Negotiating the Aspired Home: Aapse Milkar Khushi Hui

Negotiating the Aspired Home : Aapse Milkar Khushi Hui explores how Indian middle-class homes transformed after economic liberalisation. With the rise of the 'new middle class' and international consumerism post-1991, homes became contested spaces where aspiration met affordability, and global aesthetics clashed with local ingenuity. The shift from socialist frugality to media-driven consumerism altered incomes, consumption patterns, family structures, and domestic spaces.

Television, films, and print media of the time reflected these changing aspirations, showing what it meant to ‘arrive’ in a liberalised economy. The showcase of Jaipur homes highlights how generational family homes evolved into creative, original spaces—shaped by both constraints and ingenuity. It also reveals the vital collaborations between homeowners and neighbourhood artisans, positioning the middle class as active patrons of contemporary craft. These co-creative practices have the potential to nurture local entrepreneurship and foster self-sustaining marketplaces.

By revisiting these decades, the exhibition offers a nuanced lens on how aspiration, resourcefulness, and identity continue to shape India’s middle-class homes.

The exhibition was followed by a panel discussion, Designing the Middle-Class Moodboard, which brought together experts in colour (Rose Marie Savio) and design media (Preeti Singh) to explore the aesthetic, cultural, and emotional forces that have shaped middle-class homes in post-liberalisation India.