BENGALURU.- The Registry: Centre for Design opens at 7 Cornwell Rd, Langford Gardens Bengaluru with an inaugural show titled Perched Upon a Woven Sky, presented by The Registry of Sarees (Trust) and curated by Aayushi Jain.

The exhibition marks both the opening of this new Centre for Design as well as ten years of The Registry of Sarees, the research and study centre with an interdisciplinary approach to handspun and handwoven textile, both initiatives ably founded by Ally Matthan.

Over the past decade, Matthan has emerged as a significant voice in India's textile and design landscape, dedicating her work to researching, documenting and preserving the country's handwoven textile traditions through one of India's most thoughtful and rigorously built textile archives.

The opening of The Registry: Centre for Design marks the next chapter in Matthan's vision—creating a multidisciplinary institution where archives, material culture, design, craft and contemporary creative practice come together through exhibitions, research and interdisciplinary dialogue.

Housed within Prithvi, a restored 1932 bungalow in Richmond Town, the Centre occupies a building that has witnessed Bengaluru's transformation over nearly a century. Once part of the city's Garden City fabric, the house now begins a new chapter as a public space for research, design, textiles and cultural exchange. Rooted in the decade-long work of The Registry of Sarees, the Centre extends its enquiry beyond textiles to explore the intersections of material culture, craft, architecture and contemporary design through exhibitions, public programmes and collaborations.

The inaugural exhibition, Perched Upon a Woven Sky, draws from the archives of The Registry of Sarees (Trust) to reframe the handloom textile not simply as an object to be worn or owned, but as an environment shaped by light, colour and the perception of the person standing before it. The exhibition stages handwoven cloth within shifting conditions of natural and artificial light across the hours of a day.

Encountered at one hour and then another, a single weave is never quite the same colour twice; what changes is not the thread but the light falling across it, and with it the viewer's own reading. Colour, treated here as the protagonist, is experienced before it is named, arriving as temperature and mood rather than as a label on a swatch. In doing so, the exhibition moves the study of textile into the register of design.





Materiality, weave structure, the interaction of dyes and the skill carried in the hand are treated not as technical footnotes but as the very means by which light is caught, scattered, deepened and released. Where woven design has traditionally drawn its motifs from the field, flora and fauna, here that gaze turns upward and outward towards the atmospheric- asking cloth to evoke the transient qualities of light and the quiet movement of colour across a sky. The exhibition also rethinks how a textile is read. In a deliberate departure from convention, the curatorial note is placed at the very end rather than the beginning, inviting visitors to forge their own relationships, interpretations and meanings before discovering the curatorial framework. It is a fitting first statement for the Registry: Centre for Design- an argument that handloom is neither heritage preserved behind glass nor product to be consumed and replaced, but a living design language that continues to evolve and be reimagined. “ We wanted the Registry to open not with the mere display of objects, but with an experience shaped by them. Perched Upon a Woven Sky asks a simple question: What happens when we stop seeing a textile only through its function and begin experiencing it through light and colour? If a visitor leaves having looked beyond the immediate beauty of a textile to notice the play of structure, colour and light and the emotion that changing light can do , then the exhibition has done its work.”- Aayushi Jain, Curator.

Perched Upon a Woven Sky marks the opening of The Registry: Centre for Design and sets the tone for its future programme: expanding the study of Textile Design in Modern India through materiality, process, perception and skill.

The Registry is also home to the flagship store of Yali, Ally Matthan's textile label that translates years of research into contemporary garments while creating meaningful opportunities for artisan communities. Alongside it, Pekko will unveil its flagship store—a contemporary ritual-led skincare and self-care brand co founded by Ally Matthan with Silki Agrawal and Ekta Agrawal, based on the belief that daily care should feel like a ritual rather than a routine. Bringing together thoughtfully crafted formulations, refined fragrance and timeless design.

Visitors can also experience Indulge at The Registry, a cafe that extends the institution's exploration of culture through food by Ayesha Katrak, Founder, Indulge Outdoors. Together, Yali, Pekko and Indulge add another dimension to The Registry's vision of creating a vibrant destination where culture, craft and contemporary design converge.

The Regjstry: Centre for Design is dedicated to the study and engagement of modern Indian design. Functioning under the umbrella of The Registry of Sarees (Trust), the Centre expands textile scholarship by engaging with practitioners across architecture, furniture, spatial design, lighting, visual communication, craft, art and other allied disciplines. Through exhibitions, research, publications and public programmes, it aims to position textile within wider conversations on design.