Carpet Diem

Danny Mehra’s astonishing carpet collection is truly something to behold.

- Akhila Ranganna

 WALKING INTO DANNY MEHRA'S PRIVATE STUDIO, which houses his extensive collection of tribal carpets, is like stepping into colour and design heaven. There are carpets as far as the eye can see, mounted on walls, stacked on beds and piled on the floor. Each one is beautifully maintained, bursting with colour, and has a story to tell, stories that Mehra, 60, a former global financial markets executive, tells with the flourish of a raconteur. "I find great joy in this," he says with a smile.

Mehra's tryst with tribal carpets began thanks to his mother-in-law, from whom he received a wedding gift of two carpets, picked up at a friend's store in the United States, where he was living at the time. "I liked them, but I didn’t know they would turn out to be a passion," says Mehra, who describes himself as an 'accidental collector'. His first brush with collecting pieces began with furniture in the early 1990s. The clean lines of Mission furniture pieces as well as the rustic appeal of SWAT Valley pieces was what drew him in, and laid the foundation for his aesthetic sense. Several of these pieces can be seen in his studio - an oak chair whose clean lines bely the fact that it weighs around 50 kg, a table with rustic motifs that was put together without any nails (a hallmark of SWAT valley furniture).