House of Santal is a contemporary design gallery.
Photo courtesy of House of Santal
South Asia has been a hub of fast-fashion production for decades, but amid this new age of overconsumption, contemporary South Asian luxury has been lost on the map.
House of Santal, a contemporary design gallery showcasing South Asian craftsmanship, is bringing modern South Asian luxury to the streets of New York. Opening its first gallery showcase, At The Threshold of The Courtyard, Raksha Sanikam, founder of House of Santal, gathered work from Indian furniture and luxury companies like Artisanal Abode and Beyond Dreams.
“I wanted to build a gallery, I wanted to build a platform that was an exchange between South Asia and the U.S.,” Sanikam, 34, said. “Everything’s craft-forward, so whatever you see already looks like contemporary, but they have something that’s rooted in a legacy craft.”
Pallavi Goenka, founder of AMH, has created a company dedicated to blending art with functionality, transforming an ordinary house into a luxurious home.
Originally from India, Geonka is now based in Singapore but still works with Indian craftsmen, as well as resources from Bali.
“I started to work on this concept of celebrating Indian craftsmanship and bringing it to a global level,” she said.
The gallery hung Geonka’s ‘statement’ mirrors up, which are made of micro mosaics, glimmer glass and radiant metals.
Geonka explained that one of the mirrors in the collection took almost 200 hours to build, as the five parts were created in different areas in the world and shipped to Singapore to be assembled.
Creating this one-of-a-kind piece, Geonka steps into this new form of luxury, completely separating her work from fast fashion, which has been her goal.
Both Sanikam and Geonka are trying to break the stereotypical South Asian style that the rest of the world is used to seeing.
“I want to break the perception that we’re this antique old age,” Sanikam said.
To break out of that perception, Sanikam created House of Santal so that the U.S. could have a glimpse into what South Asia has to offer.
“As of right now, South Asia manufactures the CB2, Anthropology, any large design house, restoration hardwares are all done in South Asia,” Sanikam said. “Why should we always be the back end when we have designers that’s good enough or as good as any of the other?”
House of Santal will continue to bring South Asian art to NYC, as it hopes to open more doors for small artists like Geonka, who have been working on their craft for years.
“This has been a very, very emotional moment for artists like us because this has been my journey for the last 10 years,” Goenka said.
House of Santal is located at 135 W 50th St. For more information, visit houseofsantal.com.
