About the Project / Client Brief

Commissioned for the Domestic Departures terminal at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, the brief called for a large-scale installation that would do more than occupy space. The client envisioned a cultural landmark, one that would represent the spirit of Hyderabad and offer travelers a meaningful moment of pause amidst the pace and transience of modern air travel. The aspiration was rooted in a belief that art within an airport environment has the power to elevate the ordinary into the memorable, transforming a functional transit space into something that speaks to identity, place, and belonging. The installation was to reflect the city as travelers encounter it, a Hyderabad that carries the weight of its heritage while moving confidently toward a modern future.

Implementation Summary

In response to this brief, we conceived AIRAVAS, a large-scale installation composed of eighteen cubes and cuboids of varying scales, each clad in hand-painted treated leather crafted in the tradition of Tholu Bommalata, the centuries-old shadow puppetry and leather craft of Andhra Pradesh. The arrangement of these geometric forms collectively evokes the contemporary skyline of Hyderabad, while concealing within it a deeper mythological layer: when viewed from specific distances, the lamps at either end of the composition resolve into the silhouettes of Airavata, the celestial elephant, and Uchchaihshravas, the divine horse, both of whom emerged from the Samudra Manthan and carry associations of auspiciousness, protection, and journeys through the sky. Each individual lamp is rendered with intricate motifs drawn from nature, depicting scenes of wildlife, community, and coexistence, embedding a quiet ecological consciousness within the larger cultural narrative. Fabricated over six months in close collaboration with Kanday Anjanappa, a seventh-generation master of the Tholu Bommalata craft, the installation reinterprets a traditional art form through a contemporary architectural vocabulary, inviting travelers to pause, look closely, and find in this convergence of geometry, light, mythology, and craft a gateway into the layered identity of Hyderabad.

About the Project / Client Brief

Devgarhi is a 6,500 sq. ft. private residential bungalow in Sector 66, Gurugram, designed by Ar. Meena Murthy Kakkar of Envisage Architects and completed in 2024 for a well-travelled family who wanted their devotional life and collected souvenirs built into the architecture, not placed on top of it. The style is a colonial Indian revival that braids Chettinad, Rajasthan, and the Konkan coast. Chettinad teak pillars are treated as cultural thresholds; the ground floor reads as an open-plan triptych of living, dining, and baithak, stitched together by an Italian marble floor inlaid with brass parchin kari. Athangudi tessellations crossed with Turko-Persian tilework, ochre Jaisalmer stone, a verre églomisé Rajasthani window, and Nilaya Sabyasachi wallpaper define the architectural palette. The colour ground is muted: beige, matte chestnut, cinnamon, and sandstone, with disciplined accents of indigo, turquoise, and matcha green.

Implementation Summary

Each MeMeraki piece was chosen for a specific architectural register. The monochrome Divine Deity Sanjhi by Ashutosh Verma reads as a graphic threshold against the marble foyer floor. The maroon-ochre Remover of Obstacles in Stone Dust by Amita Sachdeva, Mysore art by Hemalatha B, mirrors the home's regional braid at the level of pigment. The gold-leaf The Dance of Devotion: Sharad Poornima Pichwai by Shehzaad Ali Sherani carries the bungalow's spiritual register in the guest bedroom. The Lion's Pride: Majestic Cats in Gond by Gareeba Tekam holds the compact ante room above its powder-blue rug. Together, the four works mark a devotional threshold in each primary room, in the medium and idiom most native to it.

About the Project / Client Brief

A four-level, 10-year-old bungalow in Gurugram, redesigned in 2025 by Navya Aggarwal of Studio Navya for Shikha and Vishal Pahwa, whose three-generation home was briefed in three words: warm, grounded, resonant with memories. The exterior was left untouched; the interiors carry the family's history. The base is modern: clean-lined furniture, muted tones, contemporary materials. The soul, as Navya puts it, is heritage. A concrete dining table is inlaid with brass referencing Kolam patterns; a Chennai-style swing nods to a grandparent's South Indian roots; a Gond-inspired wallpaper tracks time spent in Madhya Pradesh; curtains carry embroidered tree, animal, and flower motifs. The palette runs muted in beige, subtle peach, and pale green, saturating into earthy terracotta and deep green in the kitchen, set against a black-granite counter.

Implementation Summary

Each MeMeraki piece was chosen for a specific room and a specific state. Woman Warrior in Mata ni Pachedi by Dilip Chitara carries the brief's empowerment thread on a vermilion ground from the Vaghri tradition of Ahmedabad. Sudheer's Tree of Life Kalamkari brings the natural-dye penwork of Srikalahasti, peacocks at the base. Geeta Bariya's Bhil and Venkat Shyam's Tree of Life in Gond hold the Madhya Pradesh memory carried by the wallpaper. Sonali Chitrakar's modern Kalighat brings Bengal, Vidya Soni's Mandana the white-on-red geometry of Bhilwara, and Krishna Tashi Palmo's Green Tara Thangka the Himalayan Buddhist lineage from Spiti. Together, the seven works map the home across seven states.