At India Design ID 2025, a special exhibition titled INDIA BY DESIGN took the visitors by hold. Exhibited during the design week from 20-23 February 2025, this was an artistic journey into the colours, textures, materials, and histories that make up the country.

The author sits down with Srila Chatterjee, co-founder and curator of Baro Market and 47-A, to discuss the trajectory of Indian art, craft, and design. Chatterjee wonderfully examines and urges us to pause and pay attention to all that is crafted by many hands from various corners of the country. “Tradition, skill, and heritage: how we love them, forget about them, and turn them on their heads for jaw-dropping, utterly original and perfectly fitting-in art and design you can admire forever” is our favourite, most treasured takeaway from this conversation. 

India Design ID: Hi, Srila. I hope you are well. What would you like to tell us about the INDIA BY DESIGN exhibition?

Srila Chatterjee: I was invited to bring my great belief in craft to this show because Misha and Aashti saw what we did at the one [at India Design ID in September 2024] in Mumbai. And with our interaction, I think the idea that design that is handcrafted or crafted very specifically doesn’t just belong to museums and to places that are trying to look as if they’re either a temple or a fort or a palace but can exist in everyday living and that craft is not relegated to traditional things. Based on that, what I present is everything that comes out of India—that’s crafted, hand-done, beautifully designed, and you can live with every day and love. So it’s a very simple thing. It’s not about looking at something and saying, “Oh, this is lovely, but it doesn’t belong here”. [These designs] belong in your very life and fit in. It doesn’t matter that they are handcrafted or that it’s about old skills. You chose them because they’re fantastic!

ID: That’s lovely. What was highlighted at the INDIA BY DESIGN exhibition?

Srila: This was a space with all kinds of designs, ranging from what would traditionally be called art to furniture, crafts, accessories, and lighting. It was all set up to look like a living space. Similar to a setup, it was also made to feel like that corner could be in your home. Also, there were no installations. The whole thing itself is one living installation. 

On display (L-R): The Table That Almost Wasn’t and It Looks Better In Orange by Ajay Shah Design Studio, Fractals by Ramesh Marwada, 64 Yoginis by Sanjay Chitara, Amalokh Bench

ID: Your take on contemporary Indian artists is interesting. What inspired you to research Indian craft specifically, and how did you diversify this research? 

Srila: I’m not a researcher and have not actually studied any of this. [My interest in Indian craft] is more organic. It comes from interest, meeting people from travel, and inviting those researchers into spaces like 47-A, where we get a lot out of this. The whole idea has been to work with how design is part of your everyday living craft.

ID: Is [promoting art and design] something you always wanted to do? Is it something that you have wished to pursue since the beginning of your professional career? 

Srila: No, my professional career has taken many trajectories that have just morphed into each other. I was a film producer for twenty-five years, which is entirely different. And, you know, I’ve been the founder and a partner of Blue Frog, which was entirely different. And I have done many other things, but they all morph into each other because there’s art and design in all of them. So [art and design] is something that I was always interested in. 

ID: It was interesting to learn that. The craftspeople participating in this exhibition bring fascinating artworks that inspire thought-provoking conversations. How did you come across them? How were they introduced to you? 

Srila: Various ways. Some of them are very well-known and have been around for ages. Some of them I met while travelling. We then invite them to come and tell us what they can do, after which their work becomes a show at 47-A. Every time you have one show, you meet one person, then you meet other people, and so on.

ID: As mentioned earlier, you intended to make the entire experience feel like a real living space. As you said, you will not be using any installations. How does this affect your imagination of space, walls and boundaries? And why do you think this is important to art, craft, and design? 

Srila: This exhibition was not mainly about art, craft, or design. It is just how we wanted to do it. When you are limited in space, how can you make it look cool without breaking it all into tiny spaces? That’s where it came from. Kunal Shah (who helped set this place up) and I are both great believers in organic concepts.

ID: About the exhibition title, INDIA BY DESIGN, do you want to elaborate on this play of words? What does India Design ID mean to you? And how do you bring this into the architecture and design conversation? 

Srila: So India Design ID is something I actually experienced for the first time in Mumbai. It has been around for years. I’ve known about it and always assumed this wasn’t a place for a voice like ours. It was Misha (Fair Director at India Design ID) who spent a long time with me at India Design ID Mumbai and convinced me that it was a good idea to have a different point of view. At our booth at India Design ID Mumbai, we indeed received an amazing response. It was because we looked different from most things. Most people really loved the designs that were being presented, and it just made sense to continue the conversation. So it just came in a flash, and it’s a lovely idea to say INDIA BY DESIGN because that is the idea. 

ID: Srila, where do you see Indian contemporary art, craft, and design in the next ten years? How do you think this concept will reshape the future of design in our country? 

Srila: 47-A is part of the umbrella of Baro Market. I see the change we experience in the locally available things, and they don’t aspire only to an international brand or a standard thing. COVID-19 also significantly changed the concept of people’s homes and what they wanted to do in them. It’s always been easy to talk about design only from the point of view of the great affluence of great spaces. That’s one part. The second part is to show people that they can be original and create things out of a craft they admire and like—to take that craft and make it entirely modern. Tradition, skill, and heritage: how we love them, forget about them, and turn them on their heads for jaw-dropping, utterly original, and perfectly fitting-in art and design you can admire forever. Looking into the future or the next ten years, this language doesn’t have to be relegated to being part of Indian design. It could be designed anywhere in the world. If you take the stamp out of being ethnic and it starts becoming a fabulous design, then that is all it needs—to take wings and go anywhere to stand on its own.  

ID: Thank you so much for doing this interview with us. 

Srila: Thank you.

INDIA BY DESIGN, curated by Srila Chatterjee, was exhibited at India Design ID 2025 from 20 to 23 February 2025.