Grandmillennial Meets Festive: Why Inherited Objects Are Showing Up in Navratri Decor Too

A client asked me last week if her grandmother’s old brass thali was “too outdated” to use for Navratri styling.

It’s the opposite. It’s exactly what’s showing up in the homes I’d call genuinely well styled this season.

Grandmillennial style, mixing inherited, older pieces into an otherwise modern space, has been building in interiors generally over the past couple of years. What’s new is watching it show up specifically in festive decor, not just everyday styling.

An old brass diya alongside new battery lights. A hand-embroidered dupatta used as a table runner instead of a purchased one. A steel or copper vessel that’s been sitting in a cupboard for a decade, suddenly the centerpiece of a Navratri corner!!

Part of why this works for the festive season specifically is that these objects already carry the same kind of meaning the festival itself carries. A new decorative object looks nice. An inherited one looks nice and means something, which is a harder thing to manufacture with anything bought last week.

Part of it is also practical. Older brass, copper, and steel pieces were often built heavier and more solidly than what’s available now, which means they hold up to nine days of actual daily use better than a lot of newer decorative pieces would.

The styling trick isn’t using more inherited pieces. It’s usually one or two, placed somewhere they’ll actually be seen, next to newer, simpler pieces that don’t compete with them.

The most interesting Navratri corners I’ve seen this year aren’t the newest looking ones!

They’re the ones with one object that’s clearly been in the family a while, doing the most quiet, important work in the whole setup. Journalising Designers Esha Bhandari