The ongoing collaboration between AD and the JSW Foundation entered its sixth year of supporting excellence in craftsmanship in India. The jury this year added two more prize categories to the roster, in addition to the main prize for Contemporary Craftsmanship: the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Emerging Artisan award.
Padma Bhushan–winning designer, art curator and scenographer Rajeev Sethi was awarded the AD x JSW Lifetime Achievement Award for his unparalleled contribution to Indian crafts. Besides exhibiting across the world in major institutions, Sethi was instrumental in the organization of the “Festivals of India”, held in several countries from the 1980s to the early ’90s that marked India’s concerted effort to create a model of “cultural development”, which placed the arts at the centre of said development. Sethi has also worked in the studio of the storied Italian French designer Pierre Cardin, and is renowned as a scenographer who designed the Basic Needs pavilion at Expo 2000, an international exhibition held in Hanover, Germany. In 1995, he founded Asian Heritage Foundation, a New Delhi–based not-for-profit organisation, that buttresses the creative expressions and needs of artisans across the country.
“It is presumptuous on my part to accept such thoughtful patronage on behalf of the skilled but vulnerable communities that have created and built India,” Sethi said while accepting the award. His lifelong endeavour to put Indian craftsmanship at the centre of the dialogue on culture has been seminal to the industry.
Architect Priyanka Narula of the Hyderabad-based The Wicker Story (TWS) was awarded the AD x JSW Prize for Contemporary Craftsmanship. Founded in 2018, the project combines traditional Indian basketry with parametric design and specialises in zero waste production using materials like Assamese rattan and cane. Notable works include award-winning products such as the “Sunset” bench (Red Dot Design Award, 2024) and “Imli” (Edida India, 2019). TWS emphasizes economic and environmental sustainability while fostering craft innovation through collaborations with local artisans.
Lastly, the AD x JSW Prize for Emerging Artisan was awarded to Chennai-based Reha Salvi, a self-taught woodturner and founder of the craft studio Lakkadghoom. Her work interrogates the profound connection between maker and material, as Lakkadghoom marries contemporary design with India’s rich woodturning heritage. Its artisanship is rooted in traditional crafts like kitchenware by Gujarat’s Wadha Kolis and lacquered toys from Karnataka’s Channapatna.
Salvi’s creations, such as “Beej”—a hollow teakwood vessel—and the “Terra” vases, highlight techniques like the Japanese wood reservation method of yakisugi, organic carving, and multiaxis turning. She employs traditional lacquerwork from Channapatna and also works with lathe artistry from Sankheda, Gujarat, in a bid to keep the crafts alive by being inventive in the way they are used.
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