Vikram Goyal Stages a Ramayana Menagerie in a Mayfair Townhouse

Vikram Goyal has filled a Georgian townhouse in London's Mayfair with animals drawn from the Ramayana, the 3000-year-old Indian epic, for his latest collection of furniture and textiles. A vulture spreads its wings across a textile screen. An embroidered monkey swings across the seat of an upholstered stool. A set of gold claws peeps from beneath an ottoman.

The showcase, titled 'Wings and Tales', is on view at 7 Grafton Street, W1S 4EJ, until 16 October 2026. It sits around the corner from PAD London in Berkeley Square, in a building shared with the Sprüth Magers contemporary art gallery and next door to members' club Maison Estelle.

Goyal positions the exhibition as an argument for ancient narratives in contemporary culture. "There's stability in the past," he said. "In this world of fleeting social media reels…where everything is gone in a nanosecond, you have something where there's more permanence."

What does the Ramayana bring to the collection?

The epic tells the story of Prince Rama rescuing his consort Sita from the demon king Ravana. In one passage, a battle unites monkeys, crocodiles and vultures across land, sea and air, ending with the triumph of good over evil. The festival of Diwali celebrates the homecoming of Rama, Sita and his brother Lakshmana to the ancient city of Ayodhya.

Each animal carries symbolic weight:

• The forest-dwelling monkeys, or Vanaras, represent collective labour and bridge-building
• Crocodiles signal hidden obstacles and tests of strength
• Winged vultures embody loyalty and resistance

Goyal considers this narrative richness rare in collectible design, which he believes often concentrates on pushing material and form instead.

The show builds on his previous 'Soul Garden' exhibition at Design Miami Paris in 2025, which drew on the animal characters and moral lessons of the Panchatantra fables.

How is the exhibition arranged?

Staged across two rooms, the showcase takes the form of a baithak — a formal Indian drawing room. In the first room, a Samarkand-style rug and a repoussé brass folding screen join hand-embroidered silk brocade and velvet seating with clawed feet. Brass tables, vessels and mirrors gather around a fireplace.

The second room depicts the Madhuvana, or 'honey forest', from the Ramayana across brass screens decorated with vine-like forms. Velvet and brocade seats sit on a trio of rugs reflecting the realms of land, sea and air. Brass and silver-plated platters, bowls and champagne buckets carry repoussé jasmine details, and a mother-of-pearl chess board decorated with monkeys adds to the feeling of a scene interrupted.

The works span silk, velvet and brocade, repoussé brass, silver and mother-of-pearl. References range from Silk Road textiles and 18th-century European furniture to Indian miniature painting and French art deco. Goyal traces this eclecticism to his own "image bank of references globally" — and to his New Delhi home, where velvet, brocade and metal sit alongside old Persian carpets populated by animals.

"My work has always been along this entire spectrum," he said. "I think one complements the other because one shows you where it's all come from, and you can see where it's gone to."

Which techniques are new for the studio?

Goyal's New Delhi atelier is known for its repoussé work, an ancient technique in which sheet metal is hammered from the reverse to create intricate reliefs. 'Wings and Tales' extends the studio into new mediums: hand-knotted rugs, inlaid mother-of-pearl decorative arts and handmade brocade upholstery produced with one of India's finest brocade ateliers.

The immersive format, Goyal argues, connects visitors to the work more intimately than a white exhibition booth could. He calls the space one of "engagement, introspection, reflection".

Throughout the week, the townhouse hosts a series of salon events and conversations on Indian literature, history, cuisine and design, with food and drink from Gymkhana and floral arrangements from Blooming Haus.

"I wanted to create an experience which would allow the viewer to come in and take it all in, and think about the larger issues at play, not just the objects," Goyal said. "To give it meaning and relevance — resonance."

For a designer who complains that contemporary collectible design leans too heavily on material and form, the exhibition stakes his claim: narrative craft, not novelty, gives objects their staying power.