It was possibly the invasion of stainless steel in our lives that exiled brass from our homes. Stainless steel, which lived up to its name, shone in its low-maintenance glory as opposed to brass that veered towards tarnished blackness and then sulked in verdigris if it was neglected for a while. Ceramic, glass, crystal and even plastic came in as brass stayed away. But not any longer. The metal is back in décor and how.
It is the metal of the moment, says Delhi-based interior designer Lipika Sud. “We are not really reviving it, we are just rediscovering its warmth and versatility,” says Sud, who calls brass the new quiet luxury in décor and says designers are using it in lighting, furniture accents, tableware and art objects.
Various artists and brands have been working to give brass a fresh appeal. Delhi-based multidisciplinary designer Vikram Goyal, known for his work with brass, has now translated his signature style into a range of products as part of his lifestyle brand Viya, launched in January. Goyal says the renewed interest in brass is part of a larger revival of traditional materials that speak to both heritage and sustainability. He adds, “For me, working with brass has always been about reinterpreting a centuries-old legacy within a contemporary framework. Brass carries the warmth of the handmade and the endurance of something meant to last, which deeply resonates with today’s conscious consumers seeking meaning in their personal spaces.”
Sud says that after the pandemic, people are seeking to connect with materials that matter to them emotionally and feel more authentic and timeless. And brass ticks all those boxes.
SHOWING THEIR METAL
Even fashion designers are making the switch from clothes to brass. Like Jenjum Gadi. Last year, he showcased his first exhibition of artefacts—a series of brass fruits and vegetables—inspired by his village Deke in Arunachal Pradesh. Priced between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 12 lakh, the first series is almost sold out. This year he has 14 one-of-a-kind pieces. Gadi has pared down his clothing work and is having “fun” exploring this new medium.
“Brass has been a good creative outlet for me,” says Gadi, whose pieces look traditional yet modern.
What makes brass attractive to designers is that it is cheaper than many metals, estimated to cost about ?900 a kilo, and easy to work with. These two reasons resonate with designer Payal Khandwala who recently launched her Home collection, crafted in brass, to add to her fashion line. Incidentally, she already has a line of brass jewellery.
Another pull for designers is brass’s connection to the past. Khandwala says nostalgia plays a big role in its continuation if not revival. “Brass was the mainstay of so many households. Perhaps it is subliminal to be drawn to something that lives in memory,” she says. “Maybe the warm familiarity it brings becomes the reason for brass iterations in design over the years.”
Khandwala has a limited range of everyday objects in brass that she felt were mostly neglected or overlooked like toothpick holder, bottle opener, etc. “I wanted to make them with the care and attention they deserved, so that they didn’t have to be tucked away after use. They became objects of art,” she says.
TOP BRASS
Brass has a long history in Indian homes but it is now seeking a new space, says designer and décor expert Krsnaa Mehta, senior vice-president and executive director at India Circus by Krsnaa Mehta, a brand by Godrej. Mehta crafts many contemporary pieces with the metal, making sure it suits today’s needs. “The modest brass piece—once confined to lamps and ritual lighting—has gracefully migrated to dinnerware and beyond,” he says. Mehta has crafted pieces like stirrers and napkin rings in brass and says the designs appeal to modern consumers as they are very unlike the “conventional” dinnerware.
One of their bestsellers is the brass tumbler set that evokes the ritual of filter coffee. Mehta is now working on brass dinnerware, from katoris to thalis.
Utensils and cookware are the speciality of P.TAL, which was started by cofounder Aditya Agrawal as a college project in 2018, when he and his friends came across the Thathera community of Jandiala Guru in Punjab. Its artisans are behind India’s only UNESCO-listed craft for hand-beaten brass and copper. Says Agrawal: “What struck us was the paradox—here was a craft of global cultural importance, practised by highly skilled artisans, yet it was on the verge of fading out. Not because the craft lacked value, but because it had lost relevance in modern homes.”
He says brass lost its sheen because of many reasons: the rise of cheap, massproduced materials, the idea that brass is high maintenance, designs that were just ceremonial or outdated. “The craft was alive, but the context had disappeared.”
Agrawal says their customers have grown from a handful of early adopters to lakhs across India and outside, with consistent double-digit annual growth: “The demand is not trend-driven; it’s values-driven,” he says. Their customers include young people who are building homes and people returning to slow living and rooted aesthetics. Khandwala, who is scaling her home segment, says her audience is super niche: “They have a discerning eye and want everything in their home to reflect that.”
Goyal, on his part, experiments with centuries-old craft like repoussé, in which a metal is hammeredonthe reverse side to create a design in relief, and their signature hollowed joiner y technique. He also trains new generations of artisans to develop forms that push the boundaries of scale and expression. He says, “I see revival not as preservation but as evolution where innovation and tradition coexist, allowing a timeless material like brass to find new relevance in the modern world.”
PATINA OF PAST
Gadi says that one must learn to love the patina that brass develops naturally. If you want to buff up brass, that is not difficult, says architect and interior designer Taral Jadhav. “Brass ages gracefully, so I always tell clients to embrace its patina instead of overpolishing. Gentle cleaning with lemon juice and baking soda works well,” she says, adding that the warmth of brass works well with materials like marble, stone and matte wood.
Agrawal says the patina is simply a way anything natural ages—leather, solid wood, metal. He says people, who once moved towards what was convenient, now realise there is more to brass. “The story is not that brass is difficult—it’s that we were never taught how to live with real materials.” It’s time to get real.
It is the metal of the moment, says Delhi-based interior designer Lipika Sud. “We are not really reviving it, we are just rediscovering its warmth and versatility,” says Sud, who calls brass the new quiet luxury in décor and says designers are using it in lighting, furniture accents, tableware and art objects.
Various artists and brands have been working to give brass a fresh appeal. Delhi-based multidisciplinary designer Vikram Goyal, known for his work with brass, has now translated his signature style into a range of products as part of his lifestyle brand Viya, launched in January. Goyal says the renewed interest in brass is part of a larger revival of traditional materials that speak to both heritage and sustainability. He adds, “For me, working with brass has always been about reinterpreting a centuries-old legacy within a contemporary framework. Brass carries the warmth of the handmade and the endurance of something meant to last, which deeply resonates with today’s conscious consumers seeking meaning in their personal spaces.”
Sud says that after the pandemic, people are seeking to connect with materials that matter to them emotionally and feel more authentic and timeless. And brass ticks all those boxes.
SHOWING THEIR METAL
Even fashion designers are making the switch from clothes to brass. Like Jenjum Gadi. Last year, he showcased his first exhibition of artefacts—a series of brass fruits and vegetables—inspired by his village Deke in Arunachal Pradesh. Priced between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 12 lakh, the first series is almost sold out. This year he has 14 one-of-a-kind pieces. Gadi has pared down his clothing work and is having “fun” exploring this new medium.
“Brass has been a good creative outlet for me,” says Gadi, whose pieces look traditional yet modern.
What makes brass attractive to designers is that it is cheaper than many metals, estimated to cost about ?900 a kilo, and easy to work with. These two reasons resonate with designer Payal Khandwala who recently launched her Home collection, crafted in brass, to add to her fashion line. Incidentally, she already has a line of brass jewellery.
Another pull for designers is brass’s connection to the past. Khandwala says nostalgia plays a big role in its continuation if not revival. “Brass was the mainstay of so many households. Perhaps it is subliminal to be drawn to something that lives in memory,” she says. “Maybe the warm familiarity it brings becomes the reason for brass iterations in design over the years.”
Khandwala has a limited range of everyday objects in brass that she felt were mostly neglected or overlooked like toothpick holder, bottle opener, etc. “I wanted to make them with the care and attention they deserved, so that they didn’t have to be tucked away after use. They became objects of art,” she says.
TOP BRASS
Brass has a long history in Indian homes but it is now seeking a new space, says designer and décor expert Krsnaa Mehta, senior vice-president and executive director at India Circus by Krsnaa Mehta, a brand by Godrej. Mehta crafts many contemporary pieces with the metal, making sure it suits today’s needs. “The modest brass piece—once confined to lamps and ritual lighting—has gracefully migrated to dinnerware and beyond,” he says. Mehta has crafted pieces like stirrers and napkin rings in brass and says the designs appeal to modern consumers as they are very unlike the “conventional” dinnerware.
One of their bestsellers is the brass tumbler set that evokes the ritual of filter coffee. Mehta is now working on brass dinnerware, from katoris to thalis.
Utensils and cookware are the speciality of P.TAL, which was started by cofounder Aditya Agrawal as a college project in 2018, when he and his friends came across the Thathera community of Jandiala Guru in Punjab. Its artisans are behind India’s only UNESCO-listed craft for hand-beaten brass and copper. Says Agrawal: “What struck us was the paradox—here was a craft of global cultural importance, practised by highly skilled artisans, yet it was on the verge of fading out. Not because the craft lacked value, but because it had lost relevance in modern homes.”
He says brass lost its sheen because of many reasons: the rise of cheap, massproduced materials, the idea that brass is high maintenance, designs that were just ceremonial or outdated. “The craft was alive, but the context had disappeared.”
Agrawal says their customers have grown from a handful of early adopters to lakhs across India and outside, with consistent double-digit annual growth: “The demand is not trend-driven; it’s values-driven,” he says. Their customers include young people who are building homes and people returning to slow living and rooted aesthetics. Khandwala, who is scaling her home segment, says her audience is super niche: “They have a discerning eye and want everything in their home to reflect that.”
Goyal, on his part, experiments with centuries-old craft like repoussé, in which a metal is hammeredonthe reverse side to create a design in relief, and their signature hollowed joiner y technique. He also trains new generations of artisans to develop forms that push the boundaries of scale and expression. He says, “I see revival not as preservation but as evolution where innovation and tradition coexist, allowing a timeless material like brass to find new relevance in the modern world.”
PATINA OF PAST
Gadi says that one must learn to love the patina that brass develops naturally. If you want to buff up brass, that is not difficult, says architect and interior designer Taral Jadhav. “Brass ages gracefully, so I always tell clients to embrace its patina instead of overpolishing. Gentle cleaning with lemon juice and baking soda works well,” she says, adding that the warmth of brass works well with materials like marble, stone and matte wood.
Agrawal says the patina is simply a way anything natural ages—leather, solid wood, metal. He says people, who once moved towards what was convenient, now realise there is more to brass. “The story is not that brass is difficult—it’s that we were never taught how to live with real materials.” It’s time to get real.
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