In 2017, light&you engaged with 3 contemporary design practices in India, in various stages of their career, to see if we could identify how with their object-making, a sense of regional identity could be evoked.

light&you invited Vishal K Dar to curate this project, where through his interlocution and engagement, new light objects could be developed under the company's inaugural India Series. Dar is an artist, who often uses large abandoned sites and computer controlled lights. His art practice is diverse in terms of medium, where transformations and the nocturne are some of the more visible themes. His recent works have been shown in the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, the 11th Shanghai Biennale, the Jawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur.

Ayush Kasliwal, AKFD Studio

The Deepam Lamp
The Deepam, or the oil lamp is an iconic product. Used consistently across temples in south India, it symbolizes enlightenment and proximity to the divine.

The Deepam Lamp celebrates this iconic product, and interprets it in unusual, yet everyday materials and brings it into everyday spaces. The Lamp becomes familiar yet unfamiliar. The material language of the lamp, cement, rusted iron and automotive lacquer, give us an expectation of weight, while the floating shape, negates this expectation, and instead, invites one to touch it.

The Vein Lamp
Marble is a translucent stone, ideal for lighting, with veins creating a delicate tracery of lines revealed on the surface. Turned on a stone lathe, the Vein Lamp emits a gentle glow.

A cast iron base provides a sculptural stand for an art object that doubles as a light fixture. Choose from a collection of three forms of Vein Lamps to create a mood scape with soft light.

Prateek Jain and Gautam Seth, klove Studio

The Kathakali Series
TEMPLE to STAGE to DESIGN

The Kathakali Series is not only dramatic but also representative of an expressive theatricality by virtue of being sculptural.

Similar to the traditional form, these lamps also evoke a sense of narrative which is deeply rooted in the identity of South India, and at the same time, through careful design intervention the lamp assumes a contemporary avatar.

The sheer beauty of blown glass with rich saturated colors, woven together through brass and black metal is translated into a collection of table lamp and suspension.

Rooshad Shroff

Marble Bulbs
Rooshad Shroff combines motifs seen in embroidery and architecture into a unique collection of hand crafted Marble Bulbs.

The highlight of this product is in the intricacy of overlaying technique with functional aesthetics, an aspect that we often find in the crafts of India. Patterns curve and expand in his investigations shaping the volume into a sculptural artifact. In its making process, the Marble Bulbs travel from Jaipur to Agra, adding layers of expertise performed across vast spans of time. Every hand that touches the marble imbue it with their personal history making each Bulb special.

Available in two versions – CARVED in marble, and the other INLAID with Bheslana Black stone.

Click here to buy this collection by India Series.