Project : Maharaja: The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts Client : Victoria & Albert Museum, London Completed : 2009

Creating a temporary exhibition with a quality suggestive of a permanent display to echo and enhance the splendour of the works on display

Urban Salon were exhibition for the V&A 2009 temporary exhibition, Maharaja: The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts.

The exhibition featured over 250 objects and explored the unique rich culture of the Maharajas. In order to reflect the magnificence of the exhibits, Urban Salon used different textures and materials to create different moods. For example, a ‘gold leaf’ wall evokes the opulence of India’s 18th Century royal courts while brushed aluminium display panels and vibrant pink walls reflect the relationship the Maharajas had with the European avant-garde.

‘What Urban Salon gave us was beautiful and atmospheric spaces, which echoed and enhanced the splendour and magnificence of the works on display without detracting from them. It was a wonderful design of a quality suggestive of a permanent gallery rather than a temporary exhibition.’

Anna Jackson, Curator, V&A.