India as a cultural entity has had a long history of decorative arts that have served its creative, cottage, and utilitarian industries from time immemorial. Thrust into the industrial revolution through its many colonizers, Indian decorational arts suffered a huge decline as modern European design seeped into and decimated the aesthetic ethos of the country. Today, after 76 years of independence, India still does not have its own distinctive design philosophy. Indian designers still practice the antiquated nineteenth-century maxim: ‘Form follows function’. Form should follow beauty and function. The ‘othering’ of the decorational art in design praxis and the hijacking of functionalism for commercial gains are all too rampant in the Indian design community. Therefore, this paper tries to counter the dominant narratives of functionalism in design and present an alternative of “beauty for its own sake” as a core design concept. By studying ancient lighting fixtures and lamps, the paper tries to examine the role of beauty in creating meaningful and deeply personal design experiences. Lamps and lighting fixtures are a universal feature across various ancient Indian cultures, used by all social demographies. There are several surviving artefacts in museums across India and sufficient historical evidence to carry out the study. By analysis of this simple product design, this paper also looks at how lighting fixtures were not just part of the lifestyle but were also deeply intertwined with the ritual and philosophical thought of ancient India, which contributed to its aesthetic value. Through qualitative and comparative analysis, the paper attempts to identify the importance of ‘the ornamental’ in creating a design experience. The proposed outcome of this study is to initiate a new dialogue that leads to a deeper understanding of Indian aesthetic values and makes room for the ornamental in Indian design praxis.