03 — Selected Works
A small archive, by request.
A hand-painter of couture, fabric, and canvas — Mumbai studio, Amritsar roots. Brushwork as commission, not collection.
Lotika Talwar paints to commission, from her studio in Mumbai. Born and raised in Amritsar, she made her first canvas at eleven and sold it. A graduate degree in arts; a post‑graduate diploma in commercial art; a working practice that returned in earnest after forty and has carried a quiet trade across India ever since.
The studio takes a small number of pieces each year — couture panels, drapery, curtains, canvases, painted objects. Each piece is brushed by hand, in oil and acrylic, on the surface chosen by the client. Drawn from the studio repertoire, or written from a brief. No prints. No assistants on the brush.
Houses come for the brushwork. Private clients commission a piece — sometimes a familiar subject, sometimes a new one — every one painted fresh, by the same hand. This year, that practice arrived at the Met Gala carpet.
A hand-painted contribution to Framed in Eternity, a Manish Malhotra couture commission worn by Karan Johar for his Met Gala debut, May 2026.
The garment is a tribute to Raja Ravi Varma, layering hand-painting, zardozi and three-dimensional embellishment across one cape. Ours is the brush among more than eighty hands.
“Taking the legacy of Raja Ravi Varma and letting it live again — this time, not on canvas, but in motion.” — Karan Johar, Met Gala 2026
“She made her first canvas painting at the age of eleven, which years later was her first piece of artwork that she sold.”
“No prints. No simulated designs. The aim is to keep the language of brush and canvas in its purest form.”
“Every piece begins at the brush. Whether the subject is new or familiar, I paint it fresh — by hand, in oil. The brush is the only rule.”
The atelier accepts a small number of commissions each year. Every enquiry is answered in person.
Replies typically within two working days. Rush enquiries note RUSH in the first line.