Furniture High on Fun Quotient by Gunjan Gupta

Gunjan Gupta (GG), an important name in the design industry with a commitment to craft advocacy, had an interesting space at the India Art Fair (IAF) for the Fair’s inaugural design edition held in New Delhi, 2024. The space attracted many design enthusiasts as they made way to grab a seat on the “Couch Potato” or The Serpentine Aloo Bori Couch from GG collectibles limited series ‘Everyday Yesterday’. SCALE checks in at the GG booth at IAF 2024.

Designer Gunjan Gupta has previously exhibited at the India Art Fair with art galleries like Nature Morte, Volte and Apparao in her 18-year-long journey in collectable design continuing the legacy of GG Collectibles as the most sought-after avant-garde objects gracing luxury homes around the globe. This year, in the newly introduced Design edition within India Art Fair, Gunjan Gupta exhibited her distinctive yet playful designs titles ‘Everyday Yesterday’ in a stall of her own.

‘Everyday Yesterday’, comprised conceptual objects in her signature vocabulary of materials, crafting techniques and unique narratives. The objects explore the complexities of Indian culture, highlighting the balance between expert craftsmanship and resourceful jugaad, by ingeniously combining artistry with functionality, making them international quality aspirational artworks rooted in Indian culture and tradition. A perfect example of these qualities is The Tutti Frutti Marble Kursi, a seat in a play of Indian marbles that plays with perception where digitally printed leather and stone come together to create a surprise element of comfort not associated with stone.

We speak to the designer to understand more about her unique style.

SCALE: How successful was participating in IAF 2024? Which was the most successful piece or design of yours at the Fair? Any trends that you spotted in the art/design world?

Gunjan Gupta: Our booth was very well received by everyone at the fair. The Pot is HER Totem Tables were by far the most successful piece at the fair.

The art was particularly good and interesting this year which shows that the market has matured and artists are willing to take risks again. The inclusion of collectible design at the fair is also a very good sign.

SCALE: Take us through your design journey. How did you become a product designer from being an interior designer?

Gunjan Gupta: I’m a trained interior designer with a Masters in Furniture Design from Central Sr Martins in London – interiors and products are extensions of each other.

As an independent artist-curator behind GG Collectibles, and as the Founder and Creative Director of Studio Wrap and IKKIS, I consider myself an experimental artist and designer, with extensive research-based curatorial knowledge and experience that blurs the line between art and design internationally. Since its inception, GG Collectibles, Studio Wrap and IKKIS have aimed to bring a multi-disciplinary approach to art and design-thinking.

My perspectives on India are communicated via collectable design objects, curatorial roles, and an ongoing practice that questions the rules of society, hierarchy, and, ultimately, oneself. With IKKIS, the overarching aim is to democratise design, while GG Collectibles takes what is considered an elitist space and makes design accessible to a broader audience.

SCALE: Tell us about the different crafts that you make use of in your design and help the craft from being lost.

Gunjan Gupta: My designs consist of conceptual objects in a signature vocabulary of materials, crafting techniques and unique narratives.

The objects in GG Collectibles engage with India’s cultural paradoxes and the contrast between master craft and jugaad across a range of materials and typologies ranging from furniture / Jewellery / photography / wall art / tableware.  The materials are wide ranging from miniature furniture made in gold leaf, pure silver and semi-precious stones to stone and digitally printed leather, jute and marble.

SCALE: Tell us about your design process, and how you make it quirky and humorous and still keep the innovation alive.

Gunjan Gupta: The objects explore the complexities of Indian culture, highlighting the balance between expert craftsmanship and resourceful jugaad, by ingeniously combining artistry with functionality, making them international quality aspirational artworks rooted in Indian culture and tradition. There’s a distinctive, playful style through a research-based approach to material innovation, these pieces showcase an innovative re-imagination of India’s handmade and craft traditions while staying true to its aesthetic legacies.

SCALE: Which are the pieces that were focused on at the IAF and take us through their creative and manufacturing process?

Gunjan Gupta: Here are the pieces highlighted at the India Art Fair 2024.

The Pot is ‘HER’ Totem Pole is GG’s signature Matkas tool tables that morph into a series of four pots inspired by the sacred feminine, stacked on each other, typically like a totem pole that sometimes uses human forms telling a story of fertility and beauty associated with the primordial form.

The MudaWala Throne: Inspired by the bicycle vendors of India that carry mobile shops on their backs, appearing to be framed in a halo of their ware, the thrones are part of GG’s famous throne series that have been exhibited widely across the world and institutionally acquired. The thrones capture a stack of India’s bamboo stools known as the ‘Muda’ on a seat made of bicycle parts wrapped in leather. The piece is part of MAD Musee Arts Decoratifs in Paris’ permanent collection of chairs.

GG Collectible Jewellery: The first of its kind, the GG Collectible jewellery comprises of miniatures of GG’s iconic designs that interpret a chair, Thaali stack, and Matkaa represented as a series of rings in silver and stone.

The Tutti Frutti Marble Kursi: is a seat in a trio of Indian Marbles that plays with perception where digitally printed leather and stone come together to create a surprise element of comfort not associated with stone.

The Serpentine Aloo Bori Couch: is a stack of jute sacks stuffed with foam potatoes commonly seen in Indian agricultural warehouses that is entwined with a luxurious serpent carved in brass. The sofa ideal for lounging is a pun on the common term ‘couch potato’.

SCALE: Do you think that there is a market for functional art or designs of art than for function?

Gunjan Gupta: Collectible design in India is nascent and largely misunderstood but the potential is huge and platforms like these are very important to help change that narrative. I have been working in this space for the last 18 years with my first chair in pure silver and gold presented in London at 100 design which paved the way for a career in collectible design that I wasn’t really prepared for.

The receptivity to my work was largely outside India and I experienced a freedom to express my ideas which I did not find in India until now.

The great Indian narrative remains untold and untapped and I think the more designers stop playing it safe with their designs, collaborate with craft, express themselves culturally or materially with quality work, then we have the world watching us and most importantly Indians collecting us.