio Nyn and Achariyar Sai Rojanapirom of Kalm Village in Chiang Mai. Working with brass, aluminium and copper, the collection draws on vessels used in Indian and Thai rituals, as well as the shared symbolism of flowers as offerings and expressions of hospitality.

Studio Nyn x Kalm Village
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

A key reference is Dok Mai Wai, a traditional Northern Thai, or Lanna, metal-flower craft. Made from thin sheets of metal shaped into blooms and mounted to move, these flowers were traditionally worn as hair ornaments on special occasions. Their delicate forms carry cultural and spiritual significance, but the practice is now sustained by only a small number of artisans, according to Kalm Village.

In the collection, the detailing of Dok Mai Wai meets metal casting in Moradabad. Rather than reproducing the flowers as ornaments, the designers translate their forms and associations into contemporary objects, connecting two making traditions through the role flowers play in ritual, celebration and hospitality.

Come together

Motif and Meaning: The Human Hand in Indian Craft and Imagination, a specialised series and body of textile art introduced by the luxury Indian heritage brand Swati & Sunaina (known for reviving and innovating ultra-rare Banaras hand-weaving techniques) explores how textile motifs can inspire works across materials and techniques. Its Avataar motif appears in Banarasi brocade, French-knot embroidery, kalamkari painting and shola-pith sculpture. The brocade draws on Varanasi’s handloom traditions, including Kadhua, a technique used to create intricate patterns through supplementary-weft weaving. Swati and Sunaina Gold’s Varanasi to Versailles collection similarly explores the meeting of French textile aesthetics and Indian weaving traditions. At home, textile art can take centre stage against a plain wall, paired with understated furnishings and warm lighting.

Swati and Sunaina’s Avataar motif
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Craft also becomes a meeting point between cultures in Parabula ng Matka (Parables of Matka), a collaboration between Aku Zeliang, creative director of Heirloom Naga Centre, and Filipino artist and designer Allyza Tresvalles, founder of the weaving community Buntaleras. Zeliang works with indigenous crafts from Northeast India, while Tresvalles collaborates with local weavers to explore regional fibres and sustain traditional knowledge.

The collection began with two familiar vessels: the Indian matka and the Filipino tapayan, traditionally used to store water or food. Reimagined in cane and rattan, they become sculptural baskets that draw on shared visual references, including horns, spikes and jackfruit. Mouth-blown glass eyes and chrome-finished stainless steel add unexpected details.

For Aku, however, the conversation around experimental design must include the question of how such work can sustain the people who make it. In a conversation about Across the Lines, the exhibition he curated at Nilaya Anthology, he spoke about the need to balance creative ambition with commercial viability. “Established commercial work can help designers fund more experimental projects, while training programmes can give artisans new ways to share their knowledge and gain recognition,” he says.

Aku Zeliang’s matkas
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Aku also believes, “We all want to make work that pushes boundaries, but we also have to think about how to sustain our businesses and our practice. At Heirloom Naga Centre, training programmes with institutions and visitors also create opportunities for artisans to become teachers and share their knowledge. That gives them visibility and confidence, while helping ensure that techniques can evolve and that there is an ecosystem to support them.”

A new collaboration brings the conversation back to the loom. Entwine, by Cherom Carpets and Studio Siriusdan, began with an exchange between Abdullah Ansari, a third-generation carpet maker who leads Cherom in Bhadohi, and Cyrus Dan Cañares, a Filipino textile artist, writer and creative director based in Manila. Their shared interest in textiles led to experiments with wool beyond conventional carpet-making.

An early idea to combine carpet weaving with the Filipino banig, a traditional woven mat, evolved with the introduction of metal. The resulting works bring soft wool into dialogue with steel, exploring contrasts in material, texture and textile traditions. The collection demonstrates how a familiar craft can become something more sculptural without losing its connection to the loom.

Cherom Carpets x Studio Siriusdan
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

These works also raise a larger question about the future of craft-led design: how can objects be both culturally meaningful and commercially sustainable? Collectible design offers one possible route, giving distinctive, often limited-production pieces a place between functional interiors and the art market. But as Aku’s observations suggest, the long-term health of the ecosystem also depends on supporting the artisans, skills and training that make such experimentation possible.

Perhaps that is what makes craft-led decor feel especially relevant today. In a world of fleeting trends and seasonal shopping, objects rooted in memory, tradition and the skill of artisans offer something more enduring.