The Future is Handmade

Mrs. Sarita Handa, a powerhouse name in the Indian design field, launched her eponymous brand, Sarita Handa Exports Pvt. Ltd. (SHEPL), in 1992, investing her life savings with nothing but grit and conviction. Inspired by her travels across India and her love for domestic textile techniques, she envisioned a brand that would reinvigorate pride and interest in Indian textiles worldwide. Her initial foray into exports led to an impressive client list including William Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and Restoration Hardware. In 2012, she branched into retail, expanding into furniture, decor, artefacts, bed and bath linen, and fabrics, blending sophisticated craftsmanship with indigenous designs and celebrating Indian heritage. In 2020, Sarita Handa launched its online retail space, followed by an exclusive online-only furniture line in 2021. In 2022, the brand launched Sarita Handa NOW, an 11,000 sq ft concept store in New Delhi. Today, under her direction, the company is pro-women, with a focus on educating and upskilling female members of society’s less fortunate sections. A loving wife, a doting mother, and a woman on a mission, it looks like Sarita Handa is just getting started.

Bijin Davis (デービス美心) is a Japanese-Indian designer whose practice is shaped by a life lived between Japan and India. Moving fluidly across objects, textiles, furniture, and space, her work is drawn to the poetry of transient phenomena — the movement of water, shifting light, shadow, colour, and the quiet transformations found in nature. Her practice explores the space between the tangible and the ephemeral, translating fleeting impressions into material, texture, and form. Rather than approaching objects solely through function, she is interested in their capacity to evoke emotion, curiosity, and a heightened awareness of the senses. She studied Product Design at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore, followed by graduate studies in Interior Design at Musashino Art University in Tokyo. Today, her work continues to move between disciplines and cultures, seeking to give physical form to moments that might otherwise pass unnoticed.

Canna Patel is a renowned Architect & Interior Designer with over 30 years of professional experience. She is the founder & chairperson at HCP Interior Design Pvt. Ltd. In 2006, focusing on interior design early in her career. She is known for her unique style that seamlessly blends interiors with architectural forms and spaces. She has worked on more than 300 interior projects, primarily focusing on private residences, corporate offices, hospitality projects and institutional buildings. In the past decade, she has contributed towards small and large-scale government projects that include the renovation of Raj Bhawan at Gandhinagar, Swarnim Sankul (Central Secretariat) at Gandhinagar and BJP Karyalay in New Delhi. She is currently serving as the Interior sub-consultant for the prestigious Central Vista Project in New Delhi, which includes the recently inaugurated New Parliament Building among other stately residences and the Common Central Secretariat.

Ajay Arya, the visionary behind A Square Designs, has become a trusted name in the world of interior design, celebrated for creating aspirational and timeless spaces. Ajay blended his innate appreciation for the finer things in life with his passion for design by launching an interior design company. Over the past 25 years, his firm has transformed the aesthetic landscape of Kolkata, completing over a hundred projects with an unwavering commitment to detail and personalized design. Earlier this year, Ajay was featured on the Forbes list of India’s Top 30 Architects & Designers for the year 2024. Ajay constantly expands his repertoire, integrating cutting-edge materials, technology, and design concepts to create innovative spaces. He thrives on blending modernity with tradition. His unique ability to repurpose family heirlooms—such as miniature paintings, antique furniture, Persian carpets, and Tanjore artworks—into contemporary interiors sets his work apart. His juxtaposition of aristocratic heritage with modern design reflects his mastery of storytelling through interiors. Being a passionate art collector and curator, Ajay spends considerable time exploring various artworks. A perfectionist by nature, he enjoys curating and experimenting, driven by his love for design. He also collaborates with artisans and traditional craft forms to weave urban design narratives that celebrate India’s cultural heritage. Ajay Arya’s work is an amalgamation of creativity, heritage, and innovation, embodying a promise of elegance and sophistication in everything that he creates.

Dheerna Matsubara is a ceramicist and writer of Indian origin, whose identity and practice have been shaped by 15 years of life in Japan. She is based in Zushi, on the coast south of Tokyo, where she works across clay, writing, drawing and photography. She first moved to Japan in 2003, spending nine years in Tokyo before living in London for almost a decade and returning to Japan in 2021. Her practice began with plates made for Dog & Hawk, the neighbourhood restaurant her husband runs, and has since expanded into cups, teapots, vessels, sculptural forms and small dog figures — objects concerned with the things we quietly live with, keep and carry. Dheerna's family has links to the Prajapati potter lineage in India, a connection she was only recently reminded of. This discovery has shaped her interest in what is inherited, consciously or otherwise, and how making can reveal what we carry with us. She works primarily with two clays made in her Zushi studio: porcelain then fired in Tokyo, and Bizen Hiyose clay wood-fired alongside the potters she trains under. She is drawn to materials that retain their character — their imperfections, flaws and scars — and to the elemental processes that shape them. Fire, ash and water, and the ways we encounter and consume these elements, continue to inform her practice. For the Kyoto YouMe Triennale, Dheerna is developing new work exploring lineage, belonging and what makes a home — questions that sit between her Indian heritage and her life in Japan.