Art Deco through a modern lens

A female kind in blue and ivory, flanked by Art Deco iconography. Here, indigo and sholapith develop into the medium to reimagine Deco. Elsewhere, the ocean is evoked in a kottan- (Chettinad basket weave) impressed backless seat, by architect David Joe Thomas, whose design is a part of a trio introduced by Bengaluru-based Kaash Space.

These hanging items have been hand-picked by truthful director Misha Bains for ‘Neo Deco’, a curation of over 40 items that shine a highlight on Art Deco in its centenary 12 months, at India Design ID 2025. The objet d’artwork alerts a reinvention of Deco through a modern design lens. Bains elaborates, “As an ode to Deco, we wanted to showcase designers who offered a contemporary perspective, inspired by its geometry, bold lines and motifs. We want to highlight Indian design because historically, Indians have been viewed through the lens of makers or craftspeople, not as designers. Now, finally, our designers and artforms are getting recognition.”

Neo Deco is a marriage of Indian and French (Paris being the birthplace of Art Deco) designers, showcasing conventional artwork kinds akin to Channapatna, Tholu Bommalata, Bidri, Dhokra and glassblowing, to current a uniquely artisan-led up to date assortment. “We are currently in an era in India, where designers are aware, educated, well-travelled and open to experimenting,” explains Bains, including, “There are experiments with glass, and a surge in the use of metal and chrome finishes.”

Urban Patchwork

Jit Chowdhury — for 47-A Gallery

The work is an amalgam of modernist Deco language with the lived textures of Bengali craft in sholapith, reflecting how heritage might be seen in a up to date context. Artist and illustrator Jit Chowdhury is impressed by the geometry and ornamentation emblematic of Art Deco buildings in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Delhi.

Soonawala Sofa

Bobby Aggarwal — for Portside Café Furniture Studio

Soonawala Sofa is crafted in leather-based, velvet and teakwood.

The form of the seat takes its cues from Deco buildings alongside Mumbai’s Marine Drive. The print, designed in-house, is impressed by the bas-relief facades, window grills, and the chevrons that enhance these buildings. The blue palette is an homage to the ocean and the hue discovered on Wedgewood ceramics.

Adamastor Cabinet

André Teoman — for Scarlet Splendour

Adamastor Cabinet in resin, brass, plywood

Made with handcrafted brass parts, this dramatic cupboard blends nautical imagery with an attractive blue palette to supply a enjoyable and practical ode to Deco. Portuguese designer André Teoman, in collaboration with the craftsmen at Kolkata-based Scarlet Splendour, reimagines the story of Adamastor, depicted in Portuguese poet Luís de Camões’ epic, The Lusiads. The fearsome big, Adamastor, as soon as symbolised the perilous voyage of explorers on their technique to India. But after the Cape of Storms was renamed the Cape of Good Hope, he metamorphosed into a image of optimism.

Sculptural Light

Kickie Chudikova x klove — for Shakti Design Residency

Sculptural Light, Vista Collection.

Taking its cue from structure, the sunshine piece makes use of nested amber glass constructions that flip luminous as soon as lit on the centre. Drawing inspiration from Indian arches in scalloped kinds, klove studio celebrates the nation’s craftsmanship and storytelling through glass, which is feted for its malleability and the way it affords transformation when paired with gentle.

Lac Tapestry

Built Editions

Lac tapestry in hand-turned picket beads completed with lac derived from natural resins and plant-based pigments.

Created with (and honouring) Channapatna’s lacware artisans, the tapestry — formed as a geometric composition of laced beads — turns into an artefact that mixes custom and up to date design. Straddling Mumbai and Amsterdam, Anne Geenen co-founded structure and design studio Site Practice, and furnishings and design model Built Editions, with David Schmidt, rigorously contemplating designs which are socially and materially anchored in group.

Bāle Asandi

The Vernacular Modern

Bāle Asandi is a hand-finished brass and wooden physique with PU cushions and material.

The kind evokes the light sweep of a banana leaf, with sensuous velvet seating echoing the tropical foliage. The Bāle Asandi seating ensemble is a convergence of vernacular symbolism and craftsmanship. Using joinery-based woodworking, the oeuvre, by founders Deeptashree Saha and Abhirup Dutta of the Bengaluru-based multidisciplinary design studio, celebrates reclaimed strong teak and supplies akin to pure rattan and strong brass.

Le Nid

Sona Reddy

Le Nid is crafted from blown glass on a brass Dhokra shell.

Le Nid (the nest) symbolises cocoons of sunshine, and the great thing about an enveloping embrace. The sculptural lamps by Hyderabad-based Sona Reddy Studio, reinterpret Art Deco’s ornamentation through handcrafted dhokra, fusing blown glass with wax-cast brass dhokra parts. 

Maske Console

DeMuro Das

Maske Console in lacquered stone high on forged bronze legs.

The metallic base parts replicate the tactility of the foundry course of, whereas the tapering volumes recall the pilaster kinds and masks motifs seen in Deco iconography. DeMuro Das, based by Brian DeMuro and Puru Das, blends conventional craftsmanship with modern materiality to create a ornamental console, referencing the theatricality of Art Deco.

SLABS Treasure Box

Destroyers/Builders for æquō

SLABS Treasure Box (SLABS Collection) in hammered silver sheet on picket blocks hooked up with brass welds.

Its inspiration is rooted within the rugged landscapes of Karnataka, the place granite boulders meld into one another. Reinventing the normal strategies of repoussé (a metalworking method that creates a raised design by hammering malleable metallic from the reverse aspect), thick metallic sheets envelop hand-carved teak wooden blocks. In 2023, æquō invited Dutch designer Linde Freya Tangelder to increase repoussé analysis in India. Working with the gallery’s associate workshop in Alibag, led by Jeevaram Suthar, blocks are joined by brass soldering, with the uncovered welds serving as an sincere expression of the method.

Naga

RoWin’ Atelier

NAGA in sterling silver on stone column.

The sculptural champagne bucket is a confluence of French modernist heritage and Indian sculptural traditions. The internal core holds the glowing wine, whereas the round rim acts as a vessel for flowers. Mounted on a stone column marked with Deco geometry, the steel-stone objet d’artwork by the French transdisciplinary agency RoWin’ Atelier celebrates the union of kind, perform and ornamentation.

Skylight

YMER&MALTA

Skylight-Aspherical Twilight in an aspherical sealight in oak and LED.

The Skylight sculpture, by YMER&MALTA, an artwork furnishings home based mostly in Paris, is simple at first look. But when illuminated, it shifts from dawn to nighttime invoking forests, glaciers, deserts and oceans. Its rigorously calibrated aspects are harking back to the geometry and type of Art Deco.

Lodge Armchair

Pinto

Lodge armchair is crafted from textured and patinated brass construction with strong cork armrests wrapped in woven leather-based material.

Made at a French atelier, the armchair is tailored for exteriors, shifting seamlessly from the lounge to the terrace or backyard. With a textured and patinated brass construction, this luxury creation by French design studio Pinto, revisits the Deco period with added sophistication.

Jellyfish

Mathieu Lustrerie

JellyFish chandelier in vintage bronze work with utilized gilding and aged silver, and rock crystal beads.

Medusa, from Greek mythology, with snakes for hair, might flip onlookers to stone. Medusa can be the title of the free-swimming part of a jellyfish’s life cycle. This kind is alluded to in slender filaments on this jellyfish luminary artefact by Mathieu Lustrerie Atelier in Marseille. The suckers provide refuge to chop rock crystal drops, the place gilt bronze is mixed with the comfortable transparency of stones. 

Kasera 2

David Joe Thomas — for KAASH Space

Kasera 2 (Kasera Collection) -woven polypropylene straps on metal body.

Inspired by the Indian charpai, architect-designer David Joe Thomas’s seats interpret conventional weaving expertise throughout tape, basket (kottan) and cane furnishings from Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu. Kasera, a modular seating assortment, makes use of planes as armrests and structural helps, common from the half-inch tape as a repetitive unit. The construction of the backless seats is a collection of intersecting planes to boost the flat graphic high quality of the checkerboard weave.

The freelance author relies in Chennai.