Noelle Kadar, founder of Noelle Kadar Studio, has spent nearly two decades shaping contemporary art in India. Her creative journey took her from New Jersey to Varanasi, and ultimately, love led her to Jaipur. “Art is about connection. It’s not just about objects or exhibitions. It’s about the stories they tell and the conversations they spark,” she says.
From her formative years at the Rhode Island School of Design to leading initiatives like The Sculpture Park and co-founding the Jaipur Centre for Art along with HH Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh of Jaipur, Noelle has consistently championed creative dialogue that bridges local heritage with global sensibilities. In an exclusive conversation with Robb Report India, Noelle shares insights on curation and her approach to facilitating private commissions.
Robb Report India: You founded the Jaipur Centre for Art inside the City Palace with royal patronage; how do you translate that rarefied setting into exhibitions that feel both exquisite and accessible to discerning collectors?
Noelle Kadar: At JCA, the City Palace is an integral part of our narrative. Our curatorial approach pairs Jaipur’s living traditions with a global offering, so exhibitions feel both exquisite in context and genuinely porous to new ideas. We work with various curators and invite Indian and international artists to create conversations across time, material, and geography. That balance, heritage in dialogue with contemporary practice, keeps the experience relevant for discerning art lovers while remaining relatable to first-time visitors. And crucially, if art is a luxury, it is our intention not to gatekeep: rather than commercialising it, we bring world-class work into our space and share it with our audiences here in a way that we hope that feels generous, welcoming, and grounded.
Relatability is built into our programming. Alongside exhibitions, we host artist talks, workshops, and community events that we hope to demystify process and intent. Our residency encourages artists to engage deeply with Jaipur’s craft ecologies, and we curate intimate patron previews, studio visits, and educational salons that add rigour without losing warmth. Ultimately, our aim is for JCA to be a cornerstone of Jaipur’s cultural life, one that mirrors its very special ability to remain globally recognised, locally grounded, and sustainable in how it serves artists, patrons, and the community.
RR: Luxury often lives at the intersection of craft and exclusivity. When you commission or curate works for palaces, hotels, or private residences, what are the most important details you insist on making a piece feel truly bespoke?
Noelle: Luxury, for me, begins with intention. The space and the patron lead the brief. Art, by nature, is bespoke. An artwork comes out of a deeply personal practice; it is not a replication of another thing. It’s important to match the artworks with the patron; art should resonate with the owner and the space.
RR: There is an appetite among ultra-high net worth individuals for one-of-a-kind objects; what is your approach to facilitating private commissions?
Noelle: When we advise, we start with the client’s life; how they live, what they collect already, the rooms that matter, and build a simple narrative around mood, scale, and feeling. We generally look for fewer, but better works, focusing on quality over quantity. What a collector acquires should be seen as an extension of self, a relationship with the artist and their practice, and not as an investment or a trend.
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