OTTO ZOO gallery is pleased to present, in association with Nature Morte of New Delhi, a show of new works by the Mumbai-based designer Rajiv Saini.

For the Milan show, Saini exclusively conceived a suite of ten new works, to be shown at the OTTO ZOO gallery during the Salone del Mobile. which both rede ne what we think of as “furniture” and challenge what we choose to think of as “sculpture.”

Tables, desks, bookcases, stools, plinths, and columns seem to be the forms Rajiv Saini starts with for this collection. Then he brings in surfboards, boomerangs, whirligigs, diving-boards, light aircraft, turbine engines, and references both historical and urban. The result are large forms that imply utilitarian functions while commanding space. The materials are diverse: inlaid wood with bronze, lacquered berglass, steel that is either modeled as if liquid or articulated as both weight and mass. The collection is richly eclectic and re ned, ambitious and surprising: quintessentially the style Rajiv Saini has become widely appreciated for.

Known for his distinctive use of materials in contemporizing traditional Indian forms, Rajiv Saini’s residential and commercial interiors are sumptuous yet restrained, highly tactile and seductively visual. One of his projects of major recognition is the decoration of the Devi Gahr hotel, the splendid Fort palace near Udaipur.