My Latest Venture Is Live

Dear Friends,

As someone who has lived between India, the UK, and the US, I’ve often found that Indian visual culture is visible but not always understood. It’s a familiar fate: Indian material culture is either commodified into decorative kitsch for export showrooms, or sanctified into museum relics, placed on pedestals, frozen in time, admired from a distance but severed from living tradition.

What started as conversations in my Cambridge living room has quietly become BRAHM Collection; a cross-continental project rooted in India, shaped in dialogue with the UK, and backed by a discerning circle of early investors.

TLDR:  My wife always loved Goop; the curation, the confidence, the way it made lifestyle feel like a form of authorship. With BRAHM, we’re building a type of ‘Goop’ for India.

Simply put, we find and list the best in-class heritage Indian craftsmanship across different mediums: in cloth, in metal, in wood, in pigment. We ship anywhere in the world and can source anything if it can be found in India. If it’s worth having, we’ll find it.

Truth be told, we are not artists or art experts. We’re curators and connectors. We own some inventory, but mostly spotlight smaller brands and artisans across India.

So much more will unfold in time. But today, I wanted to show you what we’ve subtly placed into the world. Three of the most recent sales and the journeys they travelled.

“Rachana”: Blooming Inlay Wallpaper —> 🇬🇧

Printed in Surat, Gujarat by a small family atelier that has worked in surface design for the last century, this wallpaper draws from the ornamental vocabulary of Mughal and Rajput interiors. The workshop specializes in chhapai; an evolved form of block printing that uses carved teak blocks not just on fabric but on fine paper and coated natural fibers, adapted here for wall application.

The motifs, cypress trees, stylized florals, nested paisleys, are taken directly from archival tracings of inlay work found in 18th-century sandstone palaces across Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Rather than replicating them precisely, the family reinterprets the forms with their own visual cadence: slightly stretched, softened, and realigned into panels that echo architectural rhythm.

The inks are low-emission and free from harmful fumes, designed with both beauty and responsibility in mind. The colour story, burnt ochre, muted gold, and sage green, is brought to life through an embossed finish that catches the light and adds a subtle dimensionality.

Now installed in a home in Wiltshire, United Kingdom, the wallpaper holds its own quietly: not as pattern, but as poignance; a lattice of memory, labor, and lineage.

“Radha Krishna”: The Divine Dance Painting —> 🇺🇸

Hand-painted in Jaipur by a lineage painter trained in Pichwai techniques, this piece captures the cosmic circularity of the Raas Leela - Lord Krishna’s divine dance with Radha and the Gopis beneath a starlit Vrindavan sky.

Rendered on primed cotton with natural pigments and gold detailing, the painting follows the classical grammar of Pichwai art: tight brushwork, radial symmetry, and devotional iconography layered in symbolic blue. The figures dance in concentric motion, their bodies turned in rhythm, yet anchored around the still point of Krishna. The trees and lotuses frame the scene like temple pillars, creating a living shrine on cloth.

This piece came from a generational workshop, where the artists still grind their own pigments and maintain ritual fasts while painting. The layering process takes over four weeks from priming to final detailing.

It’s now crossed the world to take root in the Garden State, USA.

“Nandi”: Brass Sculpture of the Sacred Bull —> 🇺🇸

Cast in solid brass using the traditional lost-wax method, a time-honoured casting technique that allows for fine detail, this sculpture depicts Nandi, the sacred companion of Lord Shiva - guardian of the threshold, keeper of dharma, and emblem of quiet devotion. The piece was made by a father-son workshop in Tamil Nadu, where artisans have sculpted for temples and households across generations.

The detailing is dense but controlled: layered garlands, anklets, and a delicately tooled yoke-cloth evoke Nandi’s role not just as protector, but as a symbol of devotion; patient, grounded, and alert. His gaze is soft but firm. The body rests, but the form listens.

The brass has been hand-burnished to a mellow, living finish that will continue to deepen over time, gaining patina with light and touch. The tooling follows canonical proportions from Shiva temple traditions, while the finish allows the piece to sit with quiet dignity in secular interiors.

Now placed in the Pacific Northwest, USA this Nandi anchors not necessarily as idol, but as presence. A companion for stillness. A reminder that patience is not passivity, but spiritual strength in repose.

You're welcome to browse the collection — but if there's something more specific you're looking for, whether it's a statement sculpture, a made-to-measure painting, or a meaningful gift, we'd be glad to help source or commission it for you. Just reach out.

More soon. Thank you for being here. Hit me up if you have any questions.

With gratitude,

Zach

Founder | BRAHM Collection

Cambridge · Chennai · London · Boston

More stories coming soon