Objects and experiences for curious design savants

A landmark of artistic indulgence and retail, The House of Things Gallery’s arrival in Udaipur should be on your next design agenda

27 Mar 2025

Pratishtha Rana

The House of Things Gallery’s arrival in Udaipur should be on your next design agenda

It’s rather intriguing how art and crafts stand central to our ways of living. We find it embedded in our homes and spaces outside; in the poised pool of furniture pieces, at destinations and hotels, in art galleries and venues of retail. Especially in India, craftsmanship trickles way beyond its common identity of just being about techniques and traditions. It is in fact a way of storytelling. A purpose to evolve the past, led by creatives, designers and artisans. A design and crafts revolution may be underway in the heritage city of Udaipur, thanks to the newest arrival of The House of Things Gallery. Rewind to 2015, siblings-in-law Astha and Manan Khetan co-founded the brand with an e-commerce focus to exhibit the most curious pieces of objects from numerous artists and designers. Switch to 2025, a decade later, The House of Things Gallery in the City of Lakes now becomes an inspiring address for arts and crafts discovery. A museum of objects, some say!

A portal to discoveries

The gallery’s 25,000 sq ft endless confines prove that palatial can be intimate too. With furniture, home accessories, rare objects and artworks dressed in the mystique of the designers’ imagination, colours, materials and karigari. Our visit to the gallery in no time transformed into a journey of design.

Photograph courtesy The House of Things Gallery

Gleaming under the spotlight, stood before me an installation sculpted out of ceramics, mumbling the architectural enormity of the City Palace in Udaipur — a part of the special collection titled An Udaipur Sojourn of more than 30 creatives creating idiosyncratic pieces for this launch. From Ira Udaipur’s Celestial Sitar Pillar Totem, Mewar Gangaur Boat depiction by Princess Nivritti Kumari Mewar for her brand Vottary, and Shailesh Rajput’s sculptural peacock to a pristine

Mughal era-inspired perfume bottle by Amrapali Jewels, Amor lamp by Nama Home amongst others gripped our sight. Strolling further, guest curator Feroze Gujral brought in a Tastemaker’s Edit with influences of modernistic pinks and lime hues, while on the other end, a gallery within a gallery emerged, housing ethereal Pichwai paintings by Nathdwara artists.

Co-founder Astha Khetan and guest curator Feroze Gujral; Photograph courtesy The House of Things Gallery

Collaborations are crucial, too. Explore statements for your living spaces at curated sections of Rhea Kapoor and Ravi Vazirani, Maria Lozano, Nicobar, Jaipur Rugs, Aadyam Handwoven and Sage Living. And soak the tactile beauty of fabrics and finishes inside The Material Library. Sartorial influences linger in the air inside the gallery, too! Tread with attention to find a glimmering fashion section that displays wearable art and dainty jewellery pieces — showcasing creations from Aneeth Arora’s Péro, Sonam Khetan’s ensembles crafted with storytelling at its core, Verandah, De Castro, Aavaran and Artchives, alongside Devi Jaipur, Jobner and Looms of Ladakh.

An expression of life and culture that leaps geographies, here, objects become a present-day archive of collectibles. On the brim of overindulgence, aesthetically and sensorially, the flagship also makes space for a bar and a lounge in addition to its repository of over 200 brands, designers and artisans — suggesting that design and retail may be scheduled for an exciting collision of purpose, demand and exploration.

Find out more about the gallery and their latest collections here