By IANSlife

December 19, 2022 (IANSlife) The AD Design Show dominated the  design scene in Mumbai with a superbly coordinated calendar of events. Connoisseurs, patrons, and professionals all participated in the nexus of art, design, and architecture during the three days of the event. India was highlighted in every aspect of this year, including the Power Talks with their impressive speaker lineup, the Power to the Karigar Pavilion, the imposing AD Museum, the six participating art galleries, and the full selection of businesses.

At the Jio World Convention Center, BKC, Mumbai, the event was held in association with title partner Asian Paints and associate partners Artize, DAG, JSW, Nesterra, Glenfiddich Artists in Residence, and Hendrick's. Alex Kuruvilla, the managing director of Condé Nast India, gave a special welcome before Amit Syngle, MD and CEO of Asian Paints, and Komal Sharma, head of editorial content for AD India.

Amit Syngle, MD and CEO of Asian Paints said, “It gives me immense pleasure to see a superlative design show like the AD Design show back to its glorious physical format. It’s a special year with a retrospective on 75 years of design in Independent India, and exciting displays and programming right at the cutting edge of design. Asian Paints has been an integral part of this event from its beginning and we are proud partners and design collaborators as we see it get bigger and better with every passing year.”

Komal Sharma, Head of Editorial Content, AD India said “Bringing The AD Design Show back after three years has been a mad, crazy ride. The momentum that an event like this brings, it really cannot be compared to anything else. It’s a journey from ideas to a real physical show with collaboration at every level; from brands, from speakers, production, sales, marketing, editorial – it’s really a stupendous team effort and quite remarkable to witness and be a part of.”

The AD Museum served as the primary focal point of the celebration of India's 75th anniversary of independence. This was built to resemble a sanctuary and displayed a selection of 75 images and artefacts carefully chosen to illustrate India's history since 1947. The museum shone a focus on the "India Gaze" and provided an anecdotal tour of India's history through textiles, photography, architecture, and more. These highlights ranged from notable architectural monuments to significant artefacts.

The pièce de résistance at the show was ‘The Birth of a Star’ by leading artist Subodh Gupta. The installation features two astronomical stainless-steel pots transformed into what appears to be a collision between two celestial bodies, resulting in a blinding white light emerging from the mirrored void between them. With this artwork, Gupta seeks out the universal, the cosmic in everyday banal objects, to witness the divine in the humblest of means.

Additional installations included Alex Davis’ iconic piece Champa Vatika which is five petal champa flowers from his collection of Hyper Blooms. Also, Istituto Marangoni showcased the winning design collection of their lockdown project for students in association with Cocoon Fine Rugs named ‘Brutal Utopia’.

Day 1 of the Power Talks included

Pinakin Patel in conversation with popular journalist & columnist - Gayatri Rangachari Shah. Vikram Goyal in conversation with Mortimer Chatterjee on ‘creating value in Indian art traditions and contemporary design’. Monika Correa in conversation with Mayank Mansingh Kaul. The day ended with London based designer Michael Anastassiades and Indian architect Bijoy Jain moderated by AD’s Komal Sharma.

Day 2 of the Power Talks included

Channa Daswatte was in conversation with Jay Mehta and Deepthi Sasidharan on ‘The making of a museum’. Followed by Naman Ahuja on the modern designers’ search for classical inspiration. Ritu Sethi on continuing modernities: The cultural afterlives of Pupul Jayakar & Kamaladevi Chattopadhayay. The day ended with Dayanita Singh in conversation with Komal Sharma on being awarded the Hasselblad Laureate 2022 and the associative book Sea of Files.

Day 3 of the Power Talks included

Amit Syngle, Payal Khandwala and Sarah Sham talk ‘Who’s afraid of colour?’ moderated by Manju Sarah Rajan. The headliner of the day was actor Sonam Kapoor Ahuja in conversation with her aunt, Kavita Singh.

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