If your October calendar includes Frieze or PAD, there's a quieter detour worth making in Mayfair. Wings & Tales, the first London solo show from New Delhi designer Vikram Goyal, runs October 13-16 at 7A Grafton Street — a Georgian townhouse a few minutes' walk from Berkeley Square — with daily viewing from 10am to 6pm.
The setting is deliberate. Goyal staged the show like a traditional Indian drawing room, or baithak: a place for conversation rather than a corridor of vitrines. Two rooms are dressed with hand-knotted rugs woven from recycled sari silk, silk brocade and velvet seating on cast-bronze animal feet, and repoussé brass screens, bowls and vases. The theme throughout is the Ramayana — the ancient Hindu epic of Prince Rama's exile and rescue of his wife Sita — filtered through monkeys, half-bird creatures and other mythical beings. Expect the artisan showcase to feel closer to visiting a richly decorated home than a gallery.
The craft is the headline act. Goyal's studio is best known for repoussé metalwork, in which artisans hammer brass sheets into relief from the reverse before refining the front — what he calls working "half-blind." American design historian Glenn Adamson, who interviewed Goyal at the preview, credits him with reviving the technique to a standard not seen in two centuries, and dubbed him a kind of William Morris of contemporary India, noting both the range of crafts under one roof and the fair, multi-faith workshop behind them. Newer threads in the collection include brocade upholstery from a Varanasi atelier and Samarkand-style rugs.
The influences range well beyond India — Ottoman and Indian miniatures, Chinese embroidery, even Art Deco — but the spirit stays rooted in Goyal's childhood memories of annual Ramayana theatre, with its elaborate costumes and fantastical creatures. He also ties the work to the festivals of Dussehra and Diwali, which mark the epic's arc of good prevailing over evil and Rama's homecoming.
Beyond viewing the pieces, visitors can catch salon-style literary events with writers Sam Dalrymple and Gurnaik Johal, keeping the storytelling theme alive. For design lovers, collectors in town for the fairs, or anyone curious how heritage craft goes contemporary, it's a calm counterpoint to a frantic art week — and free to wander into. Just don't expect to walk through quickly; the point is to sit down and stay a while.
