Noun, a retail residency in Siolim, Goa, redefines the meaning of making by bringing together artisans and brands rooted in craft, materiality, and storytelling. Housing creators like Nandini Chandravarkar, Kastoor, and Begum Sitara, Noun celebrates the invisible rhythms of creation — where process, touch, and culture converge into form.
One of the first things almost everyone learns in an English grammar class is the concept of a noun. According to the dictionary, it’s “a word used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things, or to name a particular one of these.” When I was younger, I assumed that anything that could be included in the childhood game Name, Place, Animal, Thing was a noun. But Noun, a retail residency based in Siolim, Goa, is redefining the word’s meaning. According to them, “a noun is where the tacit meets the concrete,” a space where the defined and the undefined become one.
Noun introduces itself as, “...a rotational retail residency that explores craft, design and material culture through chapters”. In practice this means that Noun is organised via 'chapters'. Each chapter is a curated collection of makers, artists and brands whose work sits at the intersection of technique and imagination, repetition and reinvention. The first of these, 'Chapter 001: Muscle Memory', scheduled for 7 November-15 December 2025, focuses on the role of repetition, rhythm and practice in making: the gestural knowledge that weaves, moulds, stitches or shapes; the kind of tacit, bodily memory which survives long after words fade.
The residency will host brands and artisans such as Nandini Chandravarkar, a ceramic artist; Kastoor, an Indian perfumery; Begum Sitara, a jewellery brand; and many more. Each represents the essence of craft and the importance of making visible the invisible rhythms of creation. These creators don’t simply bring finished objects — they bring stories of labour and context. The makers at Noun are less commercial brands and more cultural actors; they don’t merely produce objects — they carry forward craft as knowledge.
By positioning itself as a “rotational retail residency”, Noun sends a message: that craft isn’t frozen in time, nor merely historic, but alive, evolving, and intimately tied to the hands that are involved in its creation. This framing feels especially resonant in today’s design and craft contexts, where traditional techniques are often weighed against industrial production, fast fashion, and digital fabrication. Noun seems to invite a slower, more reflective relationship with objects and makers, prioritising the continuity of practice and muscle memory over the novelty of trend.
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