ART & CRAFT OF FINE DESIGN
The AD Design Show 2023, its fourth edition was held at the Jio World Convention Centre on September 2023. An exquisite immersive experience, featured power speeches and displays that exhibited India’s rich craftsmanship and beautiful designs. The event was organised in collaboration with DAG and JSW, both of which had previously contributed to the AD Design Show.
Since its beginning in 2018, the AD Design Show has established itself as the premier design event in the country. The three-day celebration brought together connoisseurs, patrons, and practitioners from all over the world, including a surprise fashion aspect this year.
This year’s event offered exhibitors and businesses an unprecedented opportunity to display their work. Whether you are a new talent looking for exposure or an established brand trying to broaden your reach, this event provides an opportunity to engage with a wide and discriminating audience that includes India’s premier interior designers and architects.
JSW supported the Karigar Pavilion, and DAG showcased its art collection. There was also a showcase of major manufacturers from the worlds of lighting, furniture, accessories, and more, all showcasing their latest collections at the design event. JSW Foundation is devoted to repairing and rebuilding India’s unique cultural heritage while also protecting and preserving the country’s rich past.
The AD Design Show 2023 began with a welcoming message from AD India’s Head of Editorial Content, Komal Sharma.
Komal Sharma, Head of Editorial Content, AD India said “This year the AD Design Show has a strong focus on textiles. There is a historic tent called the Lal Dera which lies in the Mehrangarh Museum Trust in Jodhpur. It is a spectacular example of medieval textile architecture. As a tribute to that, we invited leading architect Sameep Padora of sP+a to do a contemporary iteration of it. Apart from that, a lot of the brands are textile-forward like Ritu Kumar, Abraham and Thakore, Satya Paul. Of course, there’s the favourite Karigar pavilion which featured seven craft ateliers from all over the country. AD Design Show is about bringing the community of artists, designers, architects, people who love textiles, aesthetics and craftsmanship all together and have a great big celebration.”
Komal Sharma, AD’s head of editorial content, welcomed everyone and kicked off the AD Design Show 2023 by revealing Shankha. This brass work by artist Shilo Shiv Suleman was a feminine spin on normally masculine architectural elements, displaying a cowrie shell in all its magnificence. In her most recent work, the award-winning artist reclaims the sensuality of India’s architectural history by producing a larger-than-life cowrie shell that serves as an object of devotion in the centre of the exhibition.
The award-winning artist, Shilo Shiv Suleman created an installation called Shankha, reclaims the sensuality of India’s architectural history by producing a larger-than-life cowrie shell that serves as an object of devotion in the centre of the exhibition.
Sanjay Garg’s Raw Mango presented a unique clothing line titled ‘AGAMA’, which the design company has been studying and creating for several years. In a tribute to India’s textile tradition, particularly kantha, the collection featured sarees, jackets, skirts, and more in mashru. The AD Lounge’s fringe became a makeshift runway as models strolled away in these regal outfits.
The shapes encountered by travellers and nomadic tribes in Central Asia serve as inspiration for the clothing in this presentation. The collection honours textile grandmother Suraiya Hassan Bose (1928-2011), whose support and excitement inspired the brand to create it.
The design firm has been studying and creating the ‘AGAMA’ collection for several years. The shapes encountered by travellers and nomadic tribes in Central Asia serve as inspiration for the clothing in this presentation. The collection honours textile grandmother Suraiya Hassan Bose (1928-2011), whose support and excitement inspired the brand to create it. Sanjay Garg’s Raw Mango included a museum-style glass display with garments from the ‘AGAMA’ range. Abhay Deol, Mini Mathur, Aahana Kumra, Krishna Shroff, and others attended the event.
Jaipur Rugs family (https://www.jaipurrugs.com/) at the AD Design Show, exhibited the Manchaha – One of a Kind Collection. Rural weavers create original carpets on the loom using leftover yarn from the business, oozes simplicity. A lyrical account of the authors’ daily life and feelings, thoughts are pure, and the imagination is limitless. This is how creativity is born and translated into unique rugs created by rural craftsmen.
Manchaha is a one-of-a-kind initiative that combines design with social effect. Weavers in rural India have the opportunity to make their own carpets, which serve as both a form of self-expression and a source of long-term income for themselves and their family. Customers all over the world may purchase a unique, very distinctive product that represents a new concept of mindful luxury.
The Lal Dera (Red Tent) was a key highlight of the 2023 AD Design Show. The Lal Dera, a colourful royal tent, represents the Mughal conquest of India’s Marwar-Jodhpur kingdom. The Lal Dera, a colourful royal tent, represents the Mughal conquest of India’s Marwar-Jodhpur kingdom.
Cloth building was among the most spectacular and flamboyant aspects of royal life in mediaeval times. Large tented encampments accompanied the great monarchs of Asia and Europe on their long battles, vacations, and pilgrimages. Portable and sometimes very artistic fabric palaces provided imperial entourages with not only shelter and protection, but also the luxury and elegance to which they had grown accustomed. The famous Lal Dera, or’red tent’ of Jodhpur (Marwar), is an outstanding example of mediaeval textile construction. It is still the largest ornamental piece to exist from the Mughal Empire.
The original Lal Dera or Red Tent (above) is kept with the Mehrangarh Museum Trust in Jodhpur.
“The story of tents in India is often told through the lens of their extravagance in the past. My attempt through the talk is to extend information and insights on such textile architecture beyond their use in lavish palace interiors in history, and towards how they have furnished public spaces, both for worship as well as for commerce as we see in bazaars. This is a vibrant aspect of the contemporary function of fabric in everyday life,” Sutrakala Foundation’s curatorial advisor Mayank Mansingh Kaul.
“The historic Lal Dera structure speaks of luxury and counterintuitively of impermanence. Both these attributes are the outcome of a specific material language, frame and fabric, and lightness and rigidity. The opulence in our interpretation is an outcome of a soaring spatial experience,” Architect Sameep Padora.
The AD team was inspired by the original Lal Dera, the most stunning ornamental piece from the Mughal Empire housed at the Mehrangarh Museum Trust in Jodhpur, which was made of red silk and velvet and richly embroidered with gold thread. AD commissioned sP+a’s Sameep Padora to redesign this textile architecture, which will also serve as an intimate place for discussions and workshops. The “Lal Dera” contains a hand-knotted rug produced by Jaipur Rugs with beautiful all-over floral designs representing lush gardens in full bloom, as well as Symphony International flooring.
CMYK Bookstore is India’s leading reseller of art and design books imported from around the world. The brand emerged from the publishing business Roli Books and serves as a one-stop shop for luxury books and collectors’ editions. At the design expo, CMYK Bookstore showcased a carefully picked selection of books from the best art and design companies.
CMYK featured a custom-built book pavilion featuring a well picked assortment of premium books. Featuring a range of premium books selected from the world’s top publishers. Wittman by Beyond&more’s display at the event includes The Kubus Armchair: A Josef Hoffmann Masterpiece (1910), Vuelta Armchair: A Fusion of Artistry by Jaime Hayon (2016), and Tuky Side Table: Luca Nichetto’s Modern Craftmanship (2022). KMA’s collection of handmade landscape souvenirs represents the company’s natural sensitivity and regard for the environment.
At the three-day show, DAG presented Celebrating the Modern, an ode to the vibrancy of Indian art with a hand-picked selection that takes us through the evolution of Indian modernism through diverse movements and genres—a tribute to its timeless appeal that has evolved into a distinct global language.
‘Celebrating the Modern’ is Associate partner DAG’s tribute to the vitality of Indian art, with a hand-picked collection that takes us through the evolution of Indian modernism via various movements and genres.
KC ROASTERS By KOINONIA created some exoctic Baileys based cocktail. The cocktails tasted were Salted Caramel with Biscoff Gelato and Baileys & Hazelnut Gelato, with flavors of coffee gelato, velvety baileys cream, crunchy hazelnut streusel, smooth yet passionfruit caramel and delicate coffee soaked sponge.
Tried the espresso martini, the salted caramel espresso martini and bountylicious, truly zesty and creamy.
