Installation with The Future Perfect.
Photo: Courtesy of the artist and The Future Perfect
Creative Mind: Vikram Goyal
Made in an intergenerational workshop and imbued with India’s diverse craft traditions, the prolific New Delhi designer’s wondrously ornate furnishings and narrative-driven objects are captivating collectors
Vikram Goyal. Photo: Courtesy of Vikram Goyal Studio
Vikram Goyal, the New Delhi–based maker of gloriously ornate furniture imbued with Indian motifs, eschewed formal design training, instead studying engineering and economics at Princeton University before heading home and launching his namesake studio in 2003. Since then, it has gradually evolved into an intergenerational workshop informed by the karkhana model, in which multiple skilled specialists work collectively under one master craftsman.
Among the many techniques Goyal’s team works in is repoussé, in which sheet metal is hammered into relief from its underside, often as a vessel for storytelling. Multiple parts are then molded together to create elaborate three-dimensional compositions. This technique elevates his pieces to cultural talismans, made all the more lustrous by pietra dura artisans, who inlay semiprecious gems into the brass surfaces. “The whole idea is taking what’s made in India to the outside world,” he says.
Cultural ambassador: Recently, Goyal became the first designer to show at India Art Fair and the first Indian to exhibit at Milan’s Nilufar gallery, which also presented his inaugural international exhibition, at PAD London in 2023. In December, he was the subject of a solo presentation with The Future Perfect during Art Basel Miami Beach, his Stateside debut.
Shaded graphite cabinet. Photo: Courtesy of the artist
The designer's repoussé vessels and wallpaper collection with de Gournay. Photo: Courtesy of De Gournay
Expanding horizons: Goyal spent two years launching Viya, a furnishings and accessories brand underscored by India’s diverse craft traditions. “We’re working with materials that I haven’t worked with before,” he says, such as textiles and cane. More recently, he unveiled a gilded collection for de Gournay that translates his brass repoussé into landscaped scenes on three richly detailed, hand-painted wallpapers.
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2025 Spring Issue under the headline “Creative Minds.” Subscribe to the magazine.
Cover: Installation with The Future Perfect.
Photo: Courtesy of the artist and The Future Perfect
