Mayank Mansingh Kaul is ubiquitous at every new intersection of textile

Manavi Kapur reports about the reasons why Mayank Mansingh Kaul is seemingly ubiquitous at every new intersection of textile, craft and design

People often call me a textile historian or a revivalist, and I am neither,” Mayank Mansingh Kaul declares emphatically. Seated on a divan inside the Visual Arts Gallery at New Delhi’s India Habitat Centre, the setting is entirely apt for a conversation on his life and work as a textile designer, archivist, researcher, writer and curator. The divan is part of the set-up for “Crossroads: Textile Journeys with Ritu Kumar”, an ongoing exhibition that Kaul has curated. He points at a lush pink paithani sari. “That was made for the royal families of Gujarat. One doesn’t see this kind of