Behind him, the table is lined with the pictures of his family—Valaya’s parents, his daughter and wife, who is expecting their second child, and other relics from the past. Family clearly plays a pivotal role in influencing his work. One wall is dedicated to sketches and scribbles by his daughter—a blue sun over a yellow landscape, topsy-turvy houses and flowers with strange blossoms. “When I look at her vision of life, I am amazed at how much potential it has. It’s very encouraging when I am sitting at the desk drawing up sketches,” he says.

Black-and-white photographs taken by Valaya adorn a wall. “I started photography much before fashion designing. I used to assist Rohit Khosla and while Prabuddha (Dasgupta) would conduct his fashion shoots, I would also click,” he reveals. The habit has stayed. Till date, he shoots his own campaigns.

On our way out, the sleek cutlery on the table catches our eye. “That’s just an experiment. If it works, we will come out with our own range of cutlery,” he says. Clearly, creativity has no limits here.