Life & Style

Baala Manikandan
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

After seasons of stark minimalism and a quiet luxury approach to dressing, the fun and flirty fringe is now enjoying the spotlight: as seen at the recently concluded New York and London Fashion Week, and also on the BAFTA red carpet where Nigerian-British actor Wunmi Mosaku sported a cobalt blue one-shoulder gown with dramatic fringe detailing by British designer Priya Ahluwalia. More recently, Angelina Jolie’s red carpet return for her latest film Couture’s premiere in Paris had her in an ankle-length nude mesh dress festooned in silver sequined flowers and beaded fringe.

Actor Kriti Sanon in a creation by Manish Malhotra
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

At the New York Fashion Week Fall Winter 2026-27 showcase, Proenza Schouler’s artistic director Rachel Scott reimagined the house’s signature fringe sending out half-cut fringe across a series of finale gowns. At the London Fashion Week, Burberry played with sparkly fringe which was crafted to evoke streaks of rain seen across evening dresses, tailored coats and skirts. Moreover, fringe also appeared at Coach, Ralph Lauren and Erdem who extrapolated it in their distinctive handwriting.

From Chanel’s Spring-Summer 2026 collection
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Indian designers like Manish Malhotra and Kresha Bajaj experimented with fringe with a decidedly maximalist approach at the recently-concluded Dubai Fashion Week. Manish presented his showstopper Kriti Sanon in a pearl-trimmed ensemble and Kresha’s evening dresses came alive with metallic tassels which swished and whooshed as her models glided past the runway.

A creation by Manish Malhotra
| Photo Credit:
photo: Carlo Scarpato / Gorunway.com

Manish sees fringes and tassels becoming more fluid and refined. The designer who recently used them in his  Inaya collection, predicts them evolving in lighter, more elegant ways. “Less heavy, more movement-driven, almost like jewellery in motion,” he says. 

A creation by Manish Malhotra
| Photo Credit:
photo: Carlo Scarpato / Gorunway.com

Let fringe be the hero

Manish suggests keeping the rest of the look clean and balanced, and let the fringes be the hero. “Even when they’re not the main focus, they work beautifully in complementing an outfit — adding movement and texture,” he adds. 

Also read: Why the future of sustainable fashion depends on rethinking design education

The key is styling them smartly. Pair them with minimal jewellery and modern silhouettes so the fringes feel effortless, elegant and never overpowering. Kresha seconds that. “ If you’re wearing a strong fringe piece, let it be the protagonist. Keep the rest clean. Sharp hair, minimal jewellery, confident footwear,” she says.  

An outfit by Kresha Bajaj
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The drama should come from how the garment reacts to your body, adds Kresha. “For bridal wear, a corseted blouse with tonal bead fringe worn with a clean lehenga feels modern without being overwhelming. And for evening wear, metal or mirror fringe works beautifully with monochrome styling. Let the texture catch the light instead of adding colour chaos,” she notes. 

An outfit by Kresha Bajaj
| Photo Credit:
photo: Alessandro Viero / Gorunway.com

And most importantly, fringe and tassels need space. It needs air. “Don’t overcrowd it with layering unless the intention is maximalist. Let it move. That’s where its power lies,” she suggests.

Not just embellishments

Fringe has evolved from being just a decorative movement. In fact, it is shaping up to become a structure.  Kresha observes that tassels were earlier used to soften a look or add fluidity. Now, they are being given a playful treatment in a wide array of materials like metals and leather. “You’ll see metal fringes, mirror strips, leather corded tassels, even beaded strands that behave almost like armour. It’s less flirty, more powerful,” she says.

From Chanel’s Spring-Summer 2026 collection
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Kresha says she anticipates upcoming collections using fringe will be layered, denser, sometimes tonal, and also sharply contrasted at times so it feels graphic. Another big shift is placement. Instead of the obvious hemlines, you’ll see fringe defining shoulders, cutting across corsetry, tracing the spine, or forming sculptural capes,” she adds.

An outfit by Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

A study of movement

Designer Rahul Khanna of label Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna points out that fringe has never been an embellishment for the design house but a study of movement against structure. “In 2026, we see it becoming more architectural, less bohemian and more deliberate,” says Rahul. 

An outfit by Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna
| Photo Credit:
shivamm paathak

The emphasis is shifting from excess to precision. Fringes or tassels are no longer just employed to amp up the drama but to lend garments a vibrant finish. Designers like Simone Rocha and Erdem have integrated fringe into lace, tulle and jacquard thus blurring the line between embroidery, weave and fringe. Even while referencing western-inspired fringe, brands like Coach are refining it into cleaner cuts and sharper silhouettes. Moreover, fringe has also become a vessel for sustainable storytelling with brands like Ahluwalia (helmed by Priya Ahluwalia) employing upcycled fringe from fabric waste.

An outfit by Manish Malhotra
| Photo Credit:
photo: Carlo Scarpato / Gorunway.com

Fringe has come a long way — from being a synonym of the Jazz Age, to being a modern artisanal texture used by global brands and celebrity stylists for layered storytelling and craft-led innovation. It would be interesting to see how this fashion’s favourite insignia evolves in the coming season.

Published – March 09, 2026 02:11 pm IST

A week before I landed in Jodhpur, I was on a hunt for recommendations: of the best street food spots, sights to see, and bazaars to visit. I was not disappointed. Passionate members of a city-based ‘thindi’ WhatsApp group sent meticulously drafted Excel sheets and lists that almost tailor-made my itinerary. 

Sheru, the furry host at Chandelao Garh
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Armed with these recos, I arrived in Jodhpur on a warm Saturday afternoon all set to head to Chandelao, a village located an hour away, for the weekend. The car made its way through the village before I reached Chandelao Garh, an ancestral home transformed into a boutique heritage hotel by owner Praduman Singh. Here, I was first welcomed by the team’s furry hosts Sheru and Pluto, and then Praduman’s son Veer Singh and daughter-in-law Yashodhara Chauhan. 

A room in the ‘mardana’ quarters of Chandelao Garh
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

After serving as the ancestral home of the Kumpawat Rathores for centuries, Praduman opened the doors of Chandelao Garh to the world in 1997 (after a careful restoration in 1995) to offer guests an immersive experience of the region. The first guests, he says, was an adventurous Australian biker gang on a pan-India tour. The property has 21 rooms that were former ‘mardana’ (men’s quarters), and stables.

A room at Chandelao Garh
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

A cobblestoned path lined with bougainvilleas and jaal trees leads me to a ‘courtyard’ room that once housed the family’s horses. Retaining the earthy charm of the original structure, the room features stone walls that hold old family portraits, a spacious bed, and a sitting area.  

For guests, there is a range of experiences on offer. Choose a jeep safari to explore the countryside, a bird watching expedition to the Olvi Lake, a sunset safari and desert barbeque, a trip to Pipar Bazaar, and Mehrangarh Fort. My top picks? A dinner with the family on the rooftop — where Veer made jangli maas (savoured by all non-vegetarians), and the meal ended with a delicious gajar ka halwa made by Yashodhara’s grandmother — and a tour of Jodhpur led by Veer.   

(L-R) Panchkutta kachori; gulab jamun sabzi, rasmalai sabzi, and dal fry at Shandar Sweet Home; and rabri ladoos
| Photo Credit:
Nidhi Adlakha

The latter includes a breakfast walk, and so, with my questionable photography skills and raging appetite, we arrived in Old City’s sleeping streets at 7am to kickstart the day with piping hot, crisp, noodle-thin jalebis at Motu Jalebi, a family-run shop that has been around for over 50 years. We walk this off by visiting the stepwell, ghantaghar (clock tower), and circle back for some delicious kachori panchkutta (a traditional Rajasthani vegetable made with ker, sangri, kumatia, gunda, and amchur) at Solanki Mishtaan Bhandar. We quickly washed this down with tea, and breakfast continued to include khatta-meetha samosas at Shahi Samosa, and mirchi bada at Surya Namkeen. Unlike chaat streets in other cities, there are no chutneys offered anywhere. “You eat the snacks as-is to get their flavour,” a shopkeeper tells me.

An aerial shot of Meherangarh Fort, Jodhpur, Rajasthan at twilight.
| Photo Credit:
halbergman

We then headed to Mehrangarh Fort (pro tip: opt for the audio guide), a stunning hilltop fortress that is now maintained by the Mehrangarh Museum Trust. For lunch, we paused at Shandar Sweet Home to savour a traditional Jodhpuri lunch: gulab jamun sabzi, rasmalai sabzi, a Kabuli pulao with fruits and cashews, flake (papad), and dahi bada with vadas dunked in thick, creamy sweet curd and cut fruits. And no, we were still not done. Braving the now bustling streets of Old City, we ended the tour with melt-in-your-mouth rabri ladoos, rabri ghewar, and mava kachoris at Mohanji Mithaiwala

Chandelao Garh
| Photo Credit:
Nidhi Adlakha

.The day ended with a traditional Rajasthani dinner of ker sangri and parathas, and a barbeque, overlooking the arid Thar Desert. With full hearts and abigger belly, I was glad to fly home with everything on that borrowed Excel sheet ticked off. 

The writer was in Jodhpur at the invitation of Chandelao Garh

Published – March 09, 2026 11:44 am IST

As one steps into the narrow passageway leading to Gallery OED in Mattancherry, one encounters graffiti with a distinct comic-book aesthetic, featuring wavy lines, bold colours, and interspersed forms. And then you see the artwork, Kaalam, by the Hashtag# Collective suspended in the air: acrylic letters of the Malayalam alphabet, a poem that speaks of the passage of time. One gets to sit with the idea of time, the impermanence and the quickness of its passage.  

Walking under the poem overhead, there is an unmistakable sense of walking through time, reinforced by the fact that it is under the elements — the sky above, the earth below and the air passing through it, making the words bob in the air. It acquires a certain tangibility when expressed this way.  

The members of the Hashtag# Collective: From left, Abin Chaudhari, Biju Kuriakose, Parvathi Nayar and Saira Biju  
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Rather simplistic and childlike, it is anything but. It has a meditative quality, making one contemplate the idea of time or rather the perception of time. The acrylic letters reflect light, which often filters through it. “Materiality plays a central role in shaping the experience,” the artists’ note says. Neon signage, mural and graffiti interventions by Apoorv Dutt, suspended acrylic Malayalam letterforms, painted surfaces, conceptual text, and a three-dimensional anamorphic rendering of the word Kaalam make up the art. “These elements are integrated directly into the architectural fabric of the courtyard, activating walls, thresholds, and sightlines while continuously altering perception through light, reflection, and distortion,” the note adds.

The Hashtag# Collective comprises artist/writer Parvathi Nayar, designer Abin Chaudhuri, artist Saira Biju and architect Biju Kuriakose. Parvathi’s poem, Kaalam: Time’s Ferocious Timeline, translated/adapted into Malayalam by Saira, lies at the heart of the work, which Parvathi says, “functions more as a conceptual framework rather than a narrative, informing the installation’s rhythm, sequencing, and spatial interruptions. Materiality plays a central role in shaping the experience.” 

A multi-disciplinary artist, Parvathi Nayar’s practice spans complex drawing processes, video, installations, text, and photography. Known for her signature black-and-white graphite drawings, Parvathi’s artistic exploration is through the lens of science, technology, and environmental consciousness.

Her works include BreatheWater at The Esplanade Art Centre, Singapore (2022); Chicken Run at the Chennai Photo Biennale (2021–22); the iconic 20-foot “drawn sculpture” A Story of Flight at Mumbai Airport’s T2 Terminal; and The Fluidity of Horizons at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2014/15) among others. 

Biju Kuriakose is the co-founder of architectureRED, a Chennai-based architecture and urban design practice. A Master’s degree holder in Architecture and Urban Design from Pratt Institute, New York, Biju’s work spans diverse scales — from large urban planning projects to institutional, commercial, urban, and rural housing developments. Abin Chaudhury, a graduate of Jadavpur University, Kolkata and an Industrial Design alumnus of Domus Academy, Milan, is the founder of Abin Design Studio (ADS).

Saira Biju is an artist whose practice has been shaped by her long-standing engagement with art from school through college, even while pursuing non-art academic degrees at Stella Maris College, Chennai. Her time at the School of Visual Arts, New York, strengthened her foundation in formal experimentation, particularly around the interplay of subject, medium, and technique — an approach that continues to inform her work. 

Meanwhile Sindhura VS is an architect and urban designer who uses spatial and visual storytelling to craft immersive, narrative-driven experiences. Apoorv Dutt is a visual artist known for a distinctive storytelling style that blends philosophy, humour, and bold graphic discipline. The founder of Vividiti Designs and principal artist of “Franklyapooooorv,” her practice transforms personal and societal chaos into visually structured narratives. 

Kaalam, on at Gallery OED, Mattancherry, concludes on March 31.

Published – March 09, 2026 09:14 am IST

Miss World 2025 contestants at Charminar in the Old City of Hyderabad last year.
| Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL

There was a time when bread — a household pantry staple — was not bought off virtual stores and websites. Instead, the ritual of buying the perfect loaf involved a visit to the local bakery to check on the softest one, or even better, a cycle vendor with bags full of warm bread and buns.

It is this nostalgic memory that drew Neha S Nirmal and Nischal Vasant Meethal to launch Fillo Bakes, a moving bakery in Bengaluru. The duo come with years of experience in the F&B space, and collectively founded former brands including Couch Potato (a chain of QSRs), Elements Bistro (a continental restaurant in Mysore), before launching Fillo Bakes, a 100% vegetarian Japanese-inspired bakery, in December 2025.   

The travelling Japanese bakery
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

“Growing up, many of us remember the warmth of local bakeries: the smell of fresh bread in the evening, picking up pav for dinner, or buns for tea. We realised fresh food is something that Indians love and fresh bread was our focus so we decided to keep Fillo Bakes direct-to-consumer with our moving bakery,” says Neha, the brand’s director, who oversees product development, R&D, and kitchen operations.

The travelling bakery concept, she says, brings that nostalgia back — fresh bread reaching neighbourhoods directly. “Like households subscribe to milk from homegrown brands, we believe bread can become a similar daily staple,” she adds. 

A selection of anpans
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The Japanese-inspired menu is “intentionally tight, texture-driven, and technique-forward”, and has something for everyone. The signature offerings are the shokupan and soft milk breads. “We focus heavily on softness; that signature Japanese ‘fuwa fuwa’ (pillowy) texture. Precision hydration, fermentation timing, and dough handling are non-negotiables for us,” says Neha, adding that the Japanese baking influence shows up in the restraint in sweetness, and texture. 

Chocolate anpans
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Other baked goods on the menu include the savoury karepans (gochujang-glazed sweet potato, ratatouille with summer vegetables, etc.) and flavour bomb anpans. “Our karepans are crisp on the outside, cloud-soft within. While inspired by traditional Japanese curry bread, we’ve developed fillings like umami-forward vegetables, and slow-cooked fillings. As for the anpans, they are soft buns filled with fresh cream in flavours ranging from chocolate to banana biscoff,” she explains. There are also toasts (milo, banana biscoff, strawberry cream), pies and strudels (Japanese-style vegetable curry, paneer in a tonkatsu sauce, mushroom, apple compote, to name a few).

A fruit sando
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

This Japanese influence comes from their travels to Japan and other parts of Asia, “and from a quiet obsession with precision baking”, says Nischal, COO, who heads operations, consumer strategy, and community building at Fillo Bakes. “We were deeply struck by how soft, milk-based breads are cherished as part of everyday life there: not as indulgences, but as staples. There was something unexpectedly familiar about it. In India too, many of us grew up loving pav, milk bread, and local bakery loaves,” he says, adding that the discipline in Japanese baking was an inspiration. 

Cinnamon twists
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Taking us through the trial phase, Nischal calls it a “rigorous and humbling” experience. “We realised customers were intrigued by breads that felt familiar in format but unexpected in filling. Texture consistency became our biggest differentiator, and people returned because the bread felt different.” Neha adds that prior to launching, they sent multiple batches out to over 300 customers, many of them first-time tasters, to gather honest, unfiltered feedback.

A shokupan at Fillo Bakes
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

“Early on, we realised that softness was non-negotiable. Even a slight density in the crumb structure was immediately noticed. Achieving that signature Japanese-style pillowy texture in a 100% eggless format took far more refinement than we had anticipated. Hydration levels, fermentation timing, flour blends — everything was tested repeatedly,” she says, adding that their biggest breakthrough was the eggless shokupan. 

Currently travelling across the city (in slots through the week) the duo are taking pre-orders via their website and WhatsApp. Once an order is received, the dough is prepared, proofed, hand-rolled, and then baked in small batches. Nischal recalls how, at one of their pop-ups, a Japanese musician tried their karepan with an Indo-Chinese paneer tonkatsu filling. “He paused after the first bite, smiled, and then ordered a fruit sando. For us, that was powerful validation.” 

Strawberry cream toast
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Going forward, the duo are planning to create a permanent experience space alongside the moving bakery experience. “We are looking at expanding our neighbourhood subscription clusters, look at savoury innovations including limited seasonal karepan drops, and take the  travelling bakery concept to events and weddings with curated offerings,” concludes Nischal.

Details on fillobakes.com/

Published – March 08, 2026 04:35 pm IST

Is there still an invisible line where traditional crafts blend into art, and artisans become artists? For Shivaranjan, a Karnataka-based artist, his nomadic shepherd roots have given him both the medium and muse. Working with an earthy palette of 52 shades inspired by the Deccan plateau, he crafts sculptural objects from Deccani sheep wool, drawing on his experiences as a herder. Shivaranjan is one of 47 artists displaying his work at a curated exhibition of collectibles, Objects of Desire, on March 7-8 at Ballard Estate in Mumbai.

Aaryaa Velani & G. Jeswant.

Pinky Daga, co-founder of SIKAO

The two-day showcase, by travelling gallery SIKAO (meaning quiet contemplation or moment of reflection in Mandarin), is a meaningful first step for co-founders Pinky Daga, a theatre practitioner, and her son Kabbier Daga, a multidisciplinary artist working across sound, film and sculpture.

Kabbier Daga, co-founder of SIKAO

Forty-one Indian and six international artists have created over 200 objets d’art in clay, wool, stone, textiles, ceramics, metal and wood. This material-rich, narrative-led, artist-centric repertoire positions collectible design as a creator of cultural artefacts, resisting the commodification of modern aesthetics. 

By Aaryaa Velani & G. Jeswant

Mumbai has been the epicentre of this movement, showcasing Neo-Deco collectibles at India Design ID 2025 and the stylised Art Deco Alive exhibits (November 2025), which brought textiles, furniture, and Deco-era collectibles to the seaside city.

By Fliss Dodd

Debut showcase

Pinky is excited for her first show, as she opens up her heart and art to her coastal hometown. “Indian design is having its moment on a global scale, so there’s no better time than now to showcase how our artists are embracing a global aesthetic,” she says. “We have a collective of both established and budding artists who have created exceptional pieces exclusively for us.” To keep the artwork within the reach of young collectors, the pricing ranges from ₹15,000 to ₹2 lakh, “depending on the man-hours required and the intricacy of the artform”, adds Pinky.

By Ganesh Burud

Each piece tells a story of provenance and process. Bengaluru-based textile artist Pragati Mathur, whose oeuvre includes textile art from diverse yarns, has created “a copper totem pole and a sculptural metallic ode to Hampi rocks, really going out of her comfort zone to fashion something truly exceptional”.

Harshita Jhamtani’s work of art.

“Then there’s Harshita Jamtani, known for her lights, but she has imagined a collection of dolls for us in her signature style,” explains the founder.

Shivaranjan’s work of art.

She adds, “Shivaranjan is a wonderful artist from Karnataka who tends his flocks in the fields while using the colours and traditions of the Deccan plateau. We had initial conversations with him in 2025 and iterated AI models so he could render the object in his materiality.”

Shweta Mansingka’s work of art.

Aaryaa Velani and Jeswant G. bring in two pieces crafted in ceramic, wood and fibre, created during their residency at Hampi Art Labs, Bellary, in collaboration with artisans from the Sandur Collective. The pieces, while evoking everyday objects, are sculptural and represent evolving artist traditions in more contemporary forms.

Tilfi, founded in Varanasi (by Aditi Chand, Ujjwal Khanna and Udit Khanna), celebrates craft as an archival collection of motifs and materials, presenting pieces inspired by mythology and crafted in hand-worked brass. Ahmedabad-based Rutva Joshi takes up projects pairing painting, mural and sculpture and has created a terracotta-hued sculptural collectible.

Other works

Other notable pieces spotlighted by the curator include sculptural ceramic works by Ganesh Burud, an alumnus of the JJ School of Art who uses the medium to explore themes of chaos and the aesthetic language of cubism.

Australian ceramic artist Fliss Dodd brings her interpretation of anthropomorphic forms through culture, ritual and storytelling, using sgraffito carving (layering slip or underglaze on clay and carving through it to reveal the surface underneath).

“My team of artisans at Pyramid Valley (a wellness centre set up by Pinky in Bengaluru) have also created bespoke rammed earth sculptural pieces,” says the founder. Ahmedabad-based studio, Length Breadth Height, presents furniture from raw basalt stone and marble, complemented by Deetee Homes’ luxury planters, redefining biophilic inspiration through architectural design. Mumbai-based Shailesh Rajput Studio presents sculptural metal fixtures alongside Mugen Home’s collectibles carved from alabaster and metal, creating an iridescent mineral glow. 

From Mumbai to Milan

In this eclectic curation, each piece has been intentionally created with many iterations since July 2025. Everything on display is exclusive to SIKAO and not available with the artist or their studios. After the exhibition, a few chosen collectibles will travel to Italy for the 11th edition of Alcova during Milan Design Week. “It’s a moment of pride to provide this platform to Indian artists. We would then like to close the year with stops at Dubai, Doha and a few Indian cities off the beaten track,” concludes Pinky.  

‘Objects of Desire’ is on view March 7–8, 11 a.m.–8 p.m. at IF.BE Ballard Estate

The freelance writer is based in Chennai.

Published – March 07, 2026 12:26 pm IST

India’s real estate sector is evolving rapidly, yet one persistent issue continues to undermine its long-term value: construction delays. Beyond missed handover dates, delays create a ripple effect of uncertainty that erodes financial value, weakens buyer confidence, and increases systemic risk across the ecosystem. In an industry where timelines directly influence trust, capital efficiency, and asset pricing, uncertainty has emerged as one of the most expensive hidden costs.

Construction delays in India are rarely caused by a single factor. Instead, they stem from a combination of fragmented planning, manual execution, and limited real-time visibility into project progress. Traditional construction models rely heavily on informal labour structures and reactive decision-making. This leaves little room for predictability.

Regulatory approvals and compliance processes further complicate timelines, while fluctuating material costs and financing pressures amplify execution risk. Without integrated planning and transparent monitoring, even minor disruptions can cascade into months of delay.

Financial cost

Delays directly inflate project costs. Interest during construction continues to accrue, while input costs rise due to inflation and supply volatility. These pressures either compress developer margins or increase end prices, affecting affordability and demand.

Equally significant is capital lock-in. When projects overrun timelines, capital remains tied up longer than planned, limiting reinvestment into new developments. For institutional investors and lenders, unpredictable execution translates into higher risk premiums, reduced exposure, or tighter funding terms — ultimately slowing sectoral growth.

Extended construction timelines force buyers to juggle EMIs and rent simultaneously, triggering frustration and legal disputes. Over time, repeated delays across the sector have reshaped buyer behaviour, with increased preference for transparent, milestone-driven delivery models.

Regulatory frameworks such as RERA have improved accountability, but compliance alone cannot fix execution inefficiencies.

True confidence comes from visibility, knowing not just when a project will be delivered, but how it is progressing at every stage.

The industry is now witnessing a shift towards process-driven, technology-enabled construction.

Digital planning tools, centralised knowledge centres, real-time project tracking, and milestone-based execution frameworks are helping reduce uncertainty at the design and build stages.

Standardisation — whether in design, procurement, or execution — allows developers to minimise variability and control costs. Modern construction methods such as prefabrication and modular components further improve speed and accuracy, reducing dependency on manual labour and on-site improvisation.

Value multiplier

One of the most powerful ways to mitigate value risk is transparency. Tech-enabled construction platforms that provide real-time progress tracking, cost visibility, and clear communication help align all stakeholders: developers, contractors, lenders, and buyers.

When timelines are predictable, and progress is measurable, financing becomes more efficient, buyer confidence improves, and asset valuations stabilise.

Construction is a key contributor to India’s GDP and employment.

Persistent delays slow housing supply, strain financial systems through stressed assets, and impact allied industries. Improving execution certainty is therefore not just a sectoral need but an economic imperative.

By embracing structured planning, technology-driven execution, and buyer-centric transparency, the sector can move away from uncertainty-led value erosion towards delivery-led value creation. In India’s next phase of real estate growth, predictability will define profitability.

The writer is founder and CEO of buildAhome.

Published – March 06, 2026 03:40 pm IST

The Vijayanagara empire dominated the geopolitical landscape of the Deccan from the 14th to the 16th centuries before its destruction and abandonment. Vijayanagara, which means the City of Victory, continues into our times with the ruins at Hampi, now a World Heritage Site of immense cultural significance and newfound interest. The book City of Victory: Hampi Vijayanagara (Pictor), by archaeologists George Michell and John M. Fritz (with photography by John Gollings), is therefore not another architectural guidebook but a definitive visual and historical portrait of a city that was once the thriving capital of the most important Hindu kingdom in medieval South India.

The book is an updated presentation of the 1991 book by the authors. The older edition — with Michell’s lifelong work on Deccani architecture and its dissemination, alongside Fritz’s studies — was a landmark publication that brought early scholarly attention to Hampi. The new edition is designed for contemporary readers; Michell has reorganised the scholarship, updated the documentation work (that has continued since 1991), and published it in large format.

The book City of Victory: Hampi Vijayanagara

A few weeks ago, I had a chance to attend the photo exhibition that accompanied the book launch, at Bengaluru’s Venkatappa Art Gallery. To my luck, architectural photographer Gollings was on site for a walkthrough of the black-and-white photographs. Produced over 45 years, his lens captures buildings suspended in sweeping stone terrains, each shot a careful composition. One image was particularly arresting: the monumental 6.7-metre monolithic Lakshmi Narasimha at Hampi. Weathered, immense, and dignified even in ruin, it is among the most recognisable icons of Vijayanagara, commissioned by King Krishnadevaraya in 1528.

But something felt subtly unfamiliar. The deity, seated cross-legged in formidable calm, seemed familiar and yet altered. Gollings explained the shift. “In the 1980s, well-meaning conservators from the Archaeological Survey of India introduced a stone yogapatta — a supporting band across the knees — to stabilise the sculpture,” he said. “In doing so, they inadvertently transformed the iconography.” The original sculpture, once depicted with the goddess seated upon Narasimha’s lap, had long lost its form. With the addition of the band, the image was reinterpreted as Yoga Narasimha, the ascetic manifestation we recognise today.

It was a quiet revelation. What centuries had weathered and neglect had sustained, restoration had subtly redefined.

The historic Vijaya Vitthala Temple complex in Hampi
| Photo Credit:
 John Gollings

An empire’s timeline

The text by Michell and Fritz reflects decades of documenting Vijayanagara, and weaves historical narrative with architectural documentation and insight. Fritz is with us no more, but Michell spoke about his work at the launch, echoing the author’s deep familiarity with the site. It was Fritz’s idea, he said, to organise photographs into ‘areas of interest’ — landscapes, prestigious temples and so on. This shines through in the book as they establish the empire’s timeline, delve into religious architecture and its central role in urban planning of the time, and guide the reader’s journey through the city.

In its heyday, Hampi must have astounded visitors. Temples, palaces and market streets unfolded across a surreal boulder-strewn terrain. Sacred shrines lined the banks of the Tungabhadra, the region’s life force. Massive granite blocks were carved into mandapas along the water, which could withstand seasonal flooding. Elsewhere, rocks were cut into reservoirs serving temples located away from the river. Replete with explanations that expand historic spatial logic, and supplemented by maps, drawings and plans, the book is of use to the casual reader and the scholar.

The dramatic expanse of the rocky landscape of Tungabhadra valley. The remains of an extraordinary architectural complex defines this land, as ruins of temples, pavilions and structures.
| Photo Credit:
 John Gollings

Evocative journey

The real treat, of course, is Gollings’ photography. The Australian brings a rare sensitivity to the visual storytelling of Vijayanagara’s ruins. His images capture the monumental scale of the site’s granite landscape and the intricate details of its sculptural forms with dramatic light and shadow. He sometimes foregrounds the images with humans, or familiar plants or stones, enabling the viewer’s discernment of scale, while elsewhere details are photographed as documentation, enabling study and reflection. The photos also span the medium from early analogue processes to large-format film and digital imaging, reflecting a consistent embrace of technological shifts without surrendering his craft.

The photographs enable easy architectural reading. Here, a mandapa with carved columns in the Tiruvengalanatha temple beneath Matanga Hill.
| Photo Credit:
 John Gollings

City of Victory stands out as one of the most compelling books on Vijayanagara available today. It balances narrative, analysis and visual beauty — and offers scholarly depth and an evocative journey through a city that may lie in ruins, but continues to live in stone, in memory and, through its pages, in light.

The writer is the founder-director of Eka Archiving Services.

Published – March 07, 2026 06:11 am IST

Large letters crawl over a blue wall, spelling out questions on water and access. Another wall has portraits of women teaching their children. Elsewhere, there are abstractions in black and white, and colourful spray-painted silhouettes, as though viewed through a rain-splattered window.

In February, the murals in Delhi’s Lodhi Colony went up to 66. As the public ‘art district’, which began as an experiment in 2015 by the St+art India Foundation, turned 10, six new works took up residence. This included a collaborative one by U.K.-based Raissa Pardini and the late artist and St+art co-founder Hanif Kureshi. The mural, which centred on issues of water scarcity, drew on the artists’ long-term exchanges with sign painters in Old Delhi.

A cycle rickshaw tour of Lodhi Art District’s murals
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy Asian Paints

“We wanted to leave a cultural legacy in our cities, which were being overrun with commercial advertisements,” says co-founder Arjun Bahl, speaking to the scale and ambition of the district, developed around the same time as India’s Smart Cities Mission. Despite being founded through organic meetings among friends, much of its early (and continued) momentum was gained through partnerships with local government bodies, embassies and private companies. If public art was to be rethought as urban infrastructure, a bridge had to be made between street art’s counter-cultural instincts and the institutions that could grant it scale and longevity.

An untitled mural by Elian Chali
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy St+art

He recalls entering a police station for the first time in 2014, to get permissions for a 150-foot-tall mural. The group pitched a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi to be painted on the side facade of the Delhi police headquarters. The interaction opened a relationship with the Delhi police, which has been developing ever since. For Bahl, conversations with such “stakeholders” are necessary, emphasising that “our only agenda is to put art out there”.

(L-R) St+art co-founders Hanif Kureshi, Giulia Ambrogi, Arjun Bahl, and Thanish Thomas
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy St+art

Sites of cultural diplomacy

Still, producing culture in public spaces is a continuous process of re-negotiation. Speaking of recent challenges with event permissions, a production manager at St+art talks about the “complicated task of managing the building society, government, police, and artists”, the long list of people who can stake claim over a community space. “People in government change, so we have to start conversations afresh,” Bahl explains. “Fortunately, we have a well-documented body of work as precedent, which makes it easier.”

A mural inspired by Asian Paints’ ‘Moonlit Silk’ at Lodhi by artist Pener
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy Asian Paints

An artist at work
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy St+art

The morning of our conversation, Bahl had been with the Spanish president, Indian culture minister and British deputy prime minister, touring the Lodhi Art District during their visit to Delhi for the India AI Impact Summit. These gestures of “cultural diplomacy” speak to the funding structures that have supported St+art since its inception. Suso33, one of the artists invited to contribute in 2026, “the Banksy of Spain” as his partner describes him, was flown in by Spain as part of the ‘India-Spain Dual Year of Culture, Tourism and Artificial Intelligence’. Meanwhile, the Goethe Institut is one of St+art’s first financial supporters. The other, Asian Paints, has become Lodhi Art District’s headline partner. “You need organisations to back you,” Bahl says.

Spanish president Pedro Sánchez Castejón and Indian Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy St+art

Suso33 starts his collaborative mural, Garden of Encounters, as Castejón and Shekhawat look on
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy St+art

Currently, the foundation is running three large public projects in India supported by governments and private corporations. “Public-private partnerships are growing. Even the Prime Minister is talking about ‘cultural economy’,” he states.

National impact

Since St+art’s inception, public art initiatives have exploded in India. Many are helmed by the Foundation, including at hubs such as Mumbai’s Dharavi and Sassoon Docks, Hyderabad’s MS Maqta, and Goa’s Panjim areas.

A sketch of the collaborative mural by Raissa Pardini and the late Hanif Kureshi
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy St+art

Kochi has been a particular hotspot, especially during the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB). This year, it debuted ‘The Island Mural Project’ to bring dedicated focus on “the history and communities of Fort Kochi as active collaborators in the Biennale”, as KMB programmes manager Rebecca Martin says. The gradually unfolding series of murals is spread throughout Fort Kochi and Mattancherry, and will live beyond the Biennale.

Among them is a 200-metre mural by the Fearless Collective, which stretches along the Indian Coast Guard office. Ten artists turned the wall into a narrative of coastal life: with stories of fishermen, mangrove guardians and coastguards. Situating the street as the “middle ground” between polarised opinions, the Collective’s founder artist Shilo Shiv Suleman emphasised the potential of public muraling “not necessarily as an act of adornment but as an act of public reclamation and transformation”.

Mural by the Fearless Collective
| Photo Credit:
Thulasi Kakkat

Taking ownership

Suleman’s words also loop into St+art’s strategy across its many projects: banking on shared interests. For instance, they engage with local residents of the sites they work at. “We always conduct a recce to understand the people who live there,” says the production manager. “We ask how we can engage with the community, if it has any local artists, what their stories are.”

At Lodhi, this community work is most apparent in murals such as Saath Saath, created and painted by around 100 colony residents. Other works reflect the neighbourhood’s people too, such as Mexico-based artist Paola Delfin’s mural showcasing the women of the colony, and Gond artist Bajju Shyam’s Dilliwalle (People of Delhi) with a dense crowd of foxes, “the cleverest creatures” in the jungle.

Berlin-based artist Jumu works on her mural, Magical
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy St+art

Magical is an exploration of folklore, migration, and memory
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy St+art

Some works seek to intervene into public discourse more directly. Aravani Art Project, the Bengaluru-based trans- and cis-women-led collective, was heartened by the positive response from mothers to their 2019 mural Trans Lives Matter painted in front of Lodhi Colony’s Senior Secondary School. “As we painted here for seven days, it was heartwarming to see so many mothers come up to us with positive responses as they waited for their children,” a note says. The same mothers were the subject of Sajid Wajid Shaikh’s neighbouring mural, Shakti, “an ode to womanhood”, also painted in 2019.

Aravani Art Project’s Trans Lives Matter
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy St+art

“Lodhi will continue to function as both origin point and testing ground,” says chief curator and co-founder Giulia Ambrogi. Bahl adds: “We believe in getting things done. Getting out there and trying something, good or bad, and taking ownership of space that is for everyone.”

The writer is an arts professional, offering an insider’s view on the scene.