India and Italy: a shared language of craft, stone and design

What bash Indian and Italian craftsmanship and plan person successful common? Both countries boast past and storied sculptural languages, Italy successful marble, and India successful makrana marble, soapstone, sandstone and granite.

Today, a emotion of Italy’s plan connection successful chromatic and brushed furnishing, inherent luxury successful leather and minimalist lines, has driven imports of an mean of $7.4 cardinal successful the furnishings plan and gathering materials assemblage each year, arsenic per the Indo-Italy Chamber of Commerce and Industry. To sermon this, ‘Crafting the Contemporary: Architecture and Design Between India and Italy’ was held connected November 11 arsenic portion of the GENS Public Programme astatine the Venice Biennale Architettura 2025, organised successful collaboration with the Indian Chamber of Commerce successful Italy (ICCI) and India Design ID. The lawsuit featured architects and designers from some nations conversing successful the connection of practice and innovation successful modern design. Misha Bains, Fair Director, IndiaDesignID, moderated the treatment with Italian decorator and sculptural creator Matteo Cibic, Italian architectural decorator Paola Marpillero (Studio Marpillero & Associati), and Indian decorator Rooshad Shroff, whose enactment successful creating ephemeral India-first spaces, sets him apart. Edited excerpts from the conversation:

How does materiality play a relation successful the Indian-Italian plan connection?

Bains: Materiality successful chromatic connects India and Italy contiguous done however designers successful some countries are pushing the worldly into caller forms. In India, studios similar [Rooshad] Shroff are hand-carving marble into furnishings and lighting with microtextured surfaces, and Studio Raw Material works with Makrana to nutrient astir architectural objects. In Italy, designers similar Matteo Cibic experimentation with coloured and composite marbles, and brands collaborate with designers similar Piero Lissoni and Patricia Urquiola to make precisely milled chromatic furnishings utilizing precocious CNC technology.

Cibic: For me, moving for a decennary with Scarlet Splendour [Kolkata-based plan studio] to make sculptural pieces started a travel with Indian artisans who learnt to usage resin and mineral powders to make inlay furniture, which was inspired by inlay enactment successful some countries. We play with caller materiality, wherever nary animal-based products are used, but with accomplishment sets already recovered successful India, and drafting from the achromatic and achromatic inlay you find successful Florence, Italy.

Shroff: Our countries person been moving with Carrara (Italy) stones, Makrana successful Jaipur and Agra, and that contented has continued into modern times. Design, successful a way, is becoming global, but erstwhile you absorption connected worldly and craft, it besides roots you to an area, due to the fact that of the practicality of sourcing and craftsmanship. So, some India and Italy are unsocial successful that sense.

In the existent moment, wherefore are Indian interior stylists truthful drawn to Italian plan syntax? And is determination abstraction for Indian plan to transverse planetary borders?

Bains: Italian plan offers sophistication, proportion, restraint and a coherent ocular connection that aligns with India’s increasing sensation for quieter, much intentional luxury. Spaces are being styled now, pairing Italian lighting oregon seating with Indian-made and -designed furniture, textiles, stonework, craft-led objects, creating interiors that consciousness planetary yet rooted. Meanwhile, determination has been a beardown crossover of Indian plan into the Italian abstraction done craft-driven collaborations. Jaipur Rugs has brought Indian hand-knotting to Milan done collections with Matteo Cibic and Richard Hutten astatine Salone del Mobile. Scarlet Splendour has showcased Indian collectible furnishings successful Milan, portion Taro Collective is presenting modern Indian trade and worldly experimentation crossed European platforms. Max Modesti acted arsenic a bridge, bringing Indian embroidery and manus techniques into European precocious manner and design, arsenic Bijoy Jain’s Hermes furnishings postulation and Rahul Mishra’s collaboration with Tod’s further merge Indian craftsmanship with Italy.

Cibic: Today, the Indian marketplace is precise funny successful design, antithetic from different parts of the world, and is precise experimental successful the usage of materials, colours, and shapes. I tin spot determination are immense opportunities with caller clients unfastened to designing their homes with designers pushing the boundaries. I tin spot a ample marketplace for Indian consumers abroad, too. I deliberation the satellite contiguous needs colour and happiness, and you find that, whether successful Jaipur, moving connected a rug postulation oregon successful the antithetic crafts you spot crossed India.

Shroff: Italy has been the mecca of plan for years now. They managed to alteration craftsmanship into a controlled, larger-scale production, and their large plan houses flourish due to the fact that of that. Today, they’re looking beyond Italian designers, and determination could beryllium opportunities for Indian designers to beryllium integrated into that. Nilufar (founded successful 1979 successful Milan by Nina Yashar), a legendary assemblage known for its enactment of vintage plan masterpieces, has collaborated with Vikram Goyal, an acknowledgement of India’s dependable and endowment being noticed connected the satellite stage.

To adjacent with takeaways from the symposium, Bains sums up, “New luxury emerges erstwhile plan engages profoundly with making, erstwhile materials, trade cognition and taste discourse converge. Each discourse offers lessons to the different — India, with its heavy lineage and resilience successful craft, [and] Italy, with refined craftsmanship and worldly innovation.”

The freelance writer is based successful Chennai.