Architecture
AD Architectural Digest India
The Historian
For our craftsmanship issue, we visit the Dashavatara Temple in Deogarh. Dating back to the 6th century, built at the height of the Gupta Empire, its stone sculptures mark an important moment when carving entered its mature classical form in India.
2 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
JAIPUR-BASED ATELIER FROZEN MUSIC LENDS ITS ARTISTIC EXPERTISE TO A TINO ZERVUDACHI PROJECT IN DELHI.
Known for his global portfolio of rarefied interiors—from yachts and country estates to Parisian townhouses—British interior designer Tino Zervudachi has long been revered for marrying classical proportion with quiet daring.
1 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
WITH A NEW FLAGSHIP STORE IN NEW DELHI, FRENCH CRYSTAL HOUSE BACCARAT REKINDLES ITS ENDURING RELATIONSHIP WITH INDIA.
When a chandelier travels across centuries and continents to illuminate a new space, it carries more than just light—it brings forth memory, history and generational craftsmanship.
1 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL
A truckload of lime from Tamil Nadu, a bricklaying technique used by the Nubians of Africa, and a bright young talent. Architect and author Ramu Katakam reports on Kabir Nijjar and his experiments with brick.
3 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
STUDIO RAW MATERIAL'S RECENT WORK REFLECTS THE RHYTHMS OF THE FAMED MARBLE QUARRIES OF MAKRANA IN RAJASTHAN.
Studio Raw Material transforms place into story and story into its lyrical fragments.
2 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
BRITISH JEWELLERY DESIGNER ALICE CICOLINI REIMAGINES MEENAKARI WITH PASTEL SHADES OF LACQUER ENAMEL FOR ZOYA.
When Alexandra David-Néel crossed into Lhasa in 1924, disguised as a pilgrim, she became the first Western woman to do so.
1 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
THE HOMO FABER FELLOWSHIP PAIRS 23 MASTER ARTISANS WITH EMERGING TALENT-THEIR FINAL WORK IS SEEN AT MILAN DESIGN WEEK.
In its three editions, Homo Faber Biennale, the contemporary craft fair held at Venice’s Giorgio Cini Foundation, has been a triumph.
1 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
ARTIST-DESIGNER VIHAR KOTECHA FINDS INSPIRATION IN THE DECORATIVE BEAUTY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.
An exquisitely carved porcelain monolith, the Resurgence Sculpture by Vihar Kotecha is a fascinating paradox.
1 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
SCULPTOR STEPHEN COX'S DAVID BOWIE-INSPIRED BIDRI SCULPTURE EXHIBITS AT LONDON CRAFT WEEK.
A chance encounter with founder Sridhar Poddar at a museum brought British sculptor Stephen Cox into the fold of Kaash, the Bengaluru-based cultural space.
1 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
NOSTALGIA AND CRAFT COME TOGETHER IN SHED'S NEWEST PIECE: A CARROM BOARD MADE WITH MARBLE INLAY AND MINIATURE-PAINTING-STYLE DRAWINGS.
Surat-based designer Priyanka Shah has built her practice creating whimsical one-off pieces through her studio Shed.
1 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
INSPIRED BY HER TRAVELS TO INDIA, BRITISH DESIGNER NINA CAMPBELL PARTNERS WITH FIRED EARTH TO CRAFT A PAINTERLY TILE COLLECTION.
Award-winning interior designer Nina Campbell has an enduring love for India, which has inspired many visits to the country over the past 20 years.
1 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
THE TRADITIONAL CRAFT OF BIDRI IS REIMAGINED IN THIS SCULPTED BAR CABINET BY NOLWA STUDIO.
Rohit Naag, the founder and creative director of Hyderabad-based design practice Nolwa Studio, visited 12 craft clusters across India in search of a fitting muse.
1 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
ARTISANAL SKILL AND TECHNICAL INGENUITY COME TOGETHER IN THE DASH PENDANT LAMP BY ITALIAN MAKER GHIDINI 1961.
Let there be light—or perhaps not.
1 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
AHMEDABADBASED ANDBLACK DESIGN STUDIO'S LOOP SERIES EXPLORES THE IDEA OF INFINITY THROUGH FORM.
If there is a special talent of Andblack Design Studio, it is to imagine a building and a bulb in the same breath.
1 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
BRAZILIAN BRAND ETEL REISSUES OSCAR NIEMEYER'S ICONIC CHAISE, BRINGING BACK AN IMPORTANT CHAPTER OF DESIGN HISTORY.
Etel has long been recognised for preserving pieces and typologies created by leading designers and artists, with collections comprising a hundred years of Brazilian furniture history.
1 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
DESIGNER ELAD YIFRACH OPENS L'OBJET IN NEW DELHI, BRINGING CLASSIC CRAFTSMANSHIP AND ARTIST COLLABORATIONS TO INDIA.
The first thing that strikes the eye is a crocodile. Gilded in gold, studded with stones, Haas Pedro (yes, it has a name!) sits on the front shelf at L'objet's newest outpost in New Delhi.
2 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
HAND-EMBROIDERED 3D APPLIQUÉ ADORNS STANLEY LIFESTYLES' LATEST SOFA.
Bengaluru-based furniture maker Stanley Lifestyles' journey began in 1999 with a straightforward vision—to make in India.
1 min |
July - August 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
UMAID BHAWAN
IN THE 1920S, WHEN JODHPUR WAS FACED WITH A FAMINE, MAHARAJA UMAID SINGH COMMISSIONED ARCHITECT HENRY VAUGHAN LANCHESTER TO DESIGN A PALACE. BUILT OVER 13 YEARS, ENGAGING OVER 3,000 WORKERS IN ITS CONSTRUCTION, THE UMAID BHAWAN PALACE-HOME TO THE ROYAL FAMILY AS WELL AS A HERITAGE HOTEL-IS THE MOST BREATH-TAKING EXAMPLE OF INDO DECO. HERE, FOR THE FIRST TIME, WE SEE A GLIMPSE INTO THE PRIVATE ROOMS OF THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS.
4 min |
May - June 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
IN 1935, SHIAVAX CAMBATA COMMISSIONED A PICTURE PALACE TO BE A JEWEL OF THE EAST. LAST YEAR, MUMBAI'S EROS CINEMA REOPENED AFTER A PRECIOUS RESTORATION.
When Eros Cinema was inaugurated in 1938— almost a decade after the Roaring '20s ended— it must have seemed like something from another world.
3 min |
May - June 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
KUBER SHAH'S PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE OF ART DECO SIGNAGES ACROSS MUMBAI SHOWS A DELIGHTFUL DIVERSITY OF TYPEFACES.
To quiz Kuber Shah about how he identifies art deco typography in Mumbai is akin to asking the old resident of a neighbourhood if they use a map to navigate it.
2 min |
May - June 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
DIWIKS, THE CULT RADIOS, ARE CRAFTED IN A HISTORIC PINK SANDSTONE STUDIO IN BIKANER, ROOTED IN THE REGION'S ART DECO LEGACY.
Over the last few centuries, it witnessed several maharajas and colonisers.
3 min |
May - June 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
SHIRIN BHARUCHA'S HOME IN SOUTH MUMBAI'S ART DECO PRECINCT OF OVAL MAIDAN IS AN ABSORBING STUDY IN THE ARCHITECTURAL STYLE AND ITS TIMELESS FLAIR.
Octogenarian Shirin Bharucha feels it is a rare privilege to live in a neighbourhood that has remained more or less the same through all the eight decades that she has spent there.
3 min |
May - June 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
FOUNDED IN 1934, KAMDAR LTD WAS BEHIND A LOT OF MUMBAI'S ART DECO INTERIORS OF THE TIME.PROPOSALS TO CLIENTS WERE MADE WITH THESE ARTISTIC WATERCOLOUR RENDERINGS.
On April 18, 1940, a splashy seven-page spread in The Times of India announced the opening of a grand art deco office building opposite Churchgate station in Bombay.
2 min |
May - June 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
SANJAY GARG ON HOW ART DECO MOTIFS REFLECT IN RAW MANGO'S EVOLVING TEXTILE LEXICON.
For Raw Mango loyalists, the allure lies as much in the sublime brocades as in the cultivated eye of its founder, Sanjay Garg—an antiquarian attuned to the poetry of form.
1 min |
May - June 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
POOJA VIR OF PICTOR PUBLISHING SPEAKS WITH ATUL KUMAR, FOUNDER, ART DECO MUMBAI TRUST, DELVING INTO HIS LOVE AND DEDICATION FOR PRESERVING MUMBAI'S ART DECO HERITAGE.
Touch of Beige, Faded Salmon, Wild Prune. Palm Court residents have been poring over shade cards with the proposed colours for our currently forlorn building.
2 min |
May - June 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
SOLEUS, SOUTH MUMBAI'S FAVOURITE FITNESS STUDIO, IS A HIDDEN GEM IN THE HISTORIC ART DECO BUILDING OF DHANRAJ MAHAL.
Of all the art deco buildings in Mumbai, Dhanraj Mahal in Colaba stands out for its size and scale.
2 min |
May - June 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
THE ICONIC MORVI PALACE IN GUJARAT
Four hours west of Ahmedabad, along a spectacularly straight road dotted with occasional settlements, sits one of India's most surprising architectural masterpieces: a maharaja's palace designed to conform to the purest precepts of art deco style.
3 min |
May - June 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
SCULPTED IN TIME: SIX ART DECO-INSPIRED COLLECTIBLES THAT CELEBRATE MACHINE AGE MODERNISM, MATERIAL INNOVATION AND GLAMOROUS RESTRAINT.
CELEBRATE MACHINE AGE MODERNISM, MATERIAL INNOVATION AND GLAMOROUS RESTRAINT.
2 min |
May - June 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
When Maharaja Yeshwant Rao Holkar II of Indore and his wife, Maharani Sanyogita, invited Eckart Muthesius to collaborate with them, it was to construct more than just a palace.
Through the creation of Manik Bagh, or Garden of Rubies, the couple established a truly modern identity for themselves, confirming their legacy as discerning and committed patrons at the forefront of the international avant-garde.
4 min |
May - June 2025
AD Architectural Digest India
HANUT SINGH WRITES ABOUT HIS LOVE AFFAIR WITH ART DECO AS THE ETERNAL INSPIRATION FOR HIS JEWELLERY LINE.
The Art Deco movement slays me.
2 min |