A new Mumbai flagship blends Indian craft with contemporary design

Furniture buying usually begins with a colour palette and moodboard, a fewer reels saved connected Instagram, and a flexible fund connected however overmuch you are consenting to splurge connected that 1 connection couch, rug oregon lounge chair. To assistance marque each those plan decisions nether 1 roof, the caller Interio by Godrej flagship store successful Vikhroli, Mumbai, dispersed crossed a sprawling 22,000 sq. ft. takes its inspiration from Indian craftsmanship and modern aesthetics.

Its spatial design, conceptualised implicit a twelvemonth ago, was led by Mazumdar Bravo Architects, celebrated for their blend of modern minimalism informed by a distinctly Indian warmth. With vignettes showcasing Indian artistry to spaces for modular, reconfigurable furnishings oregon caller manner categories specified arsenic children’s, outdoor, and gaming collections, “every detail, from layout to materiality, was designed to bring the brand’s individuality to beingness — timeless, functional and rooted successful Indian plan sensibilities,” explains Vaishali Lahoti, lawman wide manager, Godrej Interio.

Blending trade and conscious design

For Aditi Anuj, laminitis and originative manager of Jaipur-based Adigami Studio, origami is some a mean and meditation. For the abstraction titled ‘Breathe’ wrong the Interio store, her squad has worked with Bengaluru-based plan workplace Oorjaa to make the installation ‘Hues of Blues, The Byōbu’. The Byōbu oregon upwind partition was a Japanese folding screen, painted with scenes of quality and poetry, that transformed rooms into contemplative sanctuaries. Within a lantana framework (crafted by Oorjaa), implicit 15,000 hand-folded origami modules, each crafted from a 5-cm square, make fluid waves of bluish inspired by the timeless Japanese motif of the large wave.

“Our installation draws from the Bauhaus philosophy, wherever art, design, and engineering travel unneurotic successful cleanable balance. Paper folding was an integral portion of the movement, a mode to research structure, form, and transformation. Through this installation, we reimagined those principles successful the brand’s signature colours, creating a portion that reflects its tone of play, innovation, and purpose,” states Anuj.

In ‘Flow’, curves regenerate corners, and a delicate, wispy airy plan of lantana and banana insubstantial ( created by Oorjaa) adds a luminous glow, accentuated by handwoven rugs successful a surviving space.

The store focuses connected some signifier and function, conscious of however the outdoors influences the indoors. “Homeowners are conscious astir what works amended for them, wherever aesthetics are much integral than aboveground decoration, and attraction indispensable beryllium hassle-free, too. To woody with the humidity we acquisition successful India, each the metallic products are fixed moisture-resistant treatment, the alloy room modules are galvanised, and powder-coated truthful the elements bash not corrode. Engineered wood is graded and treated arsenic well, to withstand moisture retention,” says Lahoti.

Spaces are carved retired to wage homage to award-winning craftsmanship successful assorted worldly traditions. Cane Concept, founded by decorator Aku Zeliang, celebrates the Ao-Naga weaving method by reinterpreting tribal motifs into modern designs for accessories. While a crimson interwoven decor portion from the Tekirak Collection, reflects Zeliang’s sustainable plan ethos, crafted from responsibly foraged bamboo from Peren’s forests and rattan, it blends climate-conscious operation with modern design.

Sirohi’s (a women’s trade corporate from Sirohi, Rajasthan) rust-orange tapestry brings a surviving country abstraction to beingness utilizing accepted charpai and macramé techniques, to make creation from earthy fibres and upcycled waste. Using ceramic arsenic his muse, Brahmdeo Ram Pandit, a Padma Shri awardee, creates 3 clay-cobalt bluish statements, bridging texture and timeless artistry. Elsewhere successful the store, 3 metallic instruments archer the communicative of Indian antique metalwork techniques, from Makaan, a Jaipur-based interior conception store by decorator Tahir Sultan.

The brushed furnishing, furnishings and accessories tin beryllium personalised and customised. Lahoti says, “This abstraction was designed truthful you tin dilatory unfold the store, spot options and measure your choices. Indians similar experimentation, and we had an accidental to curate these spaces with a batch of colour. For location decor and design, being purpose-led is important — you tin prime some colours and conception pieces if you are creating a calm aesthetic oregon a much energetic corner.”

She adds: “Lastly, the Indian mediate people is not truthful constrained by choky budgets anymore, but is much focused connected what they are looking for and are consenting to agelong their limits. People privation to link with their roots successful ways that are modern, and are consenting to perceive and wage attraction to the process, radical and materiality.”

Timeless utility

There’s besides an ode to Godrej’s century-long plan journey, from its eponymous steel almirah to safes, which transitioned to modular retention solutions. “One of our oldest patented cupboards, from the 1930s, is showcased, and the full wardrobe assemblage talks astir the spot of our wardrobe postulation successful alloy and wood,” explains Lahoti.

The freelance writer is based successful Chennai.