A SEAT AT THE TABLE
Inside London’s new supper club series by Atola Papers, Soho house & 1497
There is a particular kind of longing that belongs to the outsider looking in. The feeling that somewhere, a room exists where the right people are saying the right things — and wondering whether you will ever find your way inside it.
Last month, we launched Is This Seat Taken? — a supper club series by Atola Papers, Soho house & 1497 and co-hosted by Janak Padhiar and Aishwarya Bhadouria— bringing together founders, creatives, investors, technologists, and cultural leaders from across the South Asian diaspora. People building businesses, shaping culture, and quietly redefining what comes next.
The name carries more weight than it first suggests. It’s a question asked casually every day, from cafés to crowded trains. But for many communities, it also speaks to something deeper: visibility, access, and the feeling of whether there was ever space for us in these worlds to begin with.
That evening, the answer felt simple: Yes. Sit down. We made this for you.
Hosted at Soho House, the dinner marked the first chapter of what will become a global series spanning London, New York, India and beyond. Our partner 1497 was founded to uplift South Asian talent through film, and is now expanding that same spirit into fashion, music, technology, and culture more broadly.
From the handcrafted tablelinen to the raw ginger florals, every detail was shaped by us at Atola Papers. Guests were given a first look at Offcuts, our upcoming collaboration with Joshua India, the Jaipur-based block-printing studio. Cocktails were poured by Kaveri Ginger, an unfiltered ginger liqueur rooted in the rituals of India.
But beyond the details, what stayed with me was the conversation.
The question at the centre of the evening — what room did you always want to be in, and who changed the course of your journey? — led to stories about risk, self-doubt, generosity, and the people who shifted someone’s life with a single opportunity or moment of belief.
As journalist and former Editor-in-Chief of Harper’s Bazaar India and Elle India, Nonita Kalra, put it:
“I wanted to be a lifestyle writer and cover Bombay like it had never been covered before. Before that, I’d been covering the stock market! Terrified I’d be exposed as a fraud, I quit. I was sitting at home feeling worthless when my former editor, Shekhar Gupta, called and asked if I’d be features editor for a new city newspaper. The cheek of me – I said yes, but only if I got the back page, in colour, with no ads. He didn’t just give me an opportunity, he taught me how to negotiate, even against him, to get my due.”
That, in many ways, is what Is This Seat Taken? was really about. Not a party. A precedent.
Something shifts when people feel genuinely seen. The performance falls away. Conversations become honest, generous, useful. Akanksha Kamath, Writer, author, columnist, and founder of LSS, shares:
“We are the sum of the people and experiences around us. It’s not just about occupying space for yourself, but also who you bring along with you. A seat at the table can change a lot – I’d just moved to the UK from India when I was invited to an important event. It would’ve been easier to let the imposter syndrome kick in (which it did), but once there, I was with likeminded new peers and colleagues. Things led from there that have completely changed my trajectory in this market.”
And behind so many of those moments is someone willing to advocate for you before you’re even in the room. Rajat Dhawan, CTO of Soho House, reflected on exactly that: “The room I wanted to be in wasn’t about title, it was about impact beyond my day job — joining the board of The Coronation Food Project, tackling food waste and insecurity at a national scale. I got there because Martina, a fellow board member from a previous organisation, chose to back me. She framed my experience in a way the board could immediately see value in. You rarely get into your most meaningful rooms alone — someone has to spend their political capital backing you.”
We are witnessing the rise of a generation no longer waiting for permission. South Asian voices building their own ecosystems, platforms, businesses, and cultural spaces — on their own terms. People who understand that what we build shapes who gets seen, heard, and remembered within it.
That idea has always sat at the heart of Atola Papers. Through our collaborations with emerging artists and makers, we’ve always believed design is about more than aesthetics. It’s about authorship, visibility, and documenting the culture being shaped around us in real time.
Over the last few years, I’ve found myself in conversations and environments I never imagined I’d be part of. For a long time, I resisted the idea of networking because I thought it was purely transactional. But the more time I spend around people building meaningful things, the more I realise the best rooms don’t work like that at all.
They create momentum. They expand how you think. They are spaces of exchange — of knowledge, perspective, generosity, and connection — bringing together people who may never otherwise meet, but who leave seeing the world, and their place within it, differently.
That, more than anything, is what this supper club series is about. Is this seat taken? Not anymore.
Stay tuned for our next summer drop — a collection of table linens designed for gathering well, hosting generously, and lingering around the table a little longer.
All my love,
Radhika Somaia
Founder, Atola Papers
