Dr. Anurag Kanoria grew up in Mumbai amidst an atmosphere where the arts, booksand travel were part and parcel of daily existence. Surrounded from childhood with the finer things of life, he naturally gravitated towards the beauty and emotional pull of Art. Although belonging to one of India's oldest industrial houses with interests in varied businesses as manufacturing textiles, wire ropes, sugar, carpets, paper, furniture, jute, tea estates etc., Anurag travelled down a different road and chose to create new avenues based on his deep personal interests in art, academics, travel, architecture, designing and interior decoration.
Dr. Kanoria heads The Great Eastern Home, a veritable treasure trove full of vintage furniture, fine antiques, paintings, artefacts and rare collectibles. Situated both in Byculla and Vikhroli in Mumbai, the stores contain centuries of styles arrayed in eclectic harmony: a splendid example of a collection curated with passion and painstakingly collected across decades from all corners of the globe.
He subsequently started Ficus Fine Living, a much more contemporary brand for elegant home furniture and décor lifestyles for the affordable luxury section of the market. Ficus currently has one store in Mumbai and another in Colombo.
In 2015 he established the Nine Fish Art Gallery. Located within the charming and verdant precincts of a historic textile mill in Byculla,Nine Fish Art Gallery has since exhibited both national and international artists. It has consistently and independently provided Art Residencies and studio space to upcoming young artists as well as hosting three consecutive Art35 events over the years.
The Art Gallery is a space that engenders and encourages cross-cultural dialogue, critical enquiry and interdisciplinary collaborations with other institutions, galleries and collectives through talks, lectures, workshops and performances.
Nine Fish Art Gallery aims to lend its space in support of tribal art and craft practices, while bringing within its ambit research/documentation projects in the field of architecture and design.
Dr. Kanoria holds a B.Com and an M.A.(Economics)from University of Mumbai, as well as a Post-Graduate Diploma in Aesthetics. He also holds an M.A.(Literature)from Northeastern University Massachusetts, USA. His thesis delving in issues of the evaluation and production of aesthetics in a post-modern age resulted in a PhD from the University of Mumbai.
Dr. Kanoria haslectured on design and aesthetics at various institutions like the IIT, University of Bombay, Lovely University etc. He has been a thesis guide to design students at the National Institute of Design and has been a mentor to a whole new generation of young artists and designers in the Indian sub-continent. He is also an active member of Kanoria College in Jaipur (University of Rajasthan).
Last but not the least, Dr. Kanoria is truly and well bitten by the travel bug. He broadens his horizons on a regular basis through his travels and has visited many a forgotten corner of the world – Libya, Yemen, Congo, Eritrea, Madagascar, Namibia, searching for antiques, visiting artists and collectors, spending time with quirky idiosyncratic folks – all accompanied by the quest to see more, learn more and grow more.