About

A partnership between LACA, a platform set up to promote and represent Asian and African contemporary art, and Varana, an Indian fashion brand that is redefining how traditional heritage crafts are used in luxury design. Varana’s Dover Street flagship hosts a week-long pop-up exhibition showcasing works from a range of artists and galleries across Asia and Africa.

The Varana/LACA partnership is devised to showcase the shared values of both and to highlight emerging artists from Asia and Africa. Whilst Varana’s roots may be in the rich heritage of traditional workshops of India, its cultural world is international and in 2017 it opened its first shop on Dover Street in the Mayfair district of London. Varana’s flagship store is a luminous haven reflecting the Modernist design values at the centre of Varana’s mission to elevate and refine. The LACA pop-up takes place over a week of activity hosted at the store, showcasing a diverse group of artists alongside the modern ready-to-wear designs of the Varana brand.

Works from a range of artists and galleries across Asia and Africa such as Thandiwe Muriu, shown by Paris-based 193 Gallery, and Maeta Akihiro, from Japanese ceramicist specialist dealer Arti-Fiant, are exhibited alongside on-site tours and associated lectures during the week, details of which are on the LACA website. Tours and talks during the week are free of charge and the pop-up is open to the public. Registration is required to attend all LACA talks via the LACA website.

Guided walk-throughs of the exhibition led by Virginia Sykes-Wright, Founder of London Asian Contemporary Art (LACA) will be held at the below times, with refreshments served on arrival. Booking necessary.
Friday 8th October at 12.30pm and 3pm, hosted by artist Naiza Khan
Saturday 9th October at 12.30pm and 3pm

At the pop-up, attendees can also experience a virtual-reality tour through the famous DSL Museum, the world’s largest collection of Chinese contemporary works of art, and interact with artworks by acclaimed virtual-reality art, design and tech team, Studio Above & Below.

Varana is a fashion house whose aim is to bring together the exceptional techniques and textiles savoir-faire of India in a collection of urbane, sophisticated clothes, whose simple, elegant cuts showcase this artisanal excellence with what founder-designer Sujata Keshavan calls ‘quiet joy’.