You won’t miss Gramin Arts at Oshiwara Old Furniture Market though it’s a narrow shop. The collector items on display outside break the monotony of cupboards and dressers that line furniture shops along the same street. Every inch of the space is covered with something old and vintage-looking. Manish Sharma, 42, who runs the shop, tells us these antiques are thrifted from old havelis, zamindar homes and dealers across India. These include Tanjore paintings, wooden artifacts, brassware, old advertisements, calendars from the 1900s, black and white photographs, lithographs, and grandfather clocks. There are even a few large Raja Ravi Varma paintings. “You won’t find anything contemporary here,” Sharma assures us on our visit.

Seated behind a large desk lined with a cutting mat, Sharma wastes no time and jumps into a narrative, while cutting excess mountboard off a restored black and white photograph. “My father, Ramesh Sharma Gramin, opened this shop 25 years ago in Colaba. We shifted here two years later, in the early 2000s.” Sharma works as he speaks, slipping the photograph into a plastic covering before moving to another. He’s packing items for display. “My father is a miniature artist, so our childhood was surrounded by art. He owns the store; he’s in Bengaluru now where we have another store overseen by my brother, Bhupendra Sharma, who is also an artist.” We spot a marker drawing of a face that is taped to the pinboard and a beautifully detailed watercolour miniature painting around us. Both are created by Ramesh Sharma Gramin.