Li’s Forecast #6

Pots and Pans

Lidewij Edelkoort

Column

November 2025

Lidewij Edelkoort

is one of the world’s most beloved and influential forecasters. Each month, she writes a column for See All This titled The Future is Handmade, where she shares her views on a handmade future and spotlights unique handmade objects. For Edelkoort, these objects are more than just beautiful — they represent a quiet form of resistance against an increasingly artificial future. Today: intentional cooking with Indian ceramic pots.

Column

November 2025

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What’s in a name? Both Gupta and Gupta dedicate their creative practice to observing everyday Indian households and their opulent pots and pans, reflecting on cultural transformation and tradition – revealing their artistic relevance and economic ambivalence. One Gupta uses the objects as they are, accumulating them as an ode to normality and observing the polished ordinary indulgence in everything. The other Gupta redesigns the utensils at their source, scrutinising them with a critical eye and revealing the aesthetics of utility in the process. One thrives through accumulation; the other excels through approbation. Both advance on the strength of tradition.

Subodh Gupta (b. 1964), also called ‘the Damien Hirst of Dehli’, is a world-famous artist who has turned the icons of his country into dense symbolic installations – a physical echo of blaring Vespas and hooting rickshaws. Meanwhile, Gunjan Gupta (b. 1974) is on her way to becoming a well-known designer recognised by the creative community. Subodh was one of the first artist from India that used indigenous materials and objects, staying true to his origins and customs formed around objects of poverty. Gunjan works close to her own origins and the memories of her mother, nostalgic for the festive home-grown foods of her childhood.

Lidewij Edelkoort

‘She triggers a wish for intentional cooking and tea drinking, enabling the processes with her simple seductive tools’