Fifteen Indian design brands worth knowing

With India's interior design market predicted to double over the next decade, we spotlight 15 homegrown furniture and homeware brands looking to make an impression on the global stage.

According to a recent IMARC Group report, India's design market will grow from $31.5 billion in 2023 to $67.4 billion in 2032, fuelled by a boom in real-estate development.

Mumbai looks set to become the nation's design hub. The city saw the launch of India's first collectable design gallery, Æquō, in 2022, while a new contemporary design fair, Design Mumbai, debuted this month.

In an interview with Dezeen, Design Mumbai co-founder Piyush Suri said he believes Mumbai will become a destination for the global design market in the coming years.

"The time is now for Indian design to erupt in the international scene," he said.

The country has numerous design brands looking to be part of this growth story, many of which are finding innovative ways of reinterpreting Indian craft traditions.

Read on for details of 15 Indian design brands worth knowing:

Sār

Sār was born in 2017 when brand founder Nikita Bhate asked German designer Pascal Hien to collaborate on a furniture series that reinterpreted Indian lifestyle rituals into a European design language.

The brand now has its own design residence, located in the city of Pune, and a growing furniture range.

Highlights include the Barza lounge sofa, with its distinct overhanging armrests, and the new Rise collection, which takes cues from a traditional Chowki low seat.

Phantom Hands

Bangalore-based Phantom Hands is a brand combining heritage products with contemporary designs.

The brand's first collection, launched in 2015, saw founders Deepak Srinath and Aparna Rao reissue modernist furniture that was originally designed for the city of Chandigarh in the 1950s.

More recently, the brand has released new ranges by designers including Swiss studio Big-Game, Scottish woodworker Derek Welsh and German designer Klemens Grund.

Jaipur Rugs

A brand that needs little introduction, Jaipur Rugs is one of India's biggest interior design exports.

Founded by entrepreneur Nand Kishore Chaudhary in 1978, the brand now employs over 40,000 artisans to produce its intricate handmade carpets.

This year the brand unveiled a collection that takes cues from the architectural details of the historic Alhambra palace in Granada, as well as collaborations with ADML, the studio led by Italian architect Michele De Lucchi, and Chanel-owned yarn atelier Vimar 1991.

Josmo

Josmo offers a whimsical range of statement furniture and homeware that reflects the eclectic style of its founder and creative director, Goa-based designer Anjali Mody,

The brand's products often combine digital fabrication technologies with handcraft traditions, resulting in surprising juxtapositions of form and texture.

Josmo has opened a new store in Mumbai, where products on show include the biscuit-inspired Biscoff furniture, the intricately carved Nanyuki dining table and the playful Melt mirrors.

The Wicker Story

The Wicker Story began as a spin-off of Hyderabad-based Prelab Design Studio, led by architect Priyanka Narula, exploring how digital design tools could unlock new possibilities for traditional wicker weaving techniques.

The studio quickly grew into its own entity, producing customisable pieces across interior design, furniture, lighting and art.

The technology allows for complex geometries, offering the potential for large-scale pieces with undulating curves and eye-catching colour patterns.

Ikkis

The latest venture from Delhi-based artist Gunjan Gupta, Ikkis is a newly launched brand that puts a contemporary spin on traditional Indian tableware.

Ikkis debuted its inaugural collections earlier this year in the Milan exhibition Indian Tiny Mega Store.

Products are handcrafted in brass, ceramic, enamel and terracotta-coated copper. They are also designed to tesselate, allowing for creative and colourful table settings.

Objectry

Sculptural forms play a big role in the furniture and homeware of Delhi-based brand Objectry, founded by designer and Parsons alumnus Aanchal Goel in 2015.

Collections such as Cone, Ball, Terra and Facet feature bold geometries that take cues from their names.

The brand produces over 100 different products, encompassing everything from tableware and stationery to door handles and storage.

Viya

Delhi-based designer Vikram Goyal is on his way to becoming a global name since beginning a collaboration with the prolific Milanese design gallery Nilufar in 2023.

Viya is Goyal's own brand, founded in Delhi in 2004. Its products celebrate the decorative craft that defines the designer's work, featuring furniture and objects sculpted from brass, stone inlay, cane, rope and more.

Morii

Indian textile traditions reach new heights in the hand-embroidered fabrics of Gujarat-based brand Morii.

Founded by textile artist and designer Brinda Dudhat, Morii works with a network of women artisans dotted around India to produce highly detailed contemporary textiles.

For the inaugural Design Mumbai, the brand unveiled Forest Spirit, a large-scale wall covering made by 16 artisans over nine months, featuring all kinds of intricate stitched patterns and details.

Bombay Design Lab

Indian designer Rehan Parikh studied in London before returning home and launching Bombay Design Lab, an interior studio and furniture brand based in Mumbai.

Parikh's characterful collections show the designer's eye for clever pairings of material and colour finishes. They include the curvy-edged Melt tables and the enjoyably oversized Fat furniture.

Paul Matter

Paul Matter is the lighting brand of Delhi-based designer Nikhil Paul, whose work has been showcased by international design gallery Philia.

Paul's signature designs include Tryst, a collection of sculptural pieces featuring elegant knots of tubular brass, and Plus, a series characterised by a sequence of cylinders.

Industrial Playground

The furniture of Mumbai-based design brand Industrial Playground embodies the playful, graphic style of its founder, designer Ajay Shah.

Curvy forms in fibre-reinforced plastic feature alongside pieces made from neatly folded sheet metal, with finishes in bold shades of red, blue, yellow and green.

At Design Mumbai, designs on show included the folded aluminium It Looks Better in Orange Chair, the tubular Float bench and the street-furniture-inspired tube-shaped Fold seat.

Vivaarta

Ahmedabad-based Vivaarta is a home accessories brand exploring contemporary applications for hand-turned wood.

Founded in 2019 by architect Apurva Pandey and designer Pawan Sankhla, the brand's objects combine smooth curves with the colour contrasts of different woods.

Product highlights include the bottle-shaped Sinuous Lamp set and the characterful Spike butter knife.

Shailesh Rajput Studio

The eponymous studio of Mumbai-based designer Shailesh Rajput, founded with partner Mansi Mehta, produces hand-sculpted lighting designs that mimic forms and textures found in nature.

Shailesh Rajput Studio designs often feature cast aluminium, textured resin, sculpted clay and blown glass.

The latest collection saw the studio branch out into furniture, with designs including a console with a rhino-skin texture, a whale-shaped bench and sconces resembling elephant ears.

Andblack

The furniture spin-off of Ahmedabad-based architecture studio Andblack specialises in transforming plywood into slender undulating curves that often appear to defy gravity.

Led by architect Kanika Agrawal and designer Jwalant Mahadevwala, Andblack Furniture's collection includes curvaceous chairs, tables, jhoolas, consoles and lighting.

Design Mumbai took place at Jio World Garden in Mumbai from 6 to 9 November. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

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