Art Mumbai Week 2025 unfolded as more than a fair. It became a city-wide cultural experience, which the Meso Ventures team attended with great excitement. The week blended exhibitions, private previews, collector gatherings, and landmark openings. Mumbai did not pause. Instead, it pulsed with art, ideas, and conversation.

Before the official fair even opened, the city was already alive. Events began early. Energy built fast. Collectors, curators, and artists moved across neighborhoods with purpose and excitement.

This guide walks through the full experience. It captures the rhythm, highlights, and moments that defined Art Mumbai Week 2025.

Pre-Fair Gallery Hopping and a Standout at Æquo Gallery

Art Mumbai Week 2025 began well before the fair doors opened. One of the first evenings was dedicated to gallery hopping in Kala Ghoda, Mumbai’s historic arts district. Collectors, curators, and artists moved between spaces with purpose. A key highlight was Æquo Gallery Mumbai, which presented Tidal Fragments by Inderjeet Sandhu. Sandhu is a Dutch designer of Indian heritage whose practice bridges material history, craft, and contemporary design. In Tidal Fragments, he draws inspiration from India’s eastern coastline near Puri, where layers of shell fragments once formed naturally along the shore.

This coastal memory became the foundation for a series of sculptural vessels made from mother-of-pearl, a material deeply embedded in Indian craft traditions. The works were created in close collaboration with master craftsman Kinkar Ghosh and his nephew Souvik Roy, from a village in central India.

Rather than working in a conventional studio, the team developed the pieces in a natural workshop environment. Fragments were joined, curved, and fused by hand. Each form appears grown rather than constructed. The finished works feel both organic and architectural. Their luminous surfaces recall objects shaped by tide and time, while their structure reflects a contemporary design language rooted in tradition.

Importantly, this collaboration came full circle later in the week. Inderjeet Sandhu and the village craftsmen were awarded the JSW Prize for Contemporary Craftsmanship, which we attended during Art Mumbai Week 2025. The recognition reinforced what was already clear at Æquo. This was not just an exhibition. It was a powerful example of meaningful collaboration between designer and artisan.

Exhibition Preview Highlight

Ahead of the fair, previews offered moments of quiet focus. One of the most compelling was the presentation by Helena Bajaj Larsen. Her tapestries bring together nearly a decade of textile experimentation, translating terrain into colour, texture, and rhythm. The works reflect on how land becomes lineage, and how place shapes memory.

Part of the ongoing exhibition What The Land Remembers, the series is an homage to the sentience of “home.” Now showing at Nilaya Anthology, the presentation felt measured and emotionally grounded. In the context of Art Mumbai Week 2025, it offered a rare pause—one that rewarded attention before the fair’s momentum took over.

Private Homes, Collectors, and Personal Worlds

Art Mumbai Week 2025 also opened private doors, offering glimpses into how art truly lives. One of the most memorable visits was to the home of Kavita Singh, whose work has been widely featured in Architectural Digest, including her latest project in Jaipur.

Her home felt deeply personal and quietly assured. Nothing was performative. Every object appeared chosen over time rather than acquired at once. The space reflected Kavita Singh’s refined sensibility as both an interior designer and a collector. Art, furniture, and architecture existed in careful balance. There was a sense of lived-in elegance rather than display. Materials carried warmth. Light was used thoughtfully. The home revealed a confidence that comes from long-term engagement with art, not trend-driven collecting.

These private visits offered something rare during Art Mumbai Week 2025. They shifted focus away from spectacle. They showed how art integrates into daily life. They revealed intimacy, continuity, and the quiet power of personal vision—beyond the walls of exhibitions and fairs.

A Private Visit to Gem Palace

Later in the week, a private visit to Gem Palace offered a different perspective on craftsmanship and legacy.

The visit was personally guided by Sarthak Kasliwal, whose hospitality felt both generous and intimate. An Indian jeweler from the renowned The Gem Palace family of Jaipur, celebrated for its centuries-old heritage in fine jewelry craftsmanship. He represents the next generation of the Kasliwal dynasty, known for combining traditional Mughal-inspired artistry with contemporary design sensibilities. Limited-edition pieces were presented, some previously exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, others held closely within the family’s private collection.

The experience underscored the house’s deep connection to history, artistry, and inheritance—where jewellery moves seamlessly between adornment, archive, and cultural memory.

Awards, Craft, and Design Excellence

Mid-week, attention turned decisively toward craftsmanship. The JSW Presentation Awards, presented in collaboration with Architectural Digest, celebrated excellence in contemporary craft. The Prize for Contemporary Craftsmanship 2025 was awarded to the village craftsmen responsible for the intricate shell work seen earlier in the week—recognising their skill, material knowledge, and generational expertise.

The moment felt especially resonant, coming after the preview of Tidal Fragments, where their collaboration had already stood out for its sensitivity and restraint. The award affirmed the importance of shared authorship and acknowledged craft not as background labour, but as creative intelligence.

The AD & JSW Prize for Contemporary Craftsmanship 2025, Mumbai

A defining presence at the ceremony was Amy Astley, US Editor-in-Chief and Global Editorial Director of Architectural Digest, visiting India for the first time. In her remarks, she spoke warmly about Indian hospitality and the global relevance of its craft traditions. The event brought together art, design, and architecture with quiet authority. It reaffirmed craft as a central force shaping contemporary cultural discourse.

Art Mumbai Fair 2025: Curated Highlights

When the fair opened, the shift in energy was immediate. Crowds gathered quickly, conversations deepened, and attention sharpened across the aisles. Art Mumbai Fair 2025 felt confident and well paced, with several presentations standing out for their clarity and curatorial strength.

Vadehra Gallery presented one of the most compelling selections, including a powerful work by Zaam Arif. Arif’s practice explores themes of memory, identity, and presence, drawing from philosophy, cinema, and South Asian visual traditions. His figures appear suspended in thought, and the work resisted spectacle in favour of quiet intensity. It rewarded close and unhurried viewing, which is rare in a fair setting.

Zaam Arif new works at Vadehra gallery, Art Mumbai 2025 presentation

An assured international presence came from Galleria Continua, whose presentation balanced sculptural strength with conceptual clarity. The booth featured works by Subodh Gupta, Anish Kapoor, and Ai Weiwei, bringing together diverse yet resonant artistic voices. Together, these works reinforced Mumbai’s growing role within a global contemporary art dialogue, while the presentation itself remained grounded, cohesive, and thoughtfully curated.

At Nature Morte, a striking work by Subodh Gupta drew sustained attention. Familiar materials were recontextualised with restraint, offering a sense of freshness without excess and prompting immediate engagement from viewers.

From Dubai, Volte Art Projects presented a thoughtful and cohesive booth. Rather than relying on visual noise, the gallery focused on curatorial intent and dialogue, including a work by James Turrell.

Together, these presentations reflected Art Mumbai Fair 2025 at its strongest: considered in approach, international in scope, and attentive to both context and content.

Closing the Week: Fashion, Culture, and Legacy

Art Mumbai Week 2025 concluded on a high note with the opening of Galeries Lafayette Mumbai, marking a significant cultural milestone for the city. Originally founded in Paris, the iconic department store’s arrival in Mumbai signalled a new chapter in the city’s evolving relationship with global luxury, fashion, and culture. The opening of Galeries Lafayette Mumbai was attended by Eirini Meze and Radhika Soni, from Meso Ventures.

The launch was led by the Birla family, whose involvement underscored the growing intersection of Indian enterprise with international cultural institutions. The opening reflected a long-term vision that positioned Mumbai not only as a commercial hub, but as a global cultural destination capable of hosting legacy brands with history and depth.

The week ended much as it began—defined by movement, conversation, and possibility—leaving behind a sense of momentum that extended well beyond the fair itself.

Art Mumbai Week 2025: A Complete Insider Guide to India’s Most Dynamic Art Week