Description :

Vitrum Studio, established in 1954 at Rutton Villa, Cumballa Hill, Bombay, emerged as a pioneering space for ceramic experimentation and artistic collaboration in post-independence India. Founded by Polish settlers Simon Lifschutz and his partner Hanna, the studio was the charitable wing of Lifschutz’s glass factory in Vikhroli, which produced pharmaceutical and cosmetic packaging. At a time when India was embracing industrial growth and cultural expansion, Vitrum offered a unique confluence of material innovation and artistic freedom.

Over its two-decade existence, Vitrum engaged more than 30 artists—many affiliated with the Sir J.J. School of Art—who explored ceramics as a painterly and sculptural medium. Artists such as Badri Narayan, S.A.M. Kazi, Lazar, Mahesh Tipathi, Sudha Madan, Sanjay Kumar, V. M Raikar, Vijoo Sadwelkar and Anjali Dasgupta created evocative works using specially procured ceramic pigments and glazes, often transforming tiles and plates into canvases for abstraction, figuration, and landscape.

After the Lifschutzs relocated to the UK in the mid-1960s, the studio was renamed HexAmar under Capt. Nagindas Shah and continued until 1974, marking the end of an era and a shift in the structures of artistic production and valuation.