The Itihāas Company's cushions and table covers inspire antiquated maximalism

By Cristina Piotti

Everything began in an old colonial house in West Bengal: “Years ago, while sourcing antiques furniture in Kolkata in one old British house, my mother found some beautiful loose papers,” says Devika Kanadé, founder of the New York-based brand The Itihāas Company. “She brought them back home, thinking that it would have been beautiful to frame them”. She was unaware that the images in those papers were from an early edition of Owen Jones' classic book on design, The Grammar of Ornament, which was first published in 1856 in England and was considered the definitive sourcebook on ornamental motifs for centuries. Her daughter, on the other hand, recognised them right away.

Born in Bombay, Devika Kanadé moved to England and to New York to study, but in 2019 she began sampling prints for her first collection of throws, pillows, and cushions called Colour me Constantinople. The motifs from The Grammar of Ornament were of course a major source of inspiration. But, in some way, also a limit: “The prints are lithographs. Because the papers are in a specific size, I had to be careful on how I was utilizing them” she underlines. “If I tried to make larger pieces, larger than a cushion or a throw, they’d started becoming pixelated and not looking like the originals”.

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Rich options including velvet and fringe throws, pillows and cushions are now standouts for the brand's collections for home, which was recently launched. Surprisingly, Kanadé was able to give to the throws a modern twist and a personal touch despite the borders' ancient lithographic designs: “The throws’ borders looks antiques indeed, but to make it more graphic, and relevant today, I added a checked pattern – I find that checks are a classic, and reminds me of the mosaics I saw in Ravenna, in Italy.”

Some of the cushions also offer a surprise, as they have two sides: “I always thought that with a double-faced print you can have two cushions at the price of one, use them in different way, and turn them around when you get bored,” Kanadé adds. “I made them in a way that it doesn’t look like one is the wrong side of the cushion”. The print is on one side and the colour is on the other. To emphasise this, she gave the print a Byzantine-inspired name and the plain colour a romantic Indian-rooted name. One of the cushions, for example, is named Labyrinthus in honour of the blue, red, and yellow symphony of geometric shapes on one side. However, it also has a second name, Ladakh soot, which is used to classify the grey shade on the other side.

Kanadé, who studied design and styling in England and holds a Master's degree in Costume History from NYU, explains that she took her time selecting the appropriate material for the pieces: “The collection is in polyester velvet. I sampled on a ton of different materials like cotton, satin, linen, but what I was searching for was an antique, luxurious feeling” she explains. “I had never considered using polyester velvet, but when I did, it turned out exactly how I had hoped. Velvets were used extensively during the Byzantine Era, given the rich opulence of the period.” She refers to her personal style as Antiquated Maximalism: “I love a space that makes you feel that somebody has lived there for generation – something difficult to do if you leave in a small apartment in NY.”

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All The Itihāas Company materials and textiles are sourced in India, Kanadé says, and manufactured in Mumbai. She is now working on a summer collection inspired by Egypt in cotton and linen, as well as a velvet capsule collection with antique Byzantine patterns for table styling (table coverings, table matts, napkins) for the autumn. “I always thought I’d work for someone else,” she adds. “Because it took me quite a while to figure out my path in life, I never imagined I would create pieces that would become a part of people's homes and stories. But today I cannot imagine anything else.”