It started with a single chair, then a lamp, and eventually a chest of drawers whose grain seemed to hum with stories of the past. For Arshita Singhvi, these were not mere objects; they were vessels of memory, of craft, and of lives once lived. “I’ve always been drawn to objects that hold stories,” says the founder of RARA. The name RARA itself reflects this ethos. It finds its roots in Italian culture, drawing from the word ‘rara’ that translates to rare. “Each piece we curate is one-of-a-kind or unique, with no second object exactly like it,” Singhvi says.
The first spark came while designing Donna Cucina, her Italian restaurant in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar. “I wanted the space to feel personal, warm, and full of character,” she recalls. To achieve that aesthetic, she began sourcing vintage and antique pieces like hand-woven cane chairs, Burma teak furniture, hand-turned sagwan chairs, or lamps imbued with history. “That whole process made me realise how happy I was finding these pieces, restoring them, and bringing them back to life,” she says. “I just kept collecting more, not for the sake of it, but because each one spoke to me in a way I can’t really describe.”
Every object that enters RARA’s atelier undergoes meticulous study, beginning from its origin to its purpose, period, materials, and condition. Restoration follows a guiding principle: ‘enhance, but never erase’. “We respect what time has done to an object… the patina, the wear, the texture, and work with it, not against it,” she explains.
Her appreciation is rooted in her upbringing in Jodhpur, a city surrounded by forts, palaces, and generations of craftspeople. “Many of my relatives and family friends ran handicraft factories,” she recalls. “I grew up seeing the fineness, the detailing, the care that went into each piece.” That early exposure instilled in her a sensibility that prizes authenticity and subtle beauty over mass production. Some of the atelier’s standout pieces tell stories that linger long after you see them. The vintage bar trolley Evening Drifter, sourced from an army journal in Himachal, carries traces of colonial-era gatherings. A Burma teak chest of drawers, Paw and Panels, revealed its hidden beauty only after careful restoration. And a monumental rosewood chest of drawers, not yet part of the launch collection, leaves Singhvi in awe everyday with its scale and craftsmanship.
“Design as emotion, for me, is about letting a piece’s story guide its form,” Singhvi smiles.