THE EXPERIENCE OF TRANSITION
NEW WORKS FROM THE MUMBAI STUDIOS OF RAJIV SAINI
OTTO ZOO - VIA VIGEVANO 8 - 20144 MILANO
TEL. +39 0236535196
16 /23  APRIL 2008 - H 11/20

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 redefine 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 fiberglass, steel that is either modeled as if liquid or articulated
as both weight and mass. The collection is richly eclectic and refined, 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.

OTTO ZOO is a new contemporary art gallery, opened by Francesca Guerrizio and Maurizio Azzali
in Milan in January 2008.

For more information:

Francesca Guerrizio  fg@ottozoo.com  /  Germana Breda  tel. 0236535196  germana@ottozoo.com