Preeti Goenka and Sumedha Saraogi with their exhibits. Picture by Pabitra Das.

Sabyasachi Mukherjee

Paresh Maity

Jewellery by Anjolie Ela Menon, cushion covers by Sabyasachi Mukherjee. Paresh Maity’s wooden spice box and Priyadarshini Rao’s bedspreads…

Six artists and six designers have broken out of the confines of their usual media to create art with utility (at least theoretically). Preeti Goenka and Sumedha Saraogi have put together Stylefile Lifestyle, their latest effort in showcasing design at its dynamic best. But Calcutta will have to wait to get a feel of this venture, premiering at the Taj, Mumbai, this weekend.

The all-star line-up includes artists Paresh Maity, Anjolie Ela Menon, Yusuf Arakkal, Rajshri Thakkar, Sunil Padwal and Karl Antao, and designers Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Anamika Khanna, Priyadarshini Rao, Anshu Arora Sen, Sonam Dubal and Jason Cherian.

“Fashion, when it comes to clothes, is happening across the country. We wanted to bring design into people’s homes as well,” explain the Calcutta-based impresarios, before their departure for Mumbai. After six months of work behind the project, the collection includes everything from murals to tableware, furniture to furnishings, and jewellery from Anjolie Ela Menon that combines art with silver, gold and gems. “The only clothes that feature is a range of loungewear,” says Preeti. Accessories like bags, shoes and stoles are also included.

Even the murals have “three dimensional” elements. “Nothing is on a flat canvas,” stresses Sumedha. The only brief given to the contributors was that they should work with media other than their speciality, to “introduce a different dimension” to their thinking. “We wanted a mix of work. Each artist’s work has a distinct look and feel,” adds Preeti, who is expecting most of the creators behind the collection at the two-day exhibition.

Sabyasachi agrees that the experience was a creative refresher. “While you are working with a product you are not used to, it opens up a lot of avenues,” he says. His range includes “soft furnishings”, mainly theme-based “coordinates” put together as sets, including throws, rugs, durries and cushions covers. For the first time, he has dabbled with art one can hang on a wall –— embellished “vintage” fabrics in frames of painted wood.

The response to this first venture will decide whether Stylefile Lifestyle will have a second edition, and whether it comes to town or not. “If we bring it here, it will be a completely new commission, created for the kind of demand in Calcutta,” says Preeti.

Whether you finally choose to put your chilli powder and turmeric in a creation bearing Paresh Maity’s signature may be a debatable point, but that, the Stylefile team expects, will be the most exciting part of the collection. “To own a painting by Paresh Maity is wonderful, but not unusual. But a spice box?”