India Design, Delhi 2026
Theme: Samskara
In this exhibit, we took it one step further and spoke about how language did not pass on through grammar alone. Here, language shed its grammatical skin and became fully embodied as Samskara — the subtle imprints that moved not through textbooks, but through people and objects, through touch, sound, weight, and ritual and repetition.
In a world increasingly shaped by homogenized speech and digital fluency, the fragile threads of indigenous tongues were fading. Yet these very languages held the blueprints for resilience, empathetic communities, and coexistence with nature — precisely what we urgently needed to navigate today’s climate, identity, and cultural crises.
Language, therefore, did not pass on through grammar alone. It shed its grammatical skin and became embodied as Samskara — subtle imprints that travelled not through textbooks, but through people and objects, through touch, sound, weight, ritual, and repetition.
Sarveśvara
Size: 60 H x 24 L x 16 D Inches
Material: brass breads, brass pipes, ghungaroo in brass
Artisans: Saddam, Omveer, Waseem, Rehman
Craft Technique: sand casting, welding
The elephant emerges here as a timeless convergence of strength, wisdom, and memory—a presence that feels both ancient and awake. In its form, the spirit of Ganesha quietly resonates: the remover of obstacles, the guardian of new beginnings, and the gentle deity who is offered hibiscus flowers as a gesture of devotion and love.
Saksit- Vessels of Continuity
Size: 108 H x 60 L x 70 D Inches
Material: waste paper, brass
Artisans: Kaunsar Ahmad Shah, Ab Hamid Shah, Omveer, Ashok, Deep, Rehman, Jaswant
Artist: Puja Swain
Craft Technique: sakhtasazi (papier-mâché), sand casting, welding
In ancient times the tree held a sacred and social place. Rituals, gatherings, decisions, and transitions of life happened under the tree. Our ancestors worshipped it, rested beneath it, and trusted it as a witness to human life. It has always been a living archive rooted in the past yet constantly growing forward.
Wedding rituals are one of the strongest spaces where this natural passing on still survives. Here language does not exist as words alone. It moves through objects, gestures, vessels, and materials. The hanging vessels on the brass branches represent these rituals each one carrying meaning, memory, and unspoken consent.
The black papier mâché trunk stands as a metaphor for preservation — for the density, gravity, and integrity that rituals require to retain their meaning. Black here is not absence, but absorption: a colour that holds, protects, and refuses dilution. Like a ritual anchored in continuity, the darkened form evokes strength, endurance, and the quiet resilience needed to withstand erosion in changing times.
Today the importance of the tree has reduced, replaced by enclosed spaces and written systems. Through this work the tree is brought back as a ritual centre, a reminder that language like a tree must remain living shared and passed on.
To preserve language is not to store it.
It is to let it grow and pass upon.
āvṛtti
Size: 58 H x 58 L x 2 D Inches
Material: waste paper
Artisans: Kaunsar Ahmad Shah, Ab Hamid Shah
Craft technique: sakhtasazi (papier-mâché)
This artwork carries forward the essence of repetition.
What is repeated enters the body.
What enters the body becomes natural.
What feels natural sustains continuity.
Language, is not transmitted only through concepts, books, or formal instruction. It is carried through rhythm, gesture, sensory environments, emotional atmosphere , and ritual.
Its power lies not in explanation, but in repetition, embodied enactment, shared rhythms, sensory immersion, and atmosphere. A ritual logically explained may feel distant or symbolic; a ritual repeatedly lived becomes grounding, intimate, and real.
A sectional form revealing forty rings visualises time not as linear progression, but as layered accumulation. Each ring marks duration; each fissure registers interruption. Cracks do not signify erasure, but pause, rupture, weathering, survival.
Mangrohi Khamb
Size: 63.5 H x 87.5 L x 1.5 D Inches
Material: waste paper
Artisans: Kaunsar Ahmad Shah, Ab Hamid Shah, Pramod
Artist: Richa
Craft technique: sakhtasazi (papier-mâché)
A central wooden post, often from a Salai tree, is installed in the marriage booth (mandap). This pole represents the "world axis" or "world pillar" where the divine, nature, and human realms converge.
The sculptures for the exhibition came into being through a process of collaboration between research, craft, design, and the philosophy of Takshni. From the beginning, the intent was not to create an object in isolation, but to allow the craftsperson, the materials, and the brand’s design language and vision to shape the outcome together.
The process began with close interaction with the paper mache artisans, specifically practitioners of Sakhtasazi, the traditional technique that forms the structural backbone of paper mache. They introduced us to the material through their lived practices, showing how pulp is prepared, how glue is made, and how the material is shaped through instinct and experience. This knowledge formed the base of the sculpture. Instead of altering the craft immediately, we spent time observing, learning, and understanding the rhythm of their work and their relationship with the material.
As the collaboration progressed, Takshni’s role emerged as a translator between traditional craft and contemporary design. Through dialogue with the artisans, we began to intervene carefully by breaking down their intuitive methods into measurable compositions. Ratios were tested, refined, and adjusted to support the scale and structural needs of the tree sculpture. These interventions did not replace the artisan’s knowledge, but worked alongside it, allowing the material to perform in new ways while remaining rooted in its original process.