In Fort Kochi, where old houses carry the weight of time and creativity drifts in with the sea breeze, a modest residence has taken on a striking new life. Asian Paints Royale has turned it into an immersive art house titled A Story in Red, where walls, objects and colour work together to tell a layered, sensory narrative.
This is not an exhibition you view from a distance. It is one you walk through, slowly, room by room. Open to the public from February 1 to February 15, 2026, during the Kochi Biennale, the experience places colour at the centre of attention, asking visitors to feel it, respond to it and carry it with them.
Red as the only language
At first glance, the idea seems deceptively simple. Everything here is red. But as visitors move through the house, it becomes clear that red is not one colour. It is many moods, memories and meanings layered together.
Each room is painted in a distinct shade of Asian Paints Royale red, from terracotta and vermillion to scarlet, henna, ruby and rust. These are not background tones. They lead the eye, slow the body and change how objects are seen. A familiar household item, placed against a red-soaked wall, suddenly feels larger, heavier or more intimate.
Objects that carry stories
At the heart of A Story in Red are thirteen objects curated, and in some cases created, by Ranji Kelkar, a long-time collector of vintage textiles and jewellery. Known for her deep engagement with craft and everyday beauty, Kelkar draws from rituals, domestic life and memory to select objects that feel instantly recognisable.
Placed one per room, each object becomes the anchor of its space. A vessel, a textile, a crafted form. Alone, they are ordinary. Within these red rooms, they take on new presence. Scale shifts. Meaning stretches. Visitors linger longer than expected, drawn into quiet conversations between colour and form.
The installations also feature contributions from designers and artists including Savio Jon, Smriti Morarka, Kunal Shah’s Kaash space, Jaipur Rugs and Kelkar herself, giving the experience depth without overwhelming it.
Walls that do more than stand still
What Asian Paints Royale achieves here is a reminder that walls are not passive. In this house, walls guide movement, frame objects and shape emotion. They hold light differently depending on the finish, sometimes absorbing it, sometimes letting it glow softly across the surface.
The Royale range, known for its smooth, light-catching finishes, becomes an active participant in the experience. Red, often seen as loud or overpowering, surprises by moments of calm. In some rooms, it presses in. In others, it steadies the space, giving it a sense of balance and closure.
One colour, many meanings
Red is an obvious choice in India, and yet a difficult one. It carries joy, celebration and prosperity, but also discipline, caution and control. It marks weddings and rituals, but also boundaries and warnings. Few colours sit so comfortably with contradiction.
This tension is what A Story in Red explores without explaining. There are no captions telling visitors what to feel. Instead, the experience allows red to reveal itself differently in each space. For some, it recalls domestic warmth. For others, it feels ceremonial or intense. The story is never fixed.
A pause in the middle of the city
Speaking about the installation, Amit Syngle, MD and CEO of Asian Paints Ltd., notes that colour is something people live with every day, not something chosen lightly. The idea behind A Story in Red, he says, is to explore how a single colour can change not just how a space looks, but how it behaves.
That intent comes through most strongly in the pace of the experience. Visitors slow down. Rooms are not rushed through. The house encourages pauses, small moments of stillness where colour, object and light quietly settle.
Kochi as the perfect setting
The choice of Fort Kochi feels deliberate. This is a place where layers coexist, colonial homes beside contemporary galleries, tradition beside experiment. During the Biennale, the city already invites reflection and wandering. A Story in Red slips naturally into this rhythm.
Rather than competing for attention, the house offers intimacy. It feels personal, almost private, like stepping into someone’s carefully imagined world.
Beyond decoration
What stays with visitors after they leave is not just the boldness of red, but the idea that colour itself can be narrative. Not decoration. Not surface treatment. But something that shapes experience, memory and mood.
With A Story in Red, Asian Paints Royale positions colour as an active force in interior design, capable of telling stories without words. In a city known for its layered creativity, this quiet, red-soaked house makes its point without raising its voice.
