RAW Collaborative became more than a visit—it quietly shifted how we read design.
Through Design Cultures, it brought together a nuanced spectrum of Indian practices, where craft, contemporary expression, and cultural narratives existed seamlessly.
For our participants, the curated walkthrough and conversations with designers offered a rare closeness to the thinking and material sensibilities shaping design in India today—making it a defining moment of the Kolkata Culture Walk. Experiences like these are essential in shaping a designer’s perspective, helping students develop a more informed and intuitive eye.
We extend our sincere thanks to the RAW team @raw_collaborative and facilitators for their guidance and warm hospitality.
#culturewalkskolkatta2026 #cindrebay #rawexhibition
Ecotone Futures: Letters to the Wetlands
Presented at the KCC Gallery, Calcutta, as part of RAW Collaborative.
This project began with a simple question: how do we bring the East Kolkata Wetlands into the gallery not as image, but as system, memory, and living public imagination?
Ecotone Futures is a participatory installation that frames the wetlands as Kolkata’s living metabolism, a landscape that receives the city’s excess, transforms it through ecology and labor, and returns food, water, and resilience back to urban life. The structure draws from the form of water hyacinth and was built using cane and reclaimed fish nets gathered from the wetland edges near the gallery. The knots, stitches, tears, and ruptures in these nets carry the marks of use, repair, and ecological strain.
Visitors were invited to write speculative letters to the wetlands and to future Kolkata. These letters formed a growing public archive in the space, and were later posted to real recipients, allowing the work to travel beyond the white box and into everyday life.
This project is both an invitation and a question: what futures become possible when we begin to listen more deeply to the ecologies that already sustain us?
@raw_collaborative@aakar_br@kccinkolkata
#EcotoneFutures #LettersToTheWetlands #RAWCollaborative #KCC #Kolkata Calcutta EastKolkataWetlands InstallationArt SpeculativeFutures PublicArt DaseinLab
Ekti Triti
The installation recalls the wandering ficus roots on Kolkata’s old facades — slow, persistent presences that quietly inscribe themselves into the city, at times even reshaping the streetscape. Here, the ficus becomes a metaphor for Bengal’s craft cultures — living veins that run through the region, binding and holding it together across time.
At its centre rests a sculptural rattan bench crafted by master artisan Nopur Parida from Joynagar. Fluid in line and tactile in presence, the form carries the quiet generosity of Kolkata’s pavement life — an unspoken invitation to pause, sit, and belong.
A handwoven jute tapestry by women weavers from the Gorumara region in the Duars stretches across and around it, introducing an earthen softness — a landscape-like texture that feels grown rather than placed.
Encircling this core, a bamboo framework shaped in collaboration with Durga Pujo pandal artisans of Girish Park, led by Bidesh Dhara, moves lightly yet assertively through the composition. It binds the elements into a single continuous gesture — structural, celebratory, alive.
Three materials. Three craft lineages across Bengal. Distinct in origin, unified in expression.
What appears organic is deeply intentional — a contemporary articulation of collaboration, continuity, and collective making.
Design team - @_nandiiiiniii_ , @_.humanistic_ , @_nightfury_1009 , @by.aheli
Photography/Videography - @suvajit_chanda
Design and Executed for Design cultures in Kolkata at @kccinkolkata by @raw_collaborative in association with @aakar_br
#bamboo #handcrafted #furnituredesign #installation #rattan
Some opportunities arrive quietly—and end up transforming everything.
When @tanvikaria and @fictitious_fable_ from @raw_collaborative reached out to us to come on board as exhibit partners for their Kolkata show, it was completely unexpected. Being our first time as exhibition partners, we stepped in with a certain idea of what our role would be.
We found ourselves working across two distinct yet deeply connected aspects—first, contributing to the overall exhibition and spatial design, shaping the larger experience; and second, creating a more intimate, personalised space at the entrance, rooted in the essence of Bengal.
The space we helped build felt like a shared identity—belonging to @raw_collaborative , to Kirti Jalan Design Studio, and to Bengal.
At the entrance, the installation told a story we strongly believe in—of dissolving boundaries between art, craft, design, and architecture.
An experience we truly enjoyed, and one that taught us so much along the way. Pleased to have @aakar_br by @ritu612@bhawna_a_ the visionaries, to get @raw_collaborative to kolkata, and making it a great success.
Grateful to be trusted with this, and thankful for the opportunity to be part of something so special.#handmade #rattan #exhibitiondesign #jute #installation
A special moment for us at the Design Cultures by @raw_collaborative exhibit held at @kccinkolkata presented by @aakar_br
We had the pleasure of welcoming ace architect Pinakin Patel @pinakin.official to the Ochre At Home booth. His thoughtful words of appreciation for our work were truly humbling — and all the more meaningful coming from a voice we deeply admire.
Encounters like these remind us why we do what we do. Grateful, inspired, and quietly proud.
Video Credit @rohit_think@ykc.media
#OchreAtHome #RawCollaborative #DesignVoices #EditorialLiving #ajayaryafurniture
Exquisite moments from our Root & Grain collection at Design Cultures by @raw_collaborative held @kccinkolkata , presented by @aakar_br
From thoughtful details to meaningful conversations, this showcase was more than just an exhibition—it was an experience shaped by every visitor who stopped, observed, and connected with our work.
Grateful for the warmth, appreciation, and inspiring energy you brought, Kolkata 🤍
Your response made every piece feel even more alive.
Here’s a glimpse of the moments that made it special 🎥
Video Credit @rohit_think@ykc.media
#rootandgrain #designculture #rawcollaborative #ajayaryafurniture #ajayaryainteriors
Grateful for the warmth Kolkata showed us.
Aakar was filled with conversations, curiosity, and so many people who came in to experience Design Cultures by Raw Collaborative.
Watching visitors engage with the work, spend time with the pieces, and share their thoughts made the entire effort so meaningful.
Thank you to everyone who walked through our doors, paused, explored, and supported the designers and ideas we hoped to bring together. The love and encouragement from the city truly made it special.
#Aakar #DesignCultures #RawCollaborative #design
Using shola and shaal pata, simple elements from Bengal’s everyday landscape, we created a grazing table that celebrates craft, culture, and playfulness for Design Cultures in association with @aakar_br & @raw_collaborative
Flower pressing workshop with artist Riya Bhartia & Harsh Nowlakha for Design Cultures by Raw Collaborative & Aakar.
A lovely afternoon of engaging with nature through the delicate art of pressing and preserving blooms, bringing together the Calcutta community for a moment of creativity and mindful making.
Thank you, Riya & Harsh, for sharing your practice and techniques.
#Aakar #DesignCultures #RawCollaborative #riyabhartia #FlowerPressing
An unveiling that turned heads.
At RAW Collab in association with Aakar, Aaroshe made its debut — and the reactions said it all.
Design that feels rare, personal, and impossible to ignore✨
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