Inside Raw Mango’s newest adda

Kolkata houses the design house’s flagship store, destined for an immersive experience of culture and architecture

18 Dec 2025

In Kolkata, Raw Mango, a luxury design house, finds a city that already speaks its language. The design house’s first flagship store opens on December 19, 2025, inside an early 20th-century Art Deco building in Ballygunge. A setting that mirrors Kolkata’s enduring culture of dialogue across art, design and politics within everyday life, this store resists a fixed aesthetic, much like the brand itself. The design house converses through sarees, garments and other objects. Sanjay’s statement is a gentle nod to the city’s galleries, museums, clubs and its instinctive exchange of ideas as a natural extension of Raw Mango’s ethos.

“Kolkata has always been part of the plan"

- Sanjay Garg, Founder and Designer of Raw Mango

The sculptures punctuate the space, mirroring Kolkata’s enduring culture of dialogue across art, design and politics within everyday life

Craft beyond the loom

Conceived as an adda, rather than a conventional retail space, the store, which spans 4,800 sq ft, reflects Sanjay’s belief in design as an invitation to pause and observe. This is particularly evident in the way the architecture of this space has been approached. The building’s misalignment and irregularities were neither corrected nor concealed but pulled into an embrace of sorts. For Sanjay, this forbearance of imperfection mirrors the language of the handloom itself. It values plurality over polish. Floors, furniture and lights follow the building’s original geometry, allowing the space to unfold slowly. “Designing for Raw Mango is an exploration into its design language and universe,” reflects Aditya Melekalam of Squadron 14, the designer of this store and a long-term collaborator of Raw Mango.

The store is housed in a 20th-century Art Deco building

The space’s design stems from a deep engagement with the architecture of the Kolkata bungalow that houses it

Where the building leads

Inside the store, the colour recedes so that materiality can take precedence while the garments are housed in muslin-lined almirahs alongside antiques, an arrangement that reflects Sanjay’s desire to move beyond retail as transaction. “My goal is not to just create and sell fashion,” he notes. The brand aims to build an immersive environment where the details gradually reveal themselves to the onlookers. Every element of this store, from the switchboards and hangers to furniture and fixtures, has been designed in-house, underscoring the brand’s deep engagement with craftsmanship. Anchoring the space are sculptures created in collaboration with an artisan known for crafting Durga Puja installations that further immerse the store in Kolkata’s imagery. Each city, Sanjay insists, demands its own response, contradictions and controversies. In Kolkata, that response feels particularly resonant. It’s a store that invites introspection, dialogue and aims to leave you with more questions than answers.