The Unsung GIANTS

Riten Mozumdar

1927-2006

FOLLOWING INDIA’S INDEPENDENCE from the British Empire in 1947, artisans moved to revive the subcontinent’s ancient handicrafts. One of the most notable was Riten Mozumdar, whose work significantly shaped the country’s postcolonial modernist designs. An apprentice of pioneering artist Benode Behari Mukherjee, Mozumdar has a multifaceted resume, ranging from furniture and artwork to fashion and sculpture. He gleaned inspiration from India’s rich history – at one point travelling throughout the country to learn more about fabric-dyeing techniques – as well as abroad, in places such as Finland, where he worked in textile manufacturing and absorbed some of the no-frills elements of Scandinavian design. His works are minimalist but often feature bright, bold colours, as seen in his graphic linens for Fabindia and his Kashmiri rugs, awash in fluid calligraphy.

Mozumdar designed pavilions and exhibitions in India and showed his work around the world at such prestigious venues as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Decorative Arts in Copenhagen.

“Unlike many modernist Indian designers who emerged from the National Institute of Design with a Western-focused approach, Mozumdar studied at Santiniketan as an artist and approached modernism from an indigenous angle. Working with Kashmiri felt-rug makers and Gujarati tie-and-dye artisans and drawing inspiration from traditional Mughal calligraphy and Bengali script, he developed a modernist design language that felt fresh and new but