Everything has a beginning,

a bud before a blossom

Greece before Rome

Damascus before Cairo

Agra follows Ahmedabad

– James Tod

 

THE more intricacy a pattern is woven with, the less is the effort that goes in explaining it. Words always fall short because a visual will encompass much more than the five senses that even a recollection can do justice to. Such is the history of one of the world’s most regal family’s branch, which like a tree has always maintained a humble and low-key presence. They have silently but solidly contributed to the building of a nation’s rich history.

With a family background that starts with Shantidas Jhaveri, who had deep-rooted connections with the Mughal Empire, because of his supply of jewels for the Peacock Throne and other such magnificent creations of history, the legacy of this family has quietly lit up the dawn of many.

The integrity and artistic ability of this fine jeweller earned him a great name with Emperor Akbar, Dara Shikoh and Shah Jahan. He was one among the most revered and trusted of jewellers of those times, who built dreams for the empire. Large quantities of jewels were delivered to the Mughal Empire, carried out with Asaf Khan, the brother of Noor Jahan, the Grand Vazir to Jehangir and the father of Mumtaz Mahal, to whom the Taj Mahal stands today as an ode of love.

Murad Baksh (Shah Jahan’s son) had once upon a time compelled Shantidas to lend him Rs 5,50,000 of which 100,000 was then issued back (from the royal treasury) in the form of an imperial farman by Aurangzeb through Divan Rahmat Khan of that period. Shantidas Jhaveri’s large amounts of wealth found inroads into extending enormous support for the Jain community through educational, spiritual as well as religious spaces in Ahmedabad. He was also granted the village of Palitana – one of the holiest places on earth for Jains – by the subedar, Murad Baksh, in 1656.

Continuing in the legacy Sheth Hutheesing, a direct descendant of Shantidas Jhaveri, embarked upon building a huge Jain temple (Derasar) in Ahmedabad near Dilli Darwaza, as a philanthropic project to support and sustain a migrant population of over 4,00,000 people seeking refuge during the great famine of Gujarat. He passed away before he could see the final outcome which was then undertaken by his wife Harkuvar Shethani. When we speak about women empowerment of yesteryear, Harkuvar Shethani was one such rock-solid example who not only tirelessly worked to see the completion of this magnanimous Derasar, but also worked to build an educational institution and charitable hospital for the city of Ahmedabad. The Hutheesing Temple of Ahmedabad is one of the last of the greatest monument designs of the Solanki style architecture. Even in today’s times, the hospital she had generously donated funds to, stands as the largest charitable hospital in all of Asia. She was recognized by the Queen Victoria with a title of Nek-nami Shekhawati Bahadur for her commitment towards creating a better society for all.

 

With the next generation, Magan-bhai Hutheesing, son of Hutheesing Kesrising, kept the flame burning to work on societal upkeep as well as reaching out to create a global influence through the city as well as beyond the city. A large workforce of skilled craftsmen was hired for the Hutheesing Temple to keep hand craftsmanship alive. Maganbhai started a design firm, The Ahmedabad Wood Carving Company, and The Hutheesing Design Studios, in their sprawling estate, Jaising bhai-ni-wadi in Ahmedabad. This workforce of skilled craftsman from the Mistry and Sompura communities inherited a specialization of the art of wood and stone carving. The grammar and aesthetics of Indian architecture was ingrained into their DNA which helped them evolve the furniture to suit the temperament, taste as well as style, that they were commissioned to create, from across the globe.

As the prowess of the work began to spread, the British government in Mumbai decided to expand and modernize the city to welcome their Imperial Majesties on their visit to India. They appointed senior British architects who employed Magan Huthseeing’s skilled workforce to build important monuments in the Indo Gothic and Indo Saracenic styles, including the Victoria Terminus and the Gateway of India in Mumbai, which are now UNESCO world heritage sites.

With the Gilded Age that moved into Europe and North America, the rich and powerful were looking for new expressions in all forms of design. India’s growth, although stunted during British rule, was strongly imbued with the spirit of originality when it came to craftsmanship or skills pertaining to the arts. India fuelled their imagination and a new hybrid of design emerged over three countries and continents. The British artist John Lockwood Kipling from Europe, American interior decorator and furniture designer Lockwood de Forest and their Indian partner Maganbhai Hutheesing from Ahmedabad; the artistic trio began to create history in art, architecture, furniture and design. The three went on to create a unique exhibition of Indian craftsmanship at the Lahore Museum with a commitment to opening international markets to the exquisite work of Indian craftspeople.

 

Connections when made through art and skill cut across all borders of colour, race, ethnicity, wars, oppression, distance, time. One such connection was of John Kipling, Lockwood De Forest and Magan Hutheesing.

John Lockwood Kipling (Rudyard Kipling’s father) was the Principal at the Mayo College of Art and also a curator at the Lahore Museum. He was married to Alice Lockwood, a Victorian era writer and poet. Lockwood De Forest was born in New York City in 1850 to a prominent family who had made its money in South American and Caribbean shipping. Lockwood De Forest was a painter, furniture designer and an interior decorator, besides being a businessman. He was the brother-in-law of Louis Comfort Tiffany, founder of Tiffany Amp Co. He was married to Meta Kemble, a prominent name in the Du Pont family of gunpowder fame (1879). It was during their honeymoon in India, that fate led them to a connection that would change not only their lives but that of many who were scattered all over the globe. The honeymoon became an extended two-year trip looking for the exotic and exquisite, be it in jewellery, furniture, textiles. They not only found what they were looking for, but also discovered the source and became a part of the discovery.

 

Magan Hutheesing, born in India, son of Hutheesing Kesrising, was a philanthropist, a businessman and the co-founder of Ahmedabad Wood Carving Association. The British commissioner played the role of a catalyst between Lockwood De Forest and Maganbhai Hutheesing in Ahmedabad and this started a unique partnership that was to last several decades and influence a generation of prominent Americans and their aesthetics.

The Ahmedabad Wood Carving Company became crucial to supplying Associated Artists with carved architectural elements and furniture. While in India, Lockwood De Forest also became good friends with John Lockwood Kipling, who shared De Forest’s passion for Indian art. Together, the two artists organized a display of works by the Ahmedabad Woodcarving Company at the Lahore Museum in 1881. In addition to managing the design, production and import of Indian goods, De Forest continued to design his own furnishings and architectural ornaments. His work was exhibited at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London in 1886 and at the World’s Columbian Exposition seven years later. De Forest’s offering at these fairs attracted an impressive array of clients, including the industrialist Andrew Carnegie (De Forest designed Carnegie’s bedroom and library in the Andrew Carnegie House, now the Cooper-Hewitt Museum).

The St. Louis Jain temple is a historic structure that was constructed for the 1904 St. Louis World’s fair called the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The Jain temple was originally carved at the Ahmedabad Woodcarving Company. It was the first building in the United States that was a Jain temple, although there were no Jains in the United States. It now stands within the Jain Centre of Southern California in Los Angles.

The most well-known culmination and important collaboration of art, architecture and design that took place between the trio most certainly was the Durbar Hall of Osborne House, the private palace of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert located in the East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Although the style is Italian Renaissance, the Durbar Hall has a chandelier which adorns the building, lighting it up with a slice of Indian architecture and style taken from each region.

 

Besides this, the Lockwood de Forest house, which still boasts of its crisp teakwood and Indian haveli structure, with aesthetically carved pillars and structures, stands graciously in New York, now as the Edgar M. Bronfman Centre for Jewish Student Life. This was also inspired from Lockwood’s journeys with the Ahmedabad Woodcarving Company.

With the change in thinking, and with modernization overtaking civilization, evolution in the name of mass industrialization was moving forward quicker than ever. With World War I, things began to rapidly change not only in the western world, but it also had a ripple effect in the eastern world, though with different textures.

Ahmedabad was no exception and many far sighted and entrepreneurial citizens began to embrace industrialization. The city grew rapidly and came to be known as the Manchester of the East. Mill owners became the engine of new wealth creation in the making of modern India. The Hutheesing family’s response to the new callings of modernization was to greet it with open arms, keeping their cultural roots intact.

Surrottam Hutheesing, Purshottam Hutheesing’s son, invited and commissioned Le Corbusier (one of the most famous architects of the times) to build the textile mill owners building (ATMA) and a fabulous villa for himself now known as the Shodhan villa. He also served as the chairman to ATMA between the years 1954-55.

Gunottam (Raja) Hutheesing, Purshottam Hutheesing’s other son married Krishna Nehru, the younger sister of Indian’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Shrimati Hutheesing, Purshottam Hutheesing’s daughter, studied in Santiniketan under the revered Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. She was his favourite pupil and she delighted him with her artistic style and presentation during her stay. She married his nephew Saumenyadranath Tagore who became the founding president of the Communist Party in India. Both the weddings were given the blessing of Mahatma Gandhi. The Hutheesing’s, Nehru’s, Tagore’s, Lalbhai’s and Sarabhai families were interconnected through marriage and their contribution to the nation is well known.

 

The present weaves itself back to the core. It was Gandhiji’s vision and passion to keep the Indian handcraftsmanship alive. The Charkha and Khadi had become the warp and weft of India’s independence. Gandhiji in his journal had stressed the importance of preserving and promoting Indian design as well as handcraftsmanship with great emphasis.

Leelavati Hutheesing, the elder sister of Kasturbhai Lalbhai who was closely associated with Ambalal Sarabhai was a keen supporter of Mahatma Gandhi and his vision of modern India. They collectively played an active and important role in the building of the educational institutes like Ahmedabad Education Society, Indian Institute of Management (built by Louis Kahn), and the L&P Visual Arts Centre. The L&P Hutheesing Visual Centre was built by architect B.V. Doshi who won the Pritzker prize in 2018. The Sarabhais built the extraordinary Calico Museum of Textiles, while the Lalbhai’s built the LD Institute of Indology and the Lalbhai Dalpat Bhai Museum which was inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru. Sanjay and Jayashree Lalbhai built the Kasturbhai Lalbhai Museum and are currently in the process of building the Indigo Museum to add more lustre and value to the great history and tradition of Ahmedabad which has been declared as a world heritage city by UNESCO.

 

Today Umang Hutheesing continues the ethos of this important legacy that can be felt, rather than spoken or seen. He is on the governing board of the Ahmedabad Education Society, and a managing trustee of the Hutheesing Visual Art Centre, and most importantly is the president and fifth generation of Hutheesings to manage the Hutheesing Design Company and Studio from the very same historic location, Jaising bhai-ni-wadi. He is also the founder president of the Hutheesing heritage foundation which has restored the Hutheesing Haveli and preserves the Hutheesing art collection. He has collaborated with the international foundation Musée Yves Saint Laurent in Paris and the National Museum of Bahrain, the Baroque Museum in Mexico, the Miho Museum in Japan and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Vaastu Sangrahalya in Mumbai, where he has exhibited over 300 pieces showcasing the cultural heritage designed by him from the Hutheesing collection.