Founded by visual artist and animation engineer Farha Alam, Taalkatora is a Mumbai-based creative studio that transforms forgotten analog media into interactive, illuminated functional art and optical toys. Launched in May 2026, the studio is a culmination of Farha's multidisciplinary background across graphic design, animation, storytelling and filmmaking. Her opto-kinetic innovations were presented at IIT Hyderabad in 2025, work that laid the technical ground for everything the studio now makes. Driven by a relentless experimental spirit, Taalkatora produces novel, old-school collectibles that invite tangible curiosity, bridging the gap between historical tech and modern craft and design.
Taalkatora's first offering is Picture Palace, a completely novel, sleek box light that doubles as a vintage art display and an old-school toy for adults, bringing twelve animated artworks to life through interaction. Born from a love for early cinema, it is designed to bridge the gap between functional decor and kinetic play.
PAWAN JI, CRAFTSPERSON AND MISCHIEF MAKER, ALAM.
SAURABH SHARMA, CRAFTSPERSON, CHIEF FABRICATOR
PAWAN JI, CARPENTER
HANDS OF LALIT JI.
TEAM
At the heart of the studio's philosophy is a deep respect for early visual history and a principle Farha calls "rational amusement," the old belief that delight and learning were never meant to be separate. Farha collaborates closely with local fabricators and traditional craftspeople to resurrect the forgotten precursors of modern cinema and early animation technologies. By blending old-school cinematic physics with contemporary LED technology and hand-layered optics, she creates tactile objects that invite physical play and interaction, reimagining old-world wonders for the contemporary home. They move when touched or turned, offering a nostalgic, playful, therapeutic and enduring experience for the user.
Beyond Taalkatora's retail collections, Farha is building a rigorous independent experimental practice: layered light sculptures, motorized animated installations, and tactile animated games. In 2025, she directed a public, community-led installation at the Govandi Arts Festival in partnership with The Storiculture Company, and designed a commissioned installation for the RPG Art Foundation, work guided by a desire to blend science, design and illuminating visual art for public audiences. Her worldview draws from filmmaker Yuri Norstein, whose hand-layered, painterly animation shaped how she thinks about depth and touch, and painter Hilma af Klint, whose hidden, geometric visions shaped how she thinks about what light can reveal.
Ultimately, Taalkatora operates as a bridge between popular nostalgia and functional modern aesthetics. Dedicated to revealing the hidden magic embedded within ordinary materials, Farha's work seeks to re-enchant our spaces and bring a quiet, enduring sense of wonder into daily life.
TEAM
A MOTORIZED ANIMATED LAMP