Immerse into this modern Indian tableware exhibit at Churchgate

A surrealist edible tablecape curated by artist Eeshaan Kashyap for Pottery Barn. PICS COURTESY/EESHAAN KASHYAP & CO

"It all started with my love for tableware," recalls New Delhi-based multidisciplinary artist and chef Eeshaan Kashyap. "I always wanted to design something unusual - Indian but without gaindas and gulaabs, peacocks, tigers and parrots. I wanted to form my own vocabulary that would be abstract with imperfectly perfect brushstrokes."

As a trained chef, he has played an integral part in launching and branding award-winning boutique restaurants across the country. Now a sought after food and design consultant within the burgeoning landscape of the hospitality industry, Kashyap transforms restaurants, bars, weddings and curated events. His first show, comprising mixed media tableware at Vayu in New Delhi's Bikaner House in 2021, drew "phenomenal sales, and it was a hit! I started to learn how retail really works. Everyone's always excited to see something new and unusual."

A room filled with blue Modern Matkas. The award-winning iconic form will be on display at Kashyap's exhibition Artist Proof at The Stands in Churchgate this month

It also drew the attention of Maithili Ahluwalia, founder of the once-upon-a-time iconic concept store, Bungalow Eight. "I was intrigued by his boldness and immediately contacted him to see if we could come together in some way," she recalls. Following a show in Mumbai last year at her space, which is now called The Stands - a place for curated exhibitions - the two are collaborating on his upcoming second exhibition in the city called Artist Proof.

"There's a meticulousness in his art, and even with the way he used this space for his exhibition. There was a sort of jugalbandi in his approach to design and a certain fastidiousness - something we both shared, we soon realised we had a similar way of thinking and understanding," says Ahluwalia, as Kashyap points out how he admired her keen eye and fine taste, and how the two of them quickly worked out a confetti of ideas.

"This time, I wanted to push my work further. I'm designing chairs for the first time, and wall designs showcasing Kalamkari from Tamil Nadu, but instead of traditional conventional Indian motifs, you'll see an interplay of modernist geometric patterns," he adds.

Maithili Ahluwalia

Ceramics have largely come to define his work, but his pieces push the envelope further this year. The most striking part of the exhibition, which echoes the diverse yet pared down way that Kashyap sees material and colour, is the Neel Mitti installation, which uses bricks and indigo in their purest forms. While his tableware comprises a range of bowls, plates, "blates" (bowl plates), glasses and tumblers, using ceramic, wood and metal, the entire show has purposely been shuffled around on a sprawling 40-foot rack without uniformity. "I want people to come in and match pieces themselves, because I feel it creates a sense of belonging," he says.

And then there's the Modern Matka, which has become synonymous with Kashyap's work. "It all started in the first lockdown, when I wanted to infuse a terracotta-aged negroni, and name it Matka Negroni. It got me thinking about what I really like as shapes and forms, and I started to reimagine the matka in a modern form," he remembers.

His contemporary version of this omnipresent object has been made with 22 different materials, from wood to glass, and "anything that could possibly hold a structure. This time, we're even making metal matkas, and an architect approached me to design a Modern Matka side table for her," he exclaims, as we also notice a leather handbag version of it in vibrant cobalt blue and tangy tan. "You'll also see it in crystal, as miniature candles and even a totem pole… someone also Instagrammed me about designing it as a shoe! My dream is to one day carve it out of a large ruby - everyone laughs at me, but I'm not afraid of doing things that could be considered wrong. There are big failures, but the designs that evolve along the way are what I do it for."

WHAT: Artist Proof by Eeshaan Kashyap
WHERE: The Stands (formerly Bungalow 8), Inside Wankhede Stadium, North Stand, E & F Block, D Road, Churchgate
WHEN: September 6 to 12 from 11PM to 8PM
CONTACT: 8860006957