Designer Gunjan Gupta reinvents Indian design.

Confronted by the double-edged sword of modernization, India’s ancient and courtly artisanal traditions have ceded much territory in the struggle for the country’s creative consciousness. Award-winning designer Gunjan Gupta of Wrap Art & Design in New Delhi has made it her mission to defend the heritage that is being lost. By forging new relationships between modern design aesthetics and age-old craft techniques, from carpet and textile weaving to metalwork and pottery, her work flies in the face of the narrative that the world’s regional art forms are condemned to decline.

Gupta’s multifaceted design practice—encompassing furniture, products, interiors, and events—reflects India’s ever-present dualities: technology infused with tradition, bling against a backdrop of poverty, raw and luxurious materials working in tandem to form spaces and objects imbued with the imprint of Mother India. Winner of the British Council’s Young Creative Entrepreneur Award in 2007 and named Elle Décor’s Designer of the Year in 2012, she has presented her sustainable, culturally responsive vision to the world at the major furniture fairs in New York, Milan, and London, among others. In dialogue with the global design community and a group of India’s most skilled artisans, Gupta is shaping a fresh identity for contemporary India.

Designer Gunjan Gupta © Studio WRAP

Lollie Barr: You work across many design platforms. How did you combine these elements to develop the concept of Wrap Art & Design?

Gunjan Gupta: I wanted to create an innovative, contemporary, culturally driven design studio. For a very long time, Indian designers hadn’t felt the need to experiment, nor to be very vocal about their Indian culture. I wanted to do things differently. Prior to completing my MA in design at Central Saint Martins in London, I worked purely as an interior designer. I started Wrap in 2006 with my collection of Gold & Silver Wrapped Thrones. These were conceptual pieces of furniture that explored the idea of taking contemporary luxury from India to the rest of the world. I wanted to move away from simple nostalgia and make my work more sculptural, more international, but also uniquely Indian in terms of palette and geometry. Showing at 100% Design validated the possibility and gave birth to a completely new vision—a new expression of Indian-infused design.

LB: You’re originally from Mumbai. What inspired the move to Delhi? How does Delhi inform your work?

GG: I fell in love and got married! It was difficult at first, but I truly discovered India when I moved here. In Bombay, you are not connected to the rest of the country. It’s urban and moves like an international city. Delhi prompted me to seek out the incredible craft centers just a few hours outside the city, which had been totally underutilized. I wanted to challenge the growing prejudice against traditional craftsmanship. Clients wanted homes and workplaces that were starkly and completely modern. There was no cultural relevance. Perhaps an Indian painting over the sofa, but that is where it ended.

LB: How did the backstory of Indian culture inspire your design process?

GG: I was researching crafts and working with craftspeople and found there was no contemporary thread making use of these skills in terms of product design. I decided to reinvent forms present throughout the Indian experience—be it a thali set, a dining table, a sofa, or a stool. I enjoy unpacking a story and then using it as a backdrop to create new designs—sculptural pieces coming out of different traditions but coming together in a luxurious 21^st century context.

I wanted to challenge the growing prejudice against traditional craftsmanship. Clients wanted homes and workplaces that were starkly and completely modern. There was no cultural relevance.

LB: You work with craftspeople in Delhi, Jaipur, and Udaipur. How does the collaborative process work?

GG: I’m overwhelmed by their skills and knowledge base, passed down through generations. When I first started out, I would go to their studios—often their homes—but that resulted in a lack of continuity. Now we invite craftspeople to work in our studio, so we’re better able to control the high-quality outcomes we desire. We don’t want to change the way they do things; we only want to support it and bring out the very best.

LB: As much as you use super-lux, expensive materials, you also make use of raw components such as copper and jute. Yet your work still has an extraordinary contemporary sensibility. How do these traditional materials resonate with you?

GG: If you are a designer living in India, there is really no distinction. While jute and terracotta may not be costly materials, they represent important aspects of Indian culture. For instance, you see jute sacks containing agricultural produce stacked from top to bottom all over Delhi. It’s an eye catching visual installation, which I interpreted very simply into sofas; they look straightforward but the construction is incredibly complex. These sofas are a world away from the gold- and silver-leaf dining thrones, which are minimalist in form but use audacious Indian materials to bring about a conceptual tension. It’s translating the paradoxes of India into new forms.

LB: India has an exquisite color palette—from holy white to brilliant jewel tones. What part does color play in your work?

GG: Initially I was quite reserved, sticking to natural tones. But now I’m getting excited by the entire story of Indian textiles and engaging with the Navaratna, the nine gemstone tones. I’ll use splashes of sapphire or ruby to honor that heritage and give a project a uniquely India flavor. The Indian textile industry has always been interpreted from a Western perspective; yet there are very few times you will see an interesting color story coming from an Indian perspective. Modern designers are usually very restrained. I’m now using many textile traditions and elements throughout my work, such as working with rug weavers in Jaipur.

LB: As India rushes headlong into the future, are these traditional skills being passed down, or are they dying?

GG: Sadly they are very much dying. The next generation of craftsmen would rather work in call centers or engage with the urban story of modern India than work in the traditions of their families. It’s easy to understand, as there is very little demand for a high-quality artisanal skill set. It’s a much larger problem than any one of us can solve individually. Hopefully we’ve managed to make the craft story a very interesting one, not only for our clients and consumer base in India but also for overseas buyers—which offers some hope.

Artisan at Studio WRAP © Studio WRAP

LB: Your clients include leading Indian industrialists as well as top Indian companies. Is there a renaissance in pride about Indian’s design heritage?

GG: We’ve been quite successful in taking it to the next level. If you can influence your clients to buy into the “Made In India” story, instead of say Italian design, it naturally filters down. For example, we are currently undertaking a real estate project in Bangalore with a prestigious developer whereby Wrap is designing the show apartment. Clients can replicate our work in the other apartments by bringing in craftspeople to work on bespoke installations and pieces.

LB: You’re a groundbreaker in terms of placing Indian design on the world design stage. Will we see more Indian designers making their mark internationally?

GG: I hope so! I would love to see more of my colleagues move into international representation to spread the message. I’m launching a new design gallery in Delhi at my warehouse-studio featuring my own work and a selection of the very best of contemporary Indian design. Surprisingly there isn’t one gallery or store in India dedicated to contemporary design. It’s quite extraordinary when you consider our rich design history. I’m hoping to change that.

Gunjan Gupta's work is represented by Erastudio Apartment Gallery in Milan.

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    Lollie Barr

    A proud global citizen and self confessed gypsy, English-born, Australian-raised writer Lollie lives in Berlin, where she divides her time being an internationally commissioned freelance journalist, writing novels, playing guitar, singing, and traveling.