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pg 141 CONTENTS DECEMBER 2019
32 34
EDITOR’S LETTER
43
AD DESIGN SHOW Scenes from the floor at the second edition of AD’s luxury art and design fair.
CONTRIBU TOR S
DISC OVE RIES
63
’TIS THE SEASON Florist Nazneen
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PAPER ROU TE Celebrated fashion
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Jehangir collaborates with embroiderer Maximiliano Modesti to create a Christmas wreath for AD.
designer Payal Singhal unveils her debut wallpaper collection, created in collaboration with Marshalls.
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ON THE COVER
(Left) At the entrance to Jean-François Lesage’s cabinet of curiosities at the AD Design Show 2019, a Gérard Garouste artwork—gifted to Lesage, who had it embroidered—set the tone for the treasure trove inside. (Right) The embroidered prototype of The Eye of PY by Pierre Yovanovitch, hangs atop Herve Van der Straeten’s origami console, in The Cosmic Room. (‘Le Cabinet de Curiosités’, pg 141)
TALIB CHITALWALA
Photographer: Talib Chitalwala Production: Bindiya Chhabria
pg 128
72
KING CARLOS Style connoisseur Carlos
74
TOO GOOD Faye Toogood joins forces with Milan-based rugmakers cc-tapis to transform some of her freewheeling doodles into stunning rugs.
76
A NNABELLE IS COMING Women architects
80
SEEING RED Rouge Hermès, the second chapter of a touring exhibition explores the French fashion house’s undeniable love for the colour red.
82
CR AFT & CONCRETE Designed by Rudy Ricciotti, Le 19M is a new structure built by Chanel for the artisans it collaborates with.
84
OH, FER NA NDO Fernando Mastrangelo takes inspiration from Audemars Piguet’s headquarters in Switzerland to craft the brand’s VIP salon at Art Basel.
86
TRENDSPOTTING Our carefully curated
94
GREEN WITH EN VY AD presents a curated
122
CHRISTMAS TIME These watches aren’t your usual stocking fillers. They’re the most stylish accessories you’ll find this season.
128
WUNDERK A MMER AD takes a look at
Mota’s latest book, Beige Is Not a Color, doubles up as an ode to his life-long affair with tints and shades of colours.
and designers from around the world gather in Mumbai this January for a party, and also the Women in Design 2020+ conference.
selection of products are all the inspiration you need this season. selection of design objects, each of which can make the perfect gift for any aesthete—even yourself.
Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s new flagship jewellery store in Mumbai, brimming with wondrous curios.
ASHISH SAHI
contents
www.flexform.it
AD Beatrice Rossetti - Photo Federico Cedrone
contents
170 176
LE CABINET DE CURIOSITÉS It was a rousing success at the AD Design Show 2019—a highlight for everyone in attendance. But a lot more went into creating Jean-François Lesage’s Le Cabinet de Curiosités than meets the eye. From the foundational scenography by Niels Schoenfelder to the masterful embroidery used to decorate the walls and the curation of personal objects that dot the space, AD takes a closer look at this incredible cabinet of curiosities.
186
ON THE FLOOR A behind-the-scenes look
192
DESIGN TALK A night that brought together
196
SCOUTS A round-up of some of the best
IN CON VER SATION In a freewheeling
206
STOCKISTS An A-Z listing of the stores in
208
THE MOOD Sharan Parekh, of Mumbai fabric
conversation, Jean-François Lesage and Niels Schoenfelder trace the concept and creation of Le Cabinet de Curiosités. OBJETS D’ART AD profiles the contemporary
designers and the objects they presented at Le Cabinet de Curiosités.
pg 141
at the making of Le Cabinet de Curiosités’ embroidered panels at Vastrakala, Jean-François Lesage’s atelier. the works of German designer Andreas Diefenbach along with Avani Rai’s debut photo series for AD. products that you need to own this season. our pages.
house Splendour, shares a mood board filled with objects that inspire him and reflect his personal tastes.
TALIB CHITALWALA
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EDITOR GREG FOSTER MANAGING EDITOR Komal Sharma ART DIRECTOR Ashish Sahi DEPUTY ART DIRECTOR Almas Jani COPY DIRECTOR Tyrel Rodricks SENIOR STYLIST Samir Wadekar JUNIOR STYLIST Mitalee Mehta FEATURES WRITER Ritupriya Basu PHOTO ASSISTANT Sarang Gupta WATCH EDITOR Rishna Shah MANAGER SYNDICATION Michelle Pereira SYNDICATION COORDINATORS Giselle D’Mello DIGITAL EDITOR Aditi Sharma Maheshwari ASSISTANT DIGITAL EDITOR Kriti Saraswat-Satpathy DIGITAL WRITER Avni Raut
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CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Ricardo Labougle Neville Sukhia Tom Parker
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A
cabinet of curiosities is not a piece of furniture. I was alarmed I had to explain this to someone at the beginning of this year, as we planned building the series of wondrous rooms that would be the highlight of the AD Design Show and the subject of this issue. Fortunately, the AD team knew what I meant, immediately working on mood boards of mirrored infinity rooms, wabisabi courtyards and secret doorways. When I travelled to Chennai to ask the master embroiderer Jean-François Lesage to curate the space for us, one of his first questions was, “Can we have wild animals?” Oh, he understood perfectly. It’s a curious thing that one of the world’s most important names in fashion and interiors lives discreetly on a sleepy aristocratic estate between Chennai and Pondicherry. Here, between a slick stitching operation in an aircraft-sized hangar and a small, ultra-exclusive atelier within his home’s grounds, one can glimpse flashes of next season’s Paris couture shows, and acres of curtains commissioned by leading interior designers for the type of ‘important’ houses that make it onto AD covers. Between his métier and his eye, JFL made the perfect curator for AD’s most ambitious project to date. It quickly became a family affair. JFL’s business partner in the Vastrakala embroidery house, Malavika Shivakumar, was crucial in making it all happen. And her husband, the AD100 architect Niels Schoenfelder of Mancini Enterprises, came onboard to create sharp, world-class scenography. Le Cabinet was nothing if not a lesson in collaboration. Our contemporary take on the sixteenth-century tradition for cabinets of curiosities replaced skulls, rocks and crystals with a mix of Indian antiques, objects from JFL’s personal home, and the most exciting global design now. It’s best explained by JFL himself, in the charming handwritten notes he made as we corresponded across India, and in Niels’s precise architectural drawings—all of which we’ve compiled within a detailed diary of the project. What an adventure. Pure folly, maybe. But Le Cabinet de Curiosités, curated by Jean-François Lesage, reminds us that, perhaps, form need not follow function. Perhaps, beauty will save the world. Enjoy the issue.
PHOTO: R BURMAN.
BEAUTY WILL SAVE THE WORLD
contributors NIELS SCHOENFELDER
architect The German architect and co-founder of Mancini Enterprises, based in Chennai, collaborated with Jean-François Lesage on ‘Le Cabinet De Curiosités’ (pg 141). “It is rare that we are asked to take a lighthearted subject seriously; the sprezzatura required triggered great teamwork!”
M A L AV I K A S H I VA K U M A R
BJÖRN WALLANDER
RICARDO LABOUGLE
entrepreneur The co-founder of Chennai-based embroidery atelier Vastrakala, Shivakumar played a key role in realizing Jean-François Lesage and Niels Schoenfelder’s vision for ‘Le Cabinet De Curiosités’ (pg 141). “Vastrakala, Mancini and AD—a fantastic ménage à trois, draped in embroidery!”
JEANFR ANÇOIS L E SAG E
S A M I R WA D E K A R
ASHISH SAHI
B I N D I YA CHHABRIA
ASHISH SAHI
embroiderer When the master embroiderer came on board to create ‘Le Cabinet De Curiositiés’ (pg 141) at the AD Design Show, we knew it was going to be one of the most special projects AD has ever been part of. “What a great sharing experience! Greg, Samir, Bindiya have wonderfully managed to give life to a vision Niels and I had in mind.”
producer A frequent collaborator with AD, Chhabria headed the production for ‘Le Cabinet De Curiosités’ (pg 141). “The purpose of life is to live it at the fullest .... to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences. The Cabinet of Curiosities was one of those experiences.”
stylist AD’s stylist was involved in the making of ‘Le Cabinet De Curiositiés’ (pg 141) right from the get-go. “It is incredible to see what human minds and hands can G A U R I K E L K A R writer create in an extremely short time. Observing the art of Kelkar discovered the cabinet’s ‘Objets d’Art’ (pg 176) and moderated embroidery is one of the best things the chat between Lesage and Schoenfelder (pg 170). “Listening to I have experienced.” them was a bit like being a fly on the wall witnessing a conversation between friends. It was fabulous to be witness to the process.”
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ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST|DECEMBER 2019
contributors embroiderer The mastermind of our embroidered Craftsmanship issue, Modesti once again worked with AD on our Christmas wreath (pg 63). “To create ornamental flowers for Nazneen’s passionatelycrafted wreath, raffia was transformed into delicately pleated works of art, with subtle embellishments of goose feathers, crystals and beads. All this, coupled with a sensuous touch of Indian spices, made it an exciting Christmas precursor.”
RISHNA SHAH
NAZNEEN JEHANGIR
SARANG GUPTA
writer Our resident Watch Editor may be based in New York, but chances are you’ll find her in Switzerland, critiquing some of the most famous timepieces of the moment. Her childhood in Antwerp, Europe’s diamond city, definitely helped groom her for the role, as she brings us the season’s best in ‘Christmas Time’ (pg 122).
ATHUL PRASAD
MAXIMILANO MODESTI
floral couturier To celebrate Christmas, Jehangir along with Modesti, crafted a special wreath for AD (pg 63). “India, like Christmas, is all about food and fragrance. So I took a traditional wreath but filled it with fragrant Indian spices; a curry wreath so to speak!”
TA LI B C H I T A LWA L A
photographer “I started as the photo assistant at AD and it is now quite thrilling to have photographed the cover!” says Chitalwala as he spent time at the AD Design Show shooting ‘Le Cabinet De Curiosités’ (pg 141). “Each room had a unique inspiration and story behind it.”
G E N E S I A A LV E S
writer Genesia Alves writes about food, travel, women, children and the city she lives in, Mumbai. In this issue, she writes about Women in Design 2020+, a conference by architects Brinda Somaya and Nandini Sampat (pg 76). “Brinda has been an advocate for women at work on every rung of the ladder. Her daughter Nandini has joined her ranks. Together, they’re as inspiring as the conference promises to be.”
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ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST|DECEMBER 2019
CURATED PRODUCTS FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE FLOOR & WALL COVERINGS | BATH & WELLNESS PRODUCTS D-82, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-1, New Delhi-110020 info@theintersekt.com | www.theintersekt.com | +91-11-47129937/38 @theintersekt
INTERSEKT
MARMO HOME PRIVATE LIMITED
contributors S H A R A N PA R E K H
entrepreneur The director of furnishings brand Splendour, which came on board for Le Cabinet De Curiosités, Parekh has a keen interest in design entrepreneurship and shared a mood board in ‘The Mood’ (pg 208). “Working with the AD team is always amazing. I was super happy with how the project turned out. It’s always a pleasure to see our materials applied and executed beautifully.”
SARANG GUPTA
JIGNESH J H AV E R I
photographer The Mumbai-based image-maker shot AD’s gifting guide, ‘Green With Envy’ (pg 94). “The still-life shoot was great to work on, as each object could be shot individually and lit from the best possible angles; a welcome break from richly detailed composites and sets.”
NEVILLE SUKHIA
photographer The Mumbai-based photographer headed to Vastrakala, the Chennai atelier of Jean-François Lesage, to capture the making of the embroideries seen at Le Cabinet De Curiosités in ‘On The Floor’ (pg 190), as well as photograph the brilliant artists behind it. “I had a fabulous time photographing these inspiring people and their space.”
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ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST|DECEMBER 2019
ROSHNI BAJAJ SA N G H V I
writer A graduate of the International Culinary Centre in NYC, Sanghvi lives in Mumbai and writes about food and travel. “Sabyasachi’s jewellery and his newly-opened store (pg 128) in Mumbai is a deep dive into India’s karigari. It’s a showcase of the styles of craftsmanship in our country, and of how richly talented our traditional jewellery setters are.”
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AD’S SAMIR WADEKAR VIKAS KHANNA
RALPH AND SONIA HAYS, CONSUL GENERAL OF NEW ZEALAND
CONDÉ NAST’S SABINA LALL
VEERA KAPADIA
MARTIN
POONAM BHAGAT
AAMIR AND HAMEEDA SHARMA
AD’S KAPIL TOLANI
MALAVIKA SHIVAKUMAR
AMIT SYNGLE, ARMAITY AMARIA, PRITESH SALIAN, SRIKANTH SK, MANALI ADHIKARI, SUMEET BHOJANI
ARUNJIT SODHI
NIKHIL MEHRA
THE AD CAFE
LAILA LAMBA BRINDA SOMAYA, NANDINI SAMPAT
MATTEO CIBIC
SHARAN APPARAO
DABBOO RATNANI
AMIT PAI
THE NILAYA NATURALS COLOUR DISPLAY
POOJA SINGHAL
SEEMA PURI
ZARIR MULLAN NEHAL AND MONICA SHAH
PRASHANT RAO
HAMENDRA, SUKRITI AND RATI SHARMA
SEETU KOHLI
ASHISH BAJORIA
MADHAV RAMAN
THE INDIA CIRCUS BOOTH
SUDHIR VERMA, JITENDER SINGH, KAPIL BHARTI, SAJAL LAMBA
THE ISTITUTO MARANGONI BOOTH
ASHNA SINGH
SUNDEEP KUMAR
RAHUL PURI
MANDEEP SINGH
DIVYA BAJAJ, HITESHI WADHWA
NATASHA JAIN
ESSA AND ALI JAMNAGARWALA
PRATEEK JAIN GAUTAM SETH RADHIKA AND JAI RAWAT
VIKNESWARAN TA
NIKITA BHATE
PRIYANKA TAPARIA
THE PHILLIPS ANTIQUES BOOTH
MANAN TRIVEDI
SABINA BHANPURWALA
AMIT VADEHRA, SIMON LAWS, VINAY MELWANI
ANGIE KRIPALANI
VIRAL SHETH
RAVISH VOHRA
SAMTA NADEEM, AMIT GUPTA
AYUSH CHOUDHARY
PARMINDER PAL SINGH
AD’S VARUN SAMA
PRATEEK RAJA
PRIYANKA RAJA
KRUTI BADANI, ANAND GUNJUR, NIVEDITHA REDDY, KARTIK BADANI, PUNEET AGGARWAL, PRAVEEN PARAK, SACHIN CHOPRA, GAUTAM VORA, AATISH GUPTA
MANDEEP SINGH
YOGESH CHAUDHARY MALVIKA PODDAR, JOHNNY SANDELSON
GUNJAN GUPTA
PARUL AND ROSHINI VADEHRA
ANICA KOCHHAR
HARDIK AJMERA
PINAKIN AJMERA
AKSHAY SHARMA
THE SCRIPT BOOTH
PUNEET SHAH
KASHISH RAHEJA
THE AD DESIGN SHOW TEAM
SAURABH AILAWADI NISHANT CHANDRA KUNAAL KYHAAN SEOLEKAR
ALL PHOTOS: CAMERA CREW PRODUCTIONS.
YASH BHANAGE
SAUMIL SUCHAK
LIFE VEST UNDER OUR SEAT BY SIDDHARTH SOMAIYA
THOMAS ABRAHAM, SUMAN RAO
SAMEER SETH
SHUCHITA SANCHETI
GAURI DEVIDAYAL
HANDMADE A tale of comfort and beauty begins to unfold with our aesthetic artistry for homes and spaces. At Gulmohar Lane, we take great pride in design and hand-craftsmanship of our products. Our designs blend contemporary sensibilities with traditions of excellence in craftsmanship and quality.
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Speakers include:
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Natalia V Superm odianova o Philanthdel and ropist
Hub Artistic ert Barrère Directo r, Lesag e
Andrea sK Creativ ronthaler Vivienn e Director, e West wood
Luke M eier Creativ & Lucie Meie e Dire r Jil Sand ctors, er
Dav The Ea id Snowdon rl Chairm of Snowdon, H an, Chri stie’s E on. MEA
Hélène Pouli CEO, B t-Duquesne ouchero n
Manfre d Thie rry Mu gler
Gu CEO, V ram Gvasalia ETEME NTS GR OUP
Natach aR Creativ amsay-Levi e Direc Chloé tor,
Lynne Manag Webber ing Marina Director, Rinaldi
Joerg Creato Zuber r, Noon oouri
Suzy M enkes E Vogue ditor, Interna tional
29-30 April 2020, Vienna, Austria
THE PREMIER EVENT FOR LUXURY LEADERS 500 luxury and fashion decision-makers, innovators, creatives and business figures will gather in Vienna, Austria, to discuss the topics that matter for the global luxury and fashion industry. The conference programme will explore the power of Central and Eastern Europe as a new consumer market for luxury retail, as well as a source of dynamic and innovative creativity. Speakers will also explore the critical topics of technology, inclusivity and sustainability, and the role of the artisan in the digital age.
Topics include: • The definition of “Luxury” • Size inclusivity in the luxury market • Luxury and fashion retail in Central and Eastern Europe • The relationship between commerce and creation • Sustainability in luxury
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TEXT: RITUPRIYA BASU. PHOTOS: SARANG GUPTA.
OUR ROUND-UP FROM THE FRONT LINE OF DESIGN: TRENDS, OBJECTS, STYLE, EVENTS
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’TIS the season commissions floral designer Nazneen Jehangir and master embroiderer Maximiliano Modesti to create a wreath that rings in the Christmas spirit with a touch of spice
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Assorted handcrafted raffia flowers with feathers, beads and crystals.
o ring in the festive cheer and celebrate the last issue of the year, AD invited two creative minds to imagine a Christmas wreath for the season. Floral designer Nazneen Jehangir—founder of Libellule, a floral boutique agency—walked into the AD office with her bag full of ingredients, and master embroiderer Maximiliano Modesti with his fine set of ideas. From the get-go, with an almost-carte blanche brief, the duo instantly knew that they wanted the wreath to be contextual and contemporary and rooted in an Indian aesthetic. “We wanted to create something that would capture the essence of Christmas in India,” says Jehangir. “The initial idea got me thinking about how so many of us celebrate a very non-denominational Christmas, almost perched between two cultures. Christmas, to me, is also about food and fragrance. I wanted to bring these thoughts together. That’s when I arrived at the idea of a ‘Curry Wreath’—a twist on a traditional wreath filled with Indian spices.” As if reaching into the ubiquitous spice rack found in every Indian kitchen, Jehangir strung together dried Kashmiri chillies, sticks of cinnamon, sprigs of curry leaf, star anise, black pepper and bay leaf, and punctuated the arrangement with oranges and dried lotus pods. “I wanted the wreath to be evocative of where a lot of us are: straddling a world >
An artisan hand-embroidering a flower using the aari technique.
Maximiliano Modesti at his Mumbai studio, Les Ateliers 2M.
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PHOTO: ASHISH SAHI.
Transparent crystals being stitched at the centre of the flower.
< that borrows from and lives between two cultures,” says Jehangir.
Another wreath being crafted from banyan tree roots.
When Modesti brought his ideas to the drawing board, each of his designs was centered around celebrating the diversity of indigenous Indian crafts. Using the inimitable skills of some of his most talented artisans, Modesti transformed pieces of raffia into a delicate spray of white flowers. “The inspiration came from a ‘snowflake’ form; I wanted to create a frozen flower. I used raffia, which is a malleable, straw-like fibre, for the flower base, folded into delicate pleats. We used goose feathers, transparent and deep red crystals to embellish the flowers,” says Modesti. “We used the embellishments sparsely; I wanted the form of the flower to speak for itself.” His masterful eye for detail is ever present. Goose feathers sprout from the flowers, looking like a burst of white, wispy petals frozen in time; the handful of flowers, together, reminiscent of a white Christmas. “Maximiliano is a mad genius. He often says that the toughest thing to do is to replicate nature, and yet he did it so effortlessly. I love the fact that if you don’t look closely enough, you won’t even realize that those white flowers are actually handmade fabric pieces of art,” says Jehangir. Wondrous things often happen when brilliantly creative minds collaborate, and here it creates a circle of goodness that smells like home. Nazneen Jehangir adding the final touches to the wreath at her Mumbai workshop.
Modesti’s flowers being added to the wreath.
Jehangir also added dried lotus pods, a singature favourite of hers.
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TEXT: NIVEDITA JAYARAM PAWAR. PHOTO COURTESY OF MARSHALLS.
PAPER ROUTE Fashion designer Payal Singhal extends her quirky, ornamental visual language to wallpapers for Marshalls
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t’s not uncommon for the fashion and home decor to cross paths. For decades now, designers have been blurring the line between the two in ever more alluring ways. Recently, fashion designer Payal Singhal known for her contemporary bridal wear has channelled her aesthetic sensibility—synonymous with pop colours and quirky prints—into home decor with her first collaborative collection with wallpaper giant Marshalls. Charming patterns and a kaleidoscope of colours are at the core of the capsule collection, which comprises eight designs in three to four colour options each. “A lot of times, we would use our prints as wallcovering for our stalls and people would ask if they could buy them as wallpaper. The idea was in my head ever since we started doing prints, that eventually these could be translated into homes,” says Singhal, who spent almost 11 months working on this first line. The transition from clothing to interiors was not entirely a smooth ride though. “Working on the scale of the prints and colours from fabrics to interiors did need some adjustment. I had to unlearn and relearn a few things in the process. When you design on fabric, you only keep the skin tone and style of the wearer in mind. But when it comes to wallpapers, it has to merge with the rest of the furniture and the house as a whole. So learning about proportions and colours and adapting those to the home aesthetic
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was both fun and interesting. It’s like looking at art from two different perspectives.” For this collection, she chose to go with a palette of bright colours, to make the wallpapers pop against the neutrals, browns and beiges typical in furniture. Going forward, Singhal will be deviating from her signature fashion prints and will launch exclusive designs for the next collection of wallpapers. One of the most striking aspects of the collection is the adaptation of Singhal’s signature motifs that draw from Mughal architecture, Persian art, and art deco (like peacocks, rabbits and chintzes). Persian art meets geometrical symmetry in the huntinginspired monochrome titled ‘Arabic Khargosh’; the vibrant ‘Anaar Mor’ design is inspired by the hand-painted walls of Jaipur; and in the ‘Arabic Jannat’ print, the peacock motif is reimagined in an abstract form influenced by Persian art. Over the next six months, Singhal will be uploading videos on how to use the wallpapers. “The idea is to empower people to step out of their comfort zones and use the wallcoverings more creatively. Some of the videos will also have inputs from interior designers.” She also aims to make further inroads into the lifestyle segment. “We have been taking baby steps with footwear, accessories, an Ayurveda line and gadgets. The next step is furnishing, furniture and weddings,” the designer reveals.
Beaut i f ul l ycr af t edcont empor ar y f ur ni t ur e,homedecorandi nt er i ordes i gns .
i qr upa ndr i t z . c om
TEXT: RITUPRIYA BASU. PHOTO: LOUIE THAIN.
king carlos Style editor Carlos Mota’s latest book, Beige Is Not A Color, is a celebration of his life-long obsession with rainbow hues
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man with a strong, self-professed “appetite for beautiful things”, Carlos Mota might be able to brook a lot of things in life, but a lack of bravado in using colour in almost everything that surrounds him doesn’t make that list. The former style editor for Architectural Digest and an editor-at-large for Elle Decor, Mota has always had an affair with colour. Every detail of his life—from the editorial campaigns he directs, to the gleaming silk shag carpets peppered across his Chelsea apartment—hint at the depths to which dazzling colours percolate through his life—an obsession that is beautifully captured in his latest book, Beige Is Not A Color, published by Vendome Press. “The idea for this book was hovering at the back of my mind for a very long time. I always thought ‘beige is not a colour’ would make an interesting name for a book; it’s irreverent, funny and could piss some people off,” quips Mota. Born and raised in Venezuela, his appetite for colour was whetted quite early on. “We were constantly surrounded by mountains, jungles, beaches, birds and orchids. It was impossible to not let colour become a part of my DNA. I find myself going back to colourful countries like India, Egypt and Morocco, time and again, simply because I’m attracted to how everyone there uses colour to punctuate their daily lives.”
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Almost two years in the making, Beige Is Not A Color provides a visual crash course that helps readers decode effortless ways of bringing in more colour into their homes, not just by reaching for a beautiful sprig, but also by thinking beyond the usual. Mota strings together stunning photographs of interiors, table settings, fabric swatches, tiles and sculptures—each image a springboard of inspiration. “This apartment (pictured) in Lisbon, belongs to my dear friend Filipa de Abreu, and was designed by Marie-Anne Oudejans. I love the idea of bringing a slice of India to Portugal,” says Mota. The eye-catching murals, with the golden glow of the Bengal tiger offset by the watermelon pink backdrop, was painted by artist Vikas Soni from Jaipur. India and its spaces—like the pristine blue rooms of Bar Palladio and floral wall frescoes in Rajasthan—make repeated appearances through the pages. The cover itself was imagined in collaboration with Vikas Soni, and the duo found inspiration in the jungles of India. “I’m madly in love with this country,” says Mota. “Every gully corner is like a composition ready to be photographed in your mind. The inspiration is endless.” The same could be said about his book, which, with the turn of every page, ensures that the ideas never run out.
TEXT: RITUPRIYA BASU. PHOTO: OMAR SARTOR.
Too good In collaboration with Milan-based cc-tapis, Faye Toogood launches a series of six rugs inspired by her textile collages, crafted by Tibetan artisans in Nepal
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he idea of Doodles, a collection of six rugs created by cc-tapis, was sparked when the cc-tapis team chanced upon a doodle-like collage by Faye Toogood at the artist’s studio in London. This textile collage—created with fabric scraps, thread and a canvas splashed with watercolours—was one of the many freewheeling experiments Toogood has busied herself with lately. In between projects, she often finds herself tinkering with models, maquettes and paintings, hunting for a fresh new visual language. When cc-tapis picked up her collage to use as a springboard for a rug design, Toogood created five more to complete the series. Instead of using it as a point of reference for the final design, the Milanese rug maker focused on translating the textures and materiality of the collages into the rugs. In each piece, soft piles of dyed Himalayan wool are punctuated with strips of dark cotton fabric that run across the composition, often meandering to form squiggles. Fluid shapes of luminescent peach, sun-glazed orange and washed-out turquoise blend together like pools of paint on a palette. It is impossible to miss the sharp eye for detail. Toogood’s collages were shipped to cc-tapis’s Nepal atelier, where Tibetan artisans hand-dyed yarn in 70 hues, to mirror the layers in her watercolours. The teams worked across time zones to chalk out yarn densities and pile heights to create varying textures.
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The inherent playfulness of Toogood’s practice shines through in this project as well. When quizzed about the textile assemblages, she delves into the idea of mark-making absentmindedly. “Doodles are things that you create subconsciously in a state of relaxation or distraction, and this is the playful informality I strived for in this collection,” says Toogood. The curious names of the rugs—like ‘Seated Nude’, ‘Reclining Figure’, and ‘Winter Still Life’—came to her at the close of the creative process. “I saw shapes within the doodles that reminded me of traditional compositions,” she remembers. A true polymath, Toogood has created objects, furniture and clothing—and has even reimagined residential interiors—in her idiosyncratic style. Her understated genius begs the question: how does her practice move across disciplines so effortlessly? “Concepts are born from a nucleus, which can be applied, in theory, to fashion, product or space,” sums up Toogood. “For example, the textile collages could have turned into a collection of garments or ceramics. For me, there are no boundaries between the different disciplines, and the point of crossover between them is the most interesting.” Perhaps, for her, it is this intersection of mediums that is home—a place from where she can launch herself in any possible direction.
Contact: india@andreuworld.com
Reverse Conference by Piergiorgio Cazzaniga Nuez Chair by Patricia Urquiola
Gurgaon Showroom F-2/20, DLF Phase-1 Gurugram-122002
Bangalore Showroom #8/4 Ulsoor Road, Bangalore 560042
Delhi Showroom S-101 Okhla, Phase-2 Delhi-110020-India
Pune Showroom 3a,3b, Siddharth Court Society, Off Dhole Patil Road, Pune
TEXT: GENESIA ALVES. PHOTO: BRIGITTE LACOMBE.
Annabelle Selldorf
Annabelle is Coming The Women in Design 2020+ conference brings together an incredible roster of women architects, designers and creative entrepreneurs to Mumbai this January
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n 1990, Mumbai-based architect Brinda Somaya had already spent a decade working in a silo as a woman in architecture with little or no contact and collaboration with other women professionals. In 2000, she decided to call upon her peers, women with diverse portfolios and practices, and was overwhelmed with the response she received from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. An unprecedented success, Women in Design 2000+ presented the stories of women in design, architecture and construction. Twenty years since that cornerstone was laid, she realised women’s contribution to discourse, pedagogy and establishment of independent practices and partnerships has seen a quantum leap. And Women in Design (WID) 2020+ with the HECAR Foundation has attracted a roster of women with incredible foundations and facets to their experience. “The idea developed by writing to a few good friends, discussions with family and our studio Somaya and Kalappa Consultants (SNK) here. The response from all was amazing, instantaneous acceptance. ‘We will be there to support you in every way’ was the answer.” For three days, from the 8th to the 10th of January, 35 speakers and panelists from across the globe including Egypt, Lebanon, Australia and the US will connect with 900 delegates via
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presentations, discussions and exhibitions. Representative of all age groups, geographies and philosophies, featuring global stalwarts and young dynamic practices, WID 2020+ is proof that the movement for recognition and change continues. Architects like New York based Annabelle Selldorf, whose concepts of architecture, founded in human empathy and understanding personal and collective histories inform her high profile portfolio that includes contemporary art galleries like David Zwirner. The other New Yorker on her way is Billie Tsien, who recently designed the sprawling Banyan Park Campus of Tata Consultancy Services in Mumbai, and is currently working on the Obama library. Yasaman Esmaili, an Iranian architect who has worked in Afghanistan and Niger, where most recently she reworked a mosque complex to create a new community centre with secular and religious aspects. There is Salma Samar Damluji, an author, architect and leading authority on the mud brick building of Yemen and the Middle East. The Indian representation will be even more varied. Apart from leading architects like Abha Narain Lambah, Chitra Vishwanath, Shimul Javeri Kadri, there are also women weavers who have won international awards, construction site-workers, and the likes of Ratnamala Swain from Odisha whose journey began as a contractor, and today, she is building her >
BIllie Tsien
< third hotel (one is run by the Taj Group) and won an award for
entrepreneurship from the Government of Orissa. “The curatorial team was careful that we choose people who have a value system that resonates with ours. We need to show the world the work that women are doing and the experiences they’re having,” says Somaya. Reluctant to comment on whether Mumbai’s infrastructural inadequacies make it harder for women, Somaya says, “It is a complicated, struggling city, difficult for both men and women…” But she—an architect who has worked in the field for over 40 years—has an interesting philosophy of her own: ‘the God of Small Projects’. “I watched a BBC film on how cities would be, if they were designed by women. They talked about how genders use toilets. A woman may take a child in, with a pram or have different needs. The woman who designed the toilet came to the conclusion that women’s toilets need three times as much space as men’s. Something like that could be easily implemented in Mumbai. But is that happening?” With its diversity of speakers and interdisciplinary approach, the conference promises an enriching journey into the spaces and sociology of our zeitgeist. “Architecture today is integrated with other professions like graphic design, art, film, archaeology… there’s a lot of cross application, learning from different practices so a sense of collaboration is important,” says Nandini. Collaboration is in fact at the heart of their programming this year. “We’ve set up a digital manifesto. Any artist, designer, creative can sign up, write 300 words on the past, present and future, and post three to five images of what they like. This becomes a digital platform where we all come together—women, our thoughts and
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Brinda Somaya
PHOTOS: TAYLOR JEWELL (BILLIE TSIEN), SNK (BRINDA SOMAYA).
Abha Narain Lambah
ideas,” says Nandini. The manifesto will be on display at the parallel exhibition, which runs until January 20. It features a film that time travels through Mumbai’s architectural history via the city’s clocks. And an exhibit from Germany details the history of their women architects. A conversation with Brinda, often brings up the principles detailed in a book that influenced her decades ago, Jane Jacobs’ The Life and Death of Great American Cities (1961). Jacobs—whose work has informed SNK’s philosophy—believed that public spaces and architecture were vital in engendering a secure sense of community. To her, the city sidewalk was irreplaceable; helping develop the fundamentals of successful city life, permitting casual public interaction like asking for directions, greeting passersby, enabling children’s first lessons in urban living, accepting responsibility for public property and even strangers (especially strangers) all bound by the to-ing and fro-ing of the citizen’s commute. “What makes a city livable? What makes a neighbourhood thrive? Everything Jacobs said then is relevant today,” Brinda says. WID 2020+ is a conference to encourage dialogue on design, architecture, urban planning and social issues, with a definitive gendered perspective. Architecture is the built and unbuilt of any place and the conference hopes to showcase the people and philosophies, building from the ground up. Somaya adds, however, “In this conference, while women will be on the stage, we want both men and women in the audience.” Women in Design 2020+ will be held at the Nehru Centre in Mumbai on 8th, 9th and 10th January 2020. To register for the conference, visit www.wid2020plus.org.
TEXT: DIVYA MISHRA. PHOTO COURTESY OF HERMÈS, 2019.
SEEING RED Hermès painted the capital red with a travelling exhibition in New Delhi, which showcased historical highlights from the French maison’s oeuvre
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ermès, the French luxury brand known for making some of the most coveted handbags in the world, showcased its 182-year-long history through a cycle of exhibitions collectively known as Hermès Heritage. It was the second module of the exhibition, titled ‘Rouges Hermès’ (or ‘Rouges H’) that was seen at The Chanakya in New Delhi. The Hermès Heritage exhibitions typically juxtapose objects borrowed from the house’s archives with its more modern creations, setting up a dialogue between the house’s past and present. To create this conversation, Hermès brought in Bruno Gaudichon, the curator at La Piscine Museum of Art and Industry in Roubaix, France. If it seems like an odd pairing—of a luxury maison and the curator of an applied arts museum in a poor, post-industrial township—it helps to remember that Hermès started out making saddles. And this was not Gaudichon’s first assignment for the brand either; he had also worked on its 2015 exhibition, titled ‘Hermès Wanderland’. The collaboration had evidently been the kind of success that called for an encore and Gaudichon recalls that Hermès’s artistic director Pierre-Alexis Dumas “was looking for someone who would be touched by the singularity of the house, with enough knowledge of French cultural history to include pieces from the Emile Hermès collection in the exhibition”.
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And so it was. The Rouges H module used the late 1800s as a starting point, when Émile Hermès developed a process to dye box-calf-leather red. The house grew exceedingly fond of the colour and developed a range of designs in a vast spectrum of reds. Spread across five zones and 57 products, the New Delhi exhibition showcased both the house’s roots and how it responded to the challenges of changing times. At the exhibition, the first thing visitors saw was a luminous red vase. “It represents the importance of red in the history of Hermès,” Gaudichon says. The five zones of the module featured a mix of designs by the house, but also included pieces from Emile’s collection, which he had acquired with the idea that they would be helpful in the future. Designed in New Delhi by scenographer Laurence Fontaine, Rouges H showcased the relationships between colour, material and story, with a focus on the variants of red developed throughout the house’s history. The last object visitors saw before they exited was the curiosity cabinet, a contemporary jewellery cabinet in mahogany and red leather that was almost sculptural in nature. “It is not necessarily an object that the client would imagine, as it is not often seen in Hermès stores,” said Gaudichon, adding, “But it puts an emphasis on the modernity of the House.”
TEXT: DIVYA MISHRA. IMAGE COURTESY OF CHANEL.
craft & concrete Chanel’s mini empire of artisan workshops will soon find a new home in Paris’s 19th arrondissment, in a striking building that has been christened Le 19M
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hen is a building not a building? Answer: When it is a bridge. To be more specific, when it is a bridge between traditional craft methodologies and their application in the modern world. The building in question is Chanel’s Le 19M— the luxury fashion house’s agglomeration of craft workshops that it has been collaborating with ever since the time of Coco Chanel. To design the building, Chanel commissioned Rudy Ricciotti, winner of the 2006 Grand Prix National de l’Architecture, who brought to the project his signature subversive and distinctly French style. In October, the structural work was completed, and you could tell—despite the raw concrete and metal girders crisscrossing the hive of construction activity—that the building had good bones. Situated on a 9,000-square-metre plot of land in the postindustrial township of Porte d’Aubervilliers, the building complex rises five floors (creating 25,000 square metres of space), its three wings triangulated around a central open space. From certain angles, it looks significantly more nautical than terrestrial, recalling sails and ships’ prows. Ricciotti’s love for concrete is in the building’s bones, but, as in his previous projects (like 2013’s Mucem in Marseille), he leavens it with a facade of criss-crossing white strips that look as light as paper. This created porosity, this fluidity between indoors and outdoors, is a recurring motif in the architect’s work. Both
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functional and poetic, the facades moderate the intensity of outside light while also creating a lyrical, lace-like veil for the structures. Ricciotti’s design aims to “recount the relationship between the technical and the expert complexity of fashion’s [craftsmanship]; a remarkable virtuosity put to the service of creation and beauty, and the extreme technological nature of my projects”. Set to launch in 2020, it was built in keeping with the Paris Agreement on climate change, and aims to meet a number of environmental certifications. Given the fashion industry’s impact on climate, the energy-efficient building is a move in the right direction for Chanel. Le 19M will bring together craft ateliers that have been Chanel’s long-time artisanal collaborators, including Lesage (embroidery); Montex (known for their Luneville crochet hook embroidery); milliner Maison Michel; bespoke shoemaker Massaro; plumassier and decorative flower specialists Maison Lemarié; and goldsmiths Goossens, among others. Imagined as an open, multidisciplinary ecosystem, it will house 600 craftspeople, whose services will be available to Chanel’s studios, as well as other fashion houses. With this intiative, the luxury fashion house reaffirms its commitment to sustaining and enhancing an artisanal fashion heritage within a building that serves as a connection between tradition and modernity.
TEXT: GREG FOSTER. PHOTO: MARC DUCREST (FERNANDO MASTRANGELO).
oh, fernando The Brooklyn-based designer Fernando Mastrangelo collaborated with Audemars Piguet on a VIP lounge at Art Basel, inspired by the landscape at the watchmaker’s Swiss valley HQ
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t’s a competitive world, chasing the one per cent. At Art Basel, your status (aka net worth) is determined by what time you are allowed to enter the Messe exhibition building. ‘First Choice’ collectors, as the absolute global elite are known in this part of the world, are invited to arrive on the first day at 11am, sprinting inside to pick up the latest Gerhard Richter. ‘Second Choice’—which is hardly second-class and still considered super prestigious—arrive at 3pm to pick up what’s left. The rest of the public is only let in on day two, the assumption being that they’re just browsing. Once you’re inside, the politics of being rich becomes even more complicated. The VIP Collectors’ lounge is actually made up of a series of rooms hosted by different luxury brands. The UBS lounge whispers, “You are not on the list” with its quiet scenography. The NetJets space is art-driven, designed by the American artist Matthew Day Jackson. But most conceptual is the Audemars Piguet salon, an immersive experience designed by Fernando Mastrangelo, the darling of the New York design scene, and cast in his signature mix of sand and silica. “I wanted the experience to feel like entering a spruce tree forest,” says Mastrangelo of the idea, inspired by the landscape that surrounds the watchmaker’s headquarters in Le Brassus,
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Switzerland. “We took the bark of the trees and made moulds, casting them in my traditional materials, but for the first time in black. The watches are organized within the trunks of the trees. The biggest tree has antique watches inside it; I wanted to have this idea of the tree getting older with the most historic watches inside it.” In addition to Mastrangelo’s interiors, the Audemars outpost was also home to a new site-specific sound installation by Norwegian artist Jana Winderen. Titled ‘Du Petit Risoud aux profondeurs du Lac de Joux’, the series of tracks features recordings from the same forest that inspired Mastrangelo’s resin trees. Listening to the symphony of birdsong, the fluttering wings of insects, and the movement of the spruces in the wind, while cocooned in the cutting-edge space, feels like more than just a champagne pit stop from the collecting trail. This is a museumquality installation that combines art, design and a subtle amount of horology. But it’s only accessible to the type of person who has more than just one or two Audemars Piguets in their collection. This isn’t about selling watches though; it’s about giving an experience to the type of people who have experienced everything— while wearing a Royal Oak. Gosh, it’s tough at the top.
Burano Collection For Wedding Gifting
Our Stores: Ahmedabad | Bengaluru | Coimbatore | Delhi | Goa | Hyderabad | Jaipur | Mumbai | Nagpur | Shivamogga | Thrissur
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JSL LIFESTYLE
TRENDSPOTTING A curated collection of design for the
home
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1. ‘Overflow’ rug (9.8 by 7.5 feet) from the Tidal collection by Germans Ermičs, `7,06,179, CC-Tapis. 2. ‘Zero’ pouffe by Andrea Bonini, Turri. 3. ‘Colgante’ (Sahara Noir marble) pendulum wall clock by Nomon, `1,33,900, Just For Clocks. 4. ‘Frinfri’ metal coffee table by Dondoli e Pocci, Bonaldo, Crezza Designs.
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1. ‘Vault Grey Amber’ hand-tufted rug (12 by 6 feet) in 100 per cent bamboo silk, from the Forma collection, `1,13,400, Hands Carpets. 2. ‘Rubans Casaque’ leather basket by Guillaume Delvigne and Paola Sabourin, Hermès. 3. ‘Loop’ armchair by Livio Ballabio, Gianfranco Ferré Home, Seetu Kohli Home. 4. ‘Swirl’ sandstone tile by Nikhil Tiwari from the Art Deco collection, `1,500 onwards per tile, Topstona.
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1. ‘Pinki Ka Leheriya’ rug (LES476) by Anita and Pinki, from the Artisan Originals collection, Jaipur Rugs. 2. ‘Marbella’ table in aluminium and marble (TB0026), `15,000, Topp Brass. 3. ‘Deven’ sofa by Carlo Colombo, Trussardi Casa, Spazio Living. 4. ‘Ettore’ dome pendant lamp by Ayush Kasliwal, `16,184, Anantaya.
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1. ‘Dizzy’ hand-knotted rug (10 by 6.5 feet) inspired by Max Huber’s original design, Poltrona Frau Group. 2. ‘Rouen’ chair by Madheke, price on request, Loco Design. 3. ‘Rateau’ door lever, Taannaz. 4. ‘Interlude’ hand-embroidered screen, Apparatus. For details, see Stockists
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GREEN WITH ENVY
The objects of our desire this holiday season. Please take notes. PhotograPher Jignesh Jhaveri . StyliSt samir Wadekar
MAHENDRA DOSHI
“I love brass—whether in objects or furniture—so I asked myself, ‘Why can I not have this design rendered in it?’” says Chiki Doshi, co-owner of antiques house Mahendra Doshi. Named the ‘Jeanneret’ office chair after its original maker, this beauty weighs approximately 18 kilograms, and can be ordered from the brand’s Malabar Hill workshop in Mumbai.
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Experience Centre: 122, DLF Grand Mall, M.G. Road, Gurgaon, Haryana â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 122002 Email: info@coasttocoast.in / office@coasttocoast.in Contact Details : +91-11-47079901-08 / 9873599000 Website : www.coasttocoast.in
SCRIPT
In 2018, Script was launched as an affordable, premium home furniture brand from the house of Godrej. This ‘Lunar’ mug in charcoal grey was designed for the brand by Mumbaibased ceramic artist Rekha Goyal. Both microwave- and dishwasher-safe, the handcrafted stoneware mug was created using the single-fire technique, and is part of the brand’s Lunar tableware collection.
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ART FOR YOUR FLOORS
Exquisite craftsmanship meets impeccable design in The Carpet Cellar’s selection of versatile tribal carpets that we just can’t get enough of Carefully crafted and knotted by hand, each creation from The Carpet Cellar will leave you floored (pun unintended). Since its inception over 25 years ago, the brand has been associated with the finest textiles made using excellent silk, wool and pashmina. Over the years, we’ve been mesmerised by their range of antique carpets, contemporary rugs, gorgeous kilims and more. And when we recently stumbled upon their range of tribal carpets,
we discovered that this is one brand that continues to surprise. At design fairs this season, carpets and rugs were all visually stimulating. Their designs were unconventional, with an interesting interplay of bold colours and patterns. The Carpet Cellar’s tribal selection is an excellent example of this. In keeping with international design trends, these tribal carpets are peppered with geometric patterns and architectural influences. They’re reflections of every carpet manufacturer’s desire to experiment with shape and form, featuring rich, earthy tones. What you will also notice is the seamless balance achieved between colour, pattern and texture in every piece. Adding to their exoticism, these carpets were originally manufactured in Persia (Iran), Turkey, Afghanistan, Turkman, China and India. Each one is named after the city, town or village that it was created in. Since weaving centres have their own styles of design and their own understanding of colours, a design that’s made in Kashmir is drastically different from one made in Persia. And in case you were looking for artisanal pieces for your home, the brand also offers vegetable-dyed kilims crafted by tribal nomads from Persian, Afghani and the Caucasus regions. A result of the late Mr Sheel Chandra’s passion for all things woven, The Carpet Cellar showcases the expertise of its craftsmen. It continues to live by its belief in sustaining the spirit of our artisans. Today, the brand is successfully helmed by the founder’s nephew, Mr Dhruv Chandra. Under his guidance, it continues to innovate and inspire. For more information, visit www.carpetcellar.com
SABYASACHI
In the summer of 2017, wedding whisperer Sabyasachi Mukherjee launched his eponymous jewellery line, giving to-be brides (and grooms) even more reasons to celebrate. This choker is part of his Urbanite collection, which uses heritage jewellery crafting techniques and unusual stone pairings to create an eclectic bohemian style. This piece, set in 18-carat gold, is embellished with uncut diamonds, opals, peridot, tourmalines, catâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eyes and pearls.
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101 COPENHAGEN
This hand-glazed ceramic ‘Duck’ bowl is a product of two-year-old Danish design brand 101 Copenhagen. The bowl is part of the brand’s Duck series, consisting of vases, bowls and pots that each reflect 101 Copenhagen’s dedication to a Scandinavian aesthetic influenced by the Japanese approach to materials and techniques.
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THOMAS GOODE
If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re looking for a gift fit for a king (or a queen), look no further. These wine and water glass designs from Thomas Goode were originally commissioned for King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1907, and were only released to the general public following the death of the king. Part of the Royal collection by Czech crystal glass company Moser, these glasses are produced from mouthblown, lead-free crystal, and are hand-cut, hand-polished and then hand-gilded using 24-carat gold.
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w w w. o b e e t e e . c o m
obeeteeny
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NICOBAR
Magazines, yoga mats, linens or even balls of wool—the eye-catching chevron striped baskets from Nicobar will hold all types of odds and ends and look elegantly stylish doing so. Hand-made in 100 per cent bamboo, the design is inspired by the graphic tile work seen in Geoffrey Bawa designed spaces. The ‘Ceylon Bamboo Basket’, as it is named, embodies Nicobar’s essential principles of thoughtful designs with stories.
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WELSPUN FLOORING
. . .
Can be installed on Existing Floor
www.welspunflooring.com
Termite Proof
Water Proof
Dust Free Installation
Noise Free Installation
facebook.com/WelspunFlooring/
PARO
This ‘Dorukha’ shawl from Paro represents both the brand’s signature colour—a rich, yellow gold—as well as its dedication to traditional living. Created for Paro by weaving collective Kashmir Loom, the shawl is woven with a double weft on a single warp, which gives both its surfaces a distinctly different texture—a lustrous metallic sheen on one side, and a gossamer softness on the other. The doublesided (which is what dorukha literally translates to) shawl is part of Paro’s fall/winter collection, and lends a sophisticated, understated elegance to any outfit it is paired with.
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ANDREJ UREM
The ‘Milk’ candle from AU Collection is, in the words of the brand’s founder Andrej Urum, “a sculptural design and a livable art piece”. The design is rendered in materials as simple as the idea behind it is complex; the flowing energies in nature expressed in Platonic solids, using organic soy wax and simple cotton wicks. Part art, part sculpture and completely practical, the candle’s burn time is approximately 60 hours. (It can hold a small tea light once its burn time is spent.)
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1817-2017. 200 YEARS DURAVIT. YOUR FUTUR RE BATHROOM.
DuraSquare. Striking. Precise. Rectangular. The new bathroom series DuraSquare, blends the precise edges of the rectangular outer form with soft, organically ďŹ&#x201A;owing inner contours. Basins are made from the innovative DuraCeramÂŽ ceramic creating a look that speaks for itself. For more information: +91 79 66112300, respond@in.duravit.com or www.duravit.in, for technical details visit: www.pro.duravit.in
KAMA AYURVEDA
The ‘Kapurkachari’ incense sticks from Kama Ayurveda are 100 per cent natural, slow burning, and smoke-free. In traditional Ayurveda, kapur kachari (or spiked ginger lily, as it is more commonly known) is used as a soothing agent, particularly in respiratory ailments. Combined with the Ayurvedic principle of lighting incense as first step towards healing, these ‘Kapurkachari’ incense sticks fill the air with a cooling, floral fragrance.
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RANJIT AHUJA
In keeping with the luxury label’s two-decade history of producing ultra-luxurious yet understated handembellished textiles, the ‘Diagonal Fringe Band’ cushion is made in 100 per cent linen, with the diagonal blue bands appliquéd in a simple diamond pattern, onto a heavier weight linen base.
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THE PERFUME LIBRARY
Founded by Jahnvi Lakhota Nandan, The Perfume Library creates fragrances that fuse together art, science and stories. This particular fragrance, called ‘This Space In Between You And Me’, was born out of a collaborative art installation with the late artist Hema Upadhyay, and features notes of fresh green grass, khus, tulsi and Indian sandalwood.
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SOUK
For over 20 years now, Soumya Keshavan of Chennai-based vintage store Souk, has been sourcing furniture, objets and artefacts from all over the world for a highly discerning clientele. This set of vintage Middle Eastern talismans (called Hamsas or the Hand of Fatima) are believed to protect people against the evil eye and bring goodness, abundance, fertility, good luck and good health. They were sourced from an actual old souk in Turkey.
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N W IN NOW N GLASS
F FOR THOSE WHO W KNOW N W
www.bluepine.in www
LE MILL
These agateware dinner and dessert plates were made by Veena Pottery, and are available at Le Mill, the Mumbai-based store founded by Parisiennes-turned-Mumbaikars Cecilia Morelli Parikh and Julie Leymarie.
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TIIPOI
East London-based Tiipoi is a product design studio that “talks about India via design that is modern and refreshing”, says creative director Spandana Gopal. This ‘Karipot’, from its Longpi cookware collection, uses the traditional ceramic hand-building technique from Longpi, in north-east India, and is great for one-pot dishes that need to be slow-cooked.
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VAYU
Founded in 2015, Vayu celebrates contemporary art and design that is juxtaposed against Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heritage craft traditions, with a range of products curated by Dave Chang and Vivek Sahni. These miniature alabaster flower vases were handcrafted by a stone mason from New Delhi, and are available at the Vayu store in Bikaner House, New Delhi.
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CMYK BOOKSTORES
One for the coffee table: Massive, Expressive, Sculptural: Brutalism now and then by Chris van Uffelen; A History of Pictures by David Hockney and Martin Gayford; Textiles by Mary Schoeser; Frank Lloyd Wright: Unpacking the Archive; and Alexander McQueen: Unseen by Robert Fairer. For details, see Stockists.
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christmas time These aren’t your run-of-the-mill stocking fillers. curates a wish list with the crowd-pleasers of the season WATCH EDITOR RISHNA SHAH
AUDEMARS PIGUET Royal Oak Jumbo Extra-Thin
Hot on the heels of its win in the ‘iconic’ category at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneve, this Royal Oak lives up to its award-winning status with all the signature characteristics you expect—especially the razor-thin eight-millimetre case!
ROLEX Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master 42
At first glance, it may look like nothing’s changed in this new addition to the Yacht-Master collection, but there are two key updates: a larger 42-millimetre dial and, for the first time, an 18-carat white gold option. 122|
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BREGUET Marine Dame 9518
The theme here is marine, with a wave motif embedded in the mother-of-pearl dial, and a selfwinding movement that will keep ticking even 50 metres below. Don’t miss the date at three o’clock and the trim of diamonds in 18-carat rose gold. ’Tis the season to sparkle after all. For details, see Stockists.
CHOPARD L’Heure du Diamant
It’s not everyday you see a slice of malachite stone on a dial, so if we’re talking about the crème de la creme of Christmas ornaments, this is it. A reiteration of one of Chopard’s earliest jewellery watches, from 50 years ago, the 2019 version glitters with 22 diamonds set in 18-carat white gold and a matching alligator strap.
Hrithik Roshan
Russell Peters
Katrina Kaif & Condé Nast’s Alex Kuruvilla
Shruti Haasan
GQ’s Che Kurrien
Anand Ahuja
Sara Ali Khan
All the action from GQ’s 11th Anniversary bash!
EXCLUSIVE BROADCAST PARTN ER
Diana Penty Shahid Kapoor & Kalki Koechlin
Ayushmann Khurrana & Tahira Kashyap
Sobhita Dhulipala & Guneet Monga
Mandira Bedi
Lydian Nadhaswaram
Condé Nast’s Arjun Mehra
Girish Patil, Pulkith Modi & GQ’s Almona Bhatia
Angad Bedi
Raja Kumari, Vijay Varma & Sayani Gupta
Gaurav Gupta
Harshvardhan Rane
Manoj Adlakha
The Chivas XV lounge
Gurinder Chadha
Aisha & Neha Sharma
Vikram Raizada, David Abraham & Rakesh Thakore
Rohan Mehra
Samantha Tham & Naznin Saiyed
Nayantara Jain, Afroz Shah & Prahlad Kakkar
Manushi Chhillar at the Etihad Airways display
Nitinn Miranni Jim Sarbh at the BVLGARI perfume display
Arun Nair Aparshakti Khurana at the American Express display
Vishal Shetty
Troy Costa
Dr Krithi Karanth
Rahul Bose & Shivani Joshi
Surveen Chawla
Purab Kohli at the Lexus LC 500h display
Maharana of Barwani Manvendra Singh
Sharad Puri
Nikhil Bajaj
Pankaj Advani
Diva Dhawan
Kabir Bedi
Arjan Bajwa
Amyra Dastur
Abhimanyu Dassani & Radhika Madan
Ahaana & Manoviraj Khosla
WUNDER
The jewellery salon with period cabinets assembled from flea markets and antique stores all over the world.
RKAMMER Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s new flagship jewellery store in Mumbai is poised to be a jewel in the couturier’s crown Writer Roshni Bajaj sanghvi PhotograPher ashish sahi
A
s a young boy who wanted money so he could go to the movies, he began selling jewellery he made with beads that he found in the markets of Kolkata, while shopping for Durga Puja clothes with his mother. With help of their in-house carpenter, he strung bits of plastic, glass and horn together, and sold his first designs in small plastic boxes to little shops in the city. “I started making this pretty disastrous jewellery, which, fortunately or unfortunately for me, started selling at a premium,” says designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee of his first but short-lived entrepreneurial venture. “When you’re asking your father for one buck for a ‘pepsi cola’, and three bucks for a movie, and you make `1,200, it’s major empowerment. But the business ended quite tragically, because I started stealing all my mother’s domestic help. She just threw a fit one day and that was the end of my business.” Mukherjee then went on to support his movie habit by offering tuitions in English and mathematics. The fashion designer, known for his regal bridal wear, continued to revisit jewellery through his career, collaborating with brands like Forevermark as well as > 129
The curiosity entranceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;layer upon layer of crystal, porcelain, silver and brass is flanked by two bronze giraffes that waltzed in from an antique store in Central Park, New York. A crystal chandelier and two mythological Chinese dogs add to the decadence. Facing page: Display cabinets at the fine jewellery section.
A papier-mâché ‘Kumbhakarna’ from Phillips Antiques, Mumbai. Facing page: An 18th-century Chinese porcelain vase and a silver-foiled cow stand as silent sentinels against a wall layered with carpets, mirrors, art, and working drawings from the current jewellery collection.
An antique enamelled clock in working condition adds cheer to the store with its musical chime. Facing page: Some of the most priceless heritage jewellery finds its pride of place in an old inlaid Syrian cabinet.
A corner display of heritage necklacesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the story of decadence and nostalgia is effectively told through a layering of mirrors, porcelain plates, vintage Indian art and dark red Dutch roses.
< designing privately for friends, and for royalty in the
Middle East. In October this year, Mukherjee opened his flagship jewellery store in Mumbai, on the third floor of Ador House, the grand colonial building that also houses his flagship fashion store.
SETTING THE SCENE The store is a museum of beautiful objects, and we don’t just mean the jewellery. A massive low-hanging tropical chandelier from Taherally’s is framed by two bronze giraffes that arc their necks around its curling glass fronds. It illuminates a table laden with Chinese blue porcelain, cut-glass bottles, and a crystal cloche that covers an intricate silver tea set. Stunning paintings from the Sabyasachi Art Foundation are framed in distressed silk and brocade, and the cabinets that contain the adornments are collectibles in themselves. The soundtrack is jazz, and gentle, nostalgiasteeped classics. As with all things Sabyasachi, the place is a profusion of colour and texture. Mukherjee has spent a couple of years collecting things for this store. “In my heart, I’m a gypsy,” he says. “I like travelling and collecting things. And it’s a very Bengali sensibility. When you go to Bengali homes, you see they don’t hide anything. They are also very naive about the way they do it. They will have an old master’s painting, and right next to it, a medical calendar. Next to that, there will be crystal, and next to that is a tube of toothpaste, and it’s all displayed together with pride. You will have Devonshire china, and then next to it, a cup from Fabindia.” But it’s the jewellery inside the cabinets across these rooms that best demonstrates Mukherjee’s magpie mindset. He’s been collecting precious stones for over a decade—Burmese rubies and spinels, Colombian emeralds, fluorites, rock crystals and everything in between. And these are set in necklaces and earrings that celebrate Indian craftsmanship and traditional jewellery design, with both affection and cheek. “I am not someone who enjoys prissy jewellery,” he says. “For me, jewellery can be classical or irreverent or completely obnoxious. All three things for me are exciting—otherwise they don’t matter.” So, centre stones in charm necklaces are often lower in value than the rarer, more precious ones that flank them; polki (unfaceted) diamonds in rani haars (heavy, long necklaces) are
hidden under drapes of coloured stones; and the back of every piece is as interesting and exquisitely finished as the front, often carved and engraved with diamonds or lush meenakari (a metal enamelling technique). “A lot of people will come and tell me, ‘If you change the back, the price will go down,’ but we refuse to do that,” he says. “Because I say that jewellery should not just be a public luxury, it’s a private luxury as well. It is what it does to you, before it does it to anybody else.” HANDLE WITH FLAIR With this venture, Mukherjee wants to primarily change the way India treats jewellery, which is mainly as a form of investment tied to the intrinsic value of precious metals and stones. Instead, he wants jewellery to be valued by the craftsmanship it takes to create it. To this end, he hires highly skilled artisans from families where the next generation might be veering towards careers in construction or engineering in urban centres, discarding their family businesses, because they have ceased to provide opportunity and value to them. “What this great country offers to you—which we will only realize later, and in retrospect—is craftsmanship,” he says. “The way the world is headed, the intangible will become far more important, and far more expensive, than the tangible.” That’s one of the peeves jewellery helps him resolve. Another, more personal one, is customers buying fabulous clothes and fabulous baubles in isolation, not considering whether or not they work together. Brides, for example, would pair shiny diamond jewellery with Sabyasachi clothes that had been trimmed with dyed and distressed zari in a jarring combination. Sabyasachi Fine and Heritage Jewelry, he says, is his most honest product yet. When he started selling clothes, he was still navigating the industry and trying to build a brand. With jewellery, he feels more secure about his language, more confident in doing what he wants to do, more able to educate customers, and control the Sabyasachi look. Earlier this year, Linda Fargo, senior vice president of the fashion office for Bergdorf Goodman, came to see Mukherjee’s show celebrating two decades in the fashion industry. Her reaction was that while his clothes were good, his jewellery was exceptional. With Sabyasachi Fine & Heritage Jewelry, the designer might just have outdone himself.
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WORLDLY PERSPECTIVES BUILT IN PUNE INDIA (411038)
PRODUCTION: BINDIYA CHHABRIA.
AD x JFL
Based on the 16th-century tradition, our contemporary take on the cabinet of curiosities was curated by master embroiderer Jean-François Lesage, with scenography by architect Niels Schoenfelder of Mancini Enterprises, and powered by fabric from Splendour. Embroidered walls came alive with antiques from Kandadu, Lesage’s personal estate outside of Chennai, and five statement pieces that represent the best of global design now. Discover this world of wonder through a diary of sketches and handwritten annotations by its creator ALL FABRIC FROM SPLENDOUR. ‘8031-COAL MINE’ PAINT FROM ROYALE HEALTH SHIELD BY ASIAN PAINTS. STRUCTURE CREATED WITH PLYWOOD BY GREENPLY.
PHOTOGRAPHER TALIB CHITALWALA
Architectural drawing by Niels Schoenfelder of Mancini Enterprises, Chennai
PHOTO: NEVILLE SUKHIA.
IN CONVE
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ERSATION Architecture met antiques in this creative collaboration. Jean-François Lesage and Niels Schoenfelder discuss the concept and scenography behind the space.
Jean-François Lesage (JFL): I enjoyed the way we worked together. The tone of the voyage was set very quickly. Niels was clear from the beginning that we should speak a sensual language but using clear words so that people don’t lose themselves and it does not become a bazaar. There were 300-year-old objects next to threemonth-old ones and it functioned because they expressed similar intensities which connected well. Niels Schoenfelder (NS): The decorative arts, interiors and architecture are all very closely related. You don’t need the deliberation once you have the idea established. Ninety-nine per cent of the decisions were clear. The atmospheric quality, the principal choice of objects, the laying out of the rooms, the lighting—they’re all elements you think about every day. It was important to let it come through that the exercise was based on Jean-François’s collection, which is very atmospheric. JFL: My parents were collectors and I spent a lot of my childhood at auction houses, antique stores and art galleries. When I began my career, I started out as an auctioneer (between the ages of 20 and 24), selling everything from contemporary paintings to classical furniture. I’m attracted to objects not for their value or their provenance, but more for the dialogue between them—objects and furniture, their shapes and textures and proportions, which would create a family, and, like any family, be full of diversity. NS: It’s not an intellectual pursuit about being precise about the study of the history of art. All that is known, but you cannot reduce it to that. Because it is, after all, a personal collection. Jean-François lives with and among these objects. It’s not a room where he goes once in three months to revisit his holdings. JFL: A room should not be a show window that tries to establish who you are or which strata you belong to. Every
room is an intimate dialogue between objects, forms, textures and colours, which create a story, one that is written between the lines; it is not something obvious. The only rule is to please your emotions and your brain and to create a universe within a room, where, late in the night, when you switch off the lights, the objects might talk together and share common stories hidden from human eyes. That is how I perceive an ambience. Things have to work together; why they work together is not very scientific. NS: It wouldn’t work if you could explain it. JFL: Exactly. In a cabinet de curiosités, what exactly is a curiosité? For example, last year, we had done a project for a German hunting palace in Moritzburg, [near] Dresden. The prince who built the castle had collected the most bizarre deer antlers and decided to keep the unexpected ones—those that looked like corals, ready-to-bloom flowers, dwarves, giants. So what is important is to keep things that have strong character, unusual ones that speak the same language, that shake your perception of what deer antlers should be. NS: It was very important to not lose that quality of a personal, emotional resonance. JFL: Our idea from the beginning was to create three clear universes. I still remember Niels’s words: “It should be clear, not too crowded, well lit; each object, or each group of objects, should appear as strata of universes clearly functioning together in three very clear ambiences.” We tried to follow the arrangement in my house. NS: That’s essentially because you cannot recreate a house in a small exhibition setting. So all that you lose from the original space, you have to replace with something else for the visitor to still make sense of. That’s where these three spaces came from. We needed to group them in a way that
I’m attracted to objects not for their value or provenance,
but more for the dialogue between them, objects
and furniture, their shapes and textures
and proportions, which create a
f a m i l y a n d a r e f u l l o f d i v e r s i t y. viewers could start to spin their own stories. If we had only chosen the most valuable pieces and put them in a white box, as in a museum, it would have been very beautiful and valuable, but it would not have captured the spirit of how Jean-François relates to objects. It would have been bloodless and soulless. And that would have been a pity. JFL: It would have been stiff. This wasn’t just an exhibition of objects; it was why one chair over another. I chose to show a chair that I found in a Bombay antique shop, extremely European in shape but Indianized in a beautiful, emotional manner and wrapped with tiny beads by people who must have found it a bit too boring. Such an object—which speaks a double language and makes you interrogate your first, second and third impressions— pushes you to look at a chair in a different way. That’s what we tried to push into that universe. NS: We tried to soak in this huge house, which is full of all these objects across three rooms. One would represent the domestic environment of the collection—Kandadu, Jean-François’s house. That’s the first room. Once that was decided, we wanted to make that room appear as domestic as possible. Jean-François straightaway said that we would have to recreate a bit of Kandadu’s architectural structure. That’s where the threaded embroidery on the wall panels
172
comes from—the wooden columns, the beautiful capital, louvred shutters and the projection of a very warm atmosphere; that’s why it is the colour it is. JFL: The first room is a statement that you create; one strong ambience by using one medium till the end. You don’t take the easy way out—‘Okay, it’s too complicated, let’s do it only here and here’. That is what, I think, has brought something very strong to the space. What has been very striking is that people are not used to seeing an entirely embroidered room; they have embroidered elements. In the past, in many great houses or palaces in the world, you had the amber room, the embroidered room, the inlay room, and so on. So, as an embroiderer, I took great pleasure in embroidering an entire room. NS: Then there’s also his beautiful landscaped garden, an important aspect in his domestic life that he has created over the years. We symbolically represented it by what you can call the ‘golden bamboo’ niche or alcove behind the two free-standing columns. JFL: I travel with my bamboos. Each time we shift, we take a big bag of roots and transplant the bamboos. So there is a true connection between what was shown and the reality of what we live every day. And none of it was an
exercise to impress. It was something intimate, something we would have done if we wanted to create a space for us. NS: If you look at the rooms, it isn’t something that you can explain or something that happened in a very conscious manner. But because I know Jean-François, I know his collection and his house, we were just naturally sure that they could not have sharp corners. Because in old homes, the lime plaster is very soft, the angles are rounded, the wood is worn out. Since we couldn’t bring teakwood to the exhibition and couldn’t recreate it exactly, we found a way to translate that quality of his rooms into this smaller space. That’s why the corners are rounded, the walls aren’t straight, but almost at odd angles, which creates a sense of intimacy. And that’s different from a sharp, rectangular box in a museum. It’s the little moves that one has to make to capture the origin of the story. JFL: There was a lot of Niels, and a lot of me there: A lot of the very strict, precise, built work that Niels does, which achieves a level of quality and precision typical of his creations. And it also has the ornamental Indo-French kind of approach that sometimes brings a little bit of humour to spaces. It just so happened that it pleased the visitors, which is nice. NS: Once we’d zeroed in on the domestic space, we asked ourselves: if this is the everyday inspiration, what are the two [other] topics under which we can group some of the other ideas and perspectives in Jean-François’s collection. And we agreed pretty quickly. At one end, was the Tracing Room, the world of knowledge, drawing, documentation, history of arts, and precision, where you enjoy the fact that things have an order, a sequence. JFL: But with no concessions—no filling gaps because there is a wall and you have to animate it. It would follow particular rules, which could be broken if needed, but it essentially needed to follow a discipline, an approach, a
plan of work, which is necessary in order for visitors to perceive any emotional quality of the room. And then there is the other space. NS: Which is the one where you move away from the planning and precision to offer more of a sensual experience—with all these objects that are beyond the quest for accuracy, celestial objects, sensual things you can’t or shouldn’t be able to explain. JFL: It talks more to your stomach than it does to your brain. It’s to do with emotions, with the darkness of the night, feelings, invented forms, with fantasies, all these emotional elements that are closer to your subconscious, your deeper feelings. The tactility, the textures, the colours speak to you at different levels. The Cosmic Room talked more about the hidden parts of yourself, things you are meant to perceive. It’s not black and white. NS: You have to leave room for ambiguity. If everything is explained, like in a class at school, it’s boring. There should be room for you to discover things. JFL: There’s a word that often comes up in our conversations—mystery. Things have to be slightly mysterious, like a maze where you discover something new at each corner. Your impressions evolve. That’s what I think we managed to express with the time and the context we had in hand. NS: We could have shown more, perhaps less, in a more didactic or scholarly way, but that would have been counterproductive. JFL: Take the Cosmic Room, for example. I have two paintings describing the same subject: a temple. One is painted on glass—it’s more of a Mysore kind of work. The other one is a typical Tanjore painting. And it’s so detailed; there is such an accumulation of things to look at that it
becomes nearly abstract. Even for people who don’t know anything about Hinduism, it’s easy to feel, in those busy layers, a clear structure and, at the same time, the details of all the small chapels within the temple. It creates an impression that immediately makes you think of the universe, the cosmos. It was clear to both of us that these kinds of pieces, if arranged together, would create an ambience that would take the visitor into the intimate, emotional, more hidden aspects of themselves, much like Jonah and the whale. NS: It was also about people moving through the spaces in a kind of order; from Kandadu to the Tracing Room and finally the Cosmic Room. The other way around wouldn’t have worked as well. You would have come from this very dark (Cosmic Room) to the very bright room (Tracing Room). It was important that these transitions from room to room were very deep. JFL: It was about the sense of discovery from the moment you enter—a little like Alice in Wonderland jumping into the hole. As you enter, you discover what appears to be a closed panel, because you don’t really understand where the entrance is, which lends a mystery. When you move closer, you realize you can enter; this leads you into an expressive universe giving the ambience of Kandadu with the terracotta walls showcasing the medium of our profession—embroidery. The architectural layout further helped to pass through to the next room without knowing what you were willing to discover. NS: It was important to try to communicate the movement in a sensorial way. JFL: We did not put anything in those transitional passages between two spaces. It would have been easy at the end, when we had too many objects, to just start nailing a few pictures in the corridors between two rooms. But Niels insisted—and he was right—that the passages
174
remain natural. And that worked. People were not bored. You don’t know the next thing you’re going to discover. As you move through the space, at first, you don’t understand what’s going on, so it talks to your emotions, then you start figuring out where you are and slowly pay attention to the details. Then, you realize that the details speak the same language even if they are very different. Finally, when you get it fully, you start looking at each detail separately. What Niels has also done very, very well is give the impression of so much of natural light when there was none, as if there were windows. NS: It wasn’t like in a museum where every artwork has to receive the same neutral light. It was about the atmospheric qualities of the entire collection. And that could be captured only if you try to translate some of this in sensorial ways. The bright, cerebral room had to be bright. In the Kandadu Room, the fabric is lit from the bottom up. It grazes the wall, which suddenly has life, just like the walls in his house have life, because they are lime-plastered and very, very old. JFL: In the Tracing Room, it was obviously a bright day. The transparency of the tracing papers and the backlit walls gave you a clear impression and you perceived the construction of an embroidery frame, the strict lines, the discipline at work. Even the Cosmic Room looked like you were looking out of a window on a full moon night. Only, you don’t see the moon so much as feel it. NS: From all perspectives, atmosphere was key; whatever the number of objects in the room, it was about the quality of the room when you walked in—in the lighting, the proportion, the size, the rounded corners. JFL: Niels wanted a luminescent element [in the Cosmic Room], which was originally supposed to be a pillar lit from the centre. But for technical reasons, the pillar took off and started flying in the middle of the room….
I
travel
take
a
with
big
my
bag
bamboos.
of
Each
roots
and
time
we
shift,
transplant
we
the
bamboos. So there is a true connection between what was shown and the
r e a l i t y o f w h a t w e l i v e e v e r y d a y. NS: Which was just as well, because it became like a starburst, or a comet.
been a planet. So yes, it was working and it was clear that each chair or object proposed to us would fit well.
JFL: And the fact that this fabric is woven with small white dots on a sort of moonish colour, plus all the Swarovski pearls embroidered in a graded manner, going from heavy to light, was talking about the sky, the stars, the light. Normally, you would not think of lighting an [embroidered] fabric from the centre where the embroidery is only perceived and not seen; it was about 1,000 hours of work to stitch those pearls one by one and at the end you don’t even see them—you just feel them. This, again, makes it a bit ambiguous, not so much in your face, and that’s what makes it special.
NS: You did say no to some things.
JFL: Bijoy’s stone chair went into the more dry room, not dry as in cold, but dry as in strict, disciplined. It worked well with the white light at the back and the strict drawings. Hervé’s console had a texture that was neither shiny nor matte but powdery like the moon. All those panels with different indentations was troubling the eye in the sense that was a bit de-structured. And it worked well with the embroidered prototype of The Eye of PY we did for Pierre Yavanovitch; you did not know if [the console] was a spatial UFO landing during the night in front of an eye, which could have been mossy as much as it could have
JFL: Yes, to quite a few things. In general, we could have chosen to present incredibly interesting coral branches or slices of natural stone to explain how things assemble together. But as Niels said before, ambiguities are important. It’s about making you question, forcing you to perceive an object, a painting, a fabric, an embroidery, a room, from another angle. Shaking those dogmatic expressions which we are fed from the time you are a child. NS: What is beautiful, what’s not beautiful is very often defined in shallow terms. It’s interesting that that could be a little bit broken, though that happens more frequently in literature, photography and movies, where the phantasmagorical, the weird, the strange has evolved more than it has in the decorative arts. JFL: This [Le Cabinet de Curiosités] too was a bit like watching a movie. It was about shaking your certitudes, using elements which are quite normal, after all, but which can still have the power to shake you.
BJETS D’AR
Juxtaposed against the backdrop of ancient antiques, five contemporary statement pieces represented the best of global design now Writer Gauri KelKar
H E R V É VA N D E R S T R A E T E N
‘ORIGAMI’ CONSOLE
H e r v é Va n d e r S t r a e t e n ’s f i r s t s h o w c a s e i n I n d i a , t h e ‘ O r i g a m i ’ console at Le Cabinet de Curiosités, reflects his ability to push
t h e b o u n d a r i e s o f f o r m . Pa r t o f h i s E m e r g e n c e exhibition, this is a “a new anarchic al version of
Japanese origami: a fold transforms a f lat surface to bring volume”. The blue anodized
aluminium offers a contrast t o the hand-embroidery, stitching
together a contemporary-classical, almost
surreal,
narrative
as
“the geometric al and graphic work juxtaposes
against the delicacy of the embroidery”.
Y J AIN
‘STONE CHAIR’ 178
PHOTO: JEROEN VERRECHT.
BI
JO
Coaxing
a
coherent
shape
out
of
natural
materials
comes effortlessly to Bijoy Jain. The architect, designer
and
artist
between
knows
the
well
natural
the and
fine the
balance designed.
The ‘Stone Chair’ was conceived for Brussels-based gallery Maniera, while
forms
exploring
in
the
natural
inherent
materials
Overturning preconceived notions
of material use and human s k i l l through
handcraft,
J a i n ’s
‘ Stone C hair’ sat perfectly
within the embroidered walls of the C abinet.
R MAT H I EU LU ST RE
IE
‘20010/ORBIT’ LIGHT 180
A r o c k- c r y s t a l c h a n d e l i e r i n s i l ve r e d b r o n z e , t h e ‘ O r b i t ’ light from the Constellation collection clearly belonged in the
Cosmos room as “rock crystal as a material has historically always been part of cabinets of
c u r i o s i t i e s i n s o m e f o r m o r t h e o t h e r. ” And in this arrangement, it stood
b e h i n d a s t a t u e o f a d e i t y, “almost like an aura around
his
head”.
featured
The
light
in
only the
chandelier was more artwork than space,
the
light,
meant
to
be
observed up close.
182
PHOTO: SARANG GUPTA.
‘SRINAGAR’ TOTEM
ASHIESH SHAH
P a r t o f t h e To t e m c o l l e c t i o n , w h i c h “ p a y s h o m a g e t o t h e handicrafts of India with six-foot representations”, the
‘Srinagar’ totem reflects the papier-mâché t r a d i t i o n s o f K a s h m i r. T h e w h i t e , t e x t u r e d
totem has rings of light that lend it an i l l u s i o n o f f l o a t i ng . Fo r Sh a h , t h e i n t e r e st
within this “balanced assemblage o f a r t and antiquity” was the pairing
of the geometric proportions
of the totem with Hervé Van
d e r S t r a e t e n ’s c o n s o l e “and the conversation that
it
created”.
184
‘PLIAGE’ CHAIR
PHOTO: PAUL MATHIEU.
PA U L MATHIEU
In a “place existing not out of convention, but from the heart” Fr e n c h d e s i g n e r Pa u l M a t h i e u ’s p o l i s h e d b r a s s ‘ P l i a g e ’ c h a i r
was to
right see
at
home.
‘Pliage’
in
many curiosities of
“It
was
a
conversation
pleasure with
so
differing provenance,
surrounded by some of the finest e m b r o i d e r y w o r k , ” h e s a y s . Pa r t o f h i s
collection, also titled Pliage, the chair articulates exactly what
it
means,
fold,
and
is
i n s p i r e d b y a d e s i g n e r ’s
practice of folding and draping materials to f ind new expressions”.
ON
THE
PHOTOS: NEVILLE SUKHIA.
Behind the proverbial curtain, at Vastrakala, finds the team that handcrafted the incredible embroidery that accoutred the walls of Le Cabinet de CuriositĂŠs
Previous page: Sandeep Rao, Jean-François Lesage and Malavika Shivakumar of Vastrakala. (below) Yoga Manoj and Avinav Venkat, who oversaw the creation of Le Cabinet de Curiositiés. This page, Below: Of the 190 karigars who form the full cohort at Vastrakala, around 75 to 100 were working on the cabinet of curiosities. For the Kandadu Room, which featured one of the three new embroidered pieces created, 2,000 metres of knotted rope was embroidered on approximately 75 metres of white cotton twill fabric. The rope used was “a very ordinary everyday ivory-coloured cotton one that comes in varying sizes and is traditionally used by embroidery studios to stretch a fabric on a frame”, says Shivakumar. Between 20 and 25 karigars worked on the rope-knotting; one person can do three metres a day on an average. The process took 1,269 manhours. The white cotton fabric was then dyed to get the specific terracotta shade. “We didn’t want to be able to just buy the fabric off the shelves. We wanted it to be completely tailor-made,” says Shivakumar. Facing page: Karigars at Vastrakala working on the embroidered prototype of ‘The Eye Of PY’, by Pierre Yovanovitch.
188
189
PHOTOS COURTESY OF VASTRAKALA.
190
PHOTOS COURTESY OF VASTRAKALA.
The raffia panel being worked on here was a new piece of embroidery created for Le Cabinet de Curiosités and was used in the Tracing Room. Embroidering it took 647 man-hours. Facing page: Karigars working on the bamboo panel; the niche which symbolically represented the landscaped area in Lesage’s Kandadu house. It needed to be added to quite considerably—about 20 per cent more embroidery was required.
191
DESIGN TALK
In November, Hansgrohe India, in association with , brought together a pool of architects and designers at Soho House Mumbai, to celebrate ground-breaking projects in design and photography. German designer Andreas Diefenbach presented his latest work at Phoenix Design, while Avani Rai took everyone through a mini exhibit of her stunning photographs of Bikaner, shot for â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Red Issue. With handcrafted cocktails by Glenmorangie, the night hosted insightful conversations about the impact of the creative arts.
KIRAN SHETTY, APOORVA SHROFF, RAHUL KADRI
AD PUBLISHER ARMAITY AMARIA, RAVI VAZIRANI
RAHUL KADRI, AD EDITOR GREG FOSTER
AVANI RAI, ASHIESH SHAH
PALLAVI GOENKA, PRIYANKA SHAH
VAMI SHETH KOTICHA TANYA GHAVRI
SHIMUL JAVERI KADRI, SHABNAM GUPTA
GAURAV MALHOTRA, MD, HANSGROHE INDIA & SAARC
CORMAC LYNCH, ANDREAS DIEFENBACH
ANU CHAUHAN, APOORVA SHROFF, ROHIT BHOITE
PHOTOS: KEDAR NENE PHOTOGRAPHY.
GREGORY CROUZEIX
SHARAN PAREKH, ZUBIN MASTER
TEAM HANSGROHE INDIA WITH ANDREAS DIEFENBACH
NISHITA KAMDAR, ALAN ABRAHAM, EKTA PURI
AD PRESENTED EACH GUEST OF HONOUR A SPECIALLY CURATED GIFT HAMPER.
TEJAL MATHUR
KEKIN SHAH
AHSAN ANSARI, RICHA BAHL
EXCLUSIVE COCKTAILS WERE CRAFTED FOR THE EVENING, COURTESY OF GLENMORANGIE.
DECEMBER 2019|
ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST|193
VOTED FOR BY MORE THAN 100 TASTEMAKERS ACROSS INDIA ABHIMANYU SINGH RATHORE ABHIMANYU SINGH ACHINTYA ANAND ADITI ZACHARIAS ADITI VASU AKANKSHA ARORA AKASH KAPUR AMITAV GHOSH ANEESH BHASIN ANISHA RACHEL OOMMEN ANN DOMINIC ANNAH CHAKOLA ANUBHUTI KRISHNA ARCHANA PIDATHALA ARJUN MALHOTRA ASHWIN RAJAGOPALAN ASMITA MARWA ATUL MALHOTRA AYSHA TANYA AYUSH KASLIWAL CHIKI SARKAR DEANNE PANDAY DEEP KALRA DESMOND NAZARETH DIVIA THANI FAHAD SAMAR FATIMA DA SILVA GRACIAS FIONA CAULFIELD GAUTAM KRISHNANKUTTY GULNAR VIRK ISHETA SALGAOCAR JANICE PARIAT JAYANTI RAJAGOPALAN JOANNA LOBO KADAMBARI KAPOOR KALPANA SUNDER KALYAN KARMAKAR KALYANI CHAWLA KANISKA CHAKRABORTY KAREN ANAND KARINA AGGARWAL KARUNA EZARA PARIKH KAVERI PONNAPA KEITH EDGAR KURUSH DALAL KUTTIAH KS L NITIN CHORDIA LATHIKA GEORGE MANJU SARA RAJAN MARIA GORETTI MICHELLE POONAWALLA MONIKA MANCHANDA NAKUL BHONSLE NAMRATA SRIVASTAVA NANDITA IYER NAVONIL DAS NEHA PRASADA NIHARIKA SINGH SHEKHAWAT NIKHIL MERCHANT NILANJANA ROY NIMMY PAUL NISHAT FATIMA NOLAN LEWIS NOLAN MASCARENHAS POOJA MAKHIJA PRAMIT JHAVERI PRATIBHA KARAN PRATITI BASU PRIYADARSHINI CHATTERJEE PRIYANKA RAJA PURVA MEHRA RAHUL BOSE RAJ MAHTANI RAKESH RAGHUNATHAN ROHAN REHANI ROOHI JAIKISHAN ROSHNI BAJAJ SANGHVI ROXANNE BAMBOAT RUMA SINGH RUPALI DEAN RUSHINA MUNSHAW GHILDIYAL RUTH DSOUZA PRABHU SALONI KUKREJA SAMRATH BEDI SANJAY MANAKTALA SHAUN KENWORTHY SHAYAMAL VALLABHJEE SHEBA THAYIL SHILARNA VAZE SHONALI MUTHALALY SHUCHIR SURI SMITA SHARAN SONA BAHADUR SONAL HOLLAND SONAM K AHUJA SOURISH BHATTACHARYA SUCHITA SALWAN SUMANA MUKHERJEE SUSHMITA SUNDARAM SWAYAMPURNA MISHRA TANIA FADTE TISHANI DOSHI VANDANA VERMA VASUDHA RAI VIDYA GAJAPATHI RAJU SINGH VIVEK MENEZES WENDELL RODRICKS YASMIN KARACHIWALA
Results out December 9, 2019 Follow #TopRestaurantAwards for updates cntravellerindia
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N EWSREEL From the hottest products to the coolest launches, hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the low-down on the latest in the market this season REDEFINING THE AESTHETICS O F L U X U RY L I V I N G
Known for products that are timeless, luxurious and intricately detailed, Ravish Vohra Home offers an extraordinary combination of glamour, functionality and innovation. Crafted with contemporary materials and cutting-edge designs the Nuance Show collection (pictured) plays with the current trends in interior design to blend creativity with functionality. Every piece is meticulously crafted to deliver unparalled comfort and quality. (ravishvohrahome.com)
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ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST|DECEMBER 2019
ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST
` 200 NOVEMBER 2019 THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HOMES IN THE WORLD
INDIA
UE ISS RT EA TH
scouts
SIT BACK & RELA X!
Informal allure and precise design come together in ‘Get Back’ (pictured), a seating system created by Ludovica and Roberto Palomba for Poltrona Frau. The sofa was born following an in-depth research into comfort. Generous and spacious with a reclined backrest, it encourages relaxation. The seat and backrest cushions create an interesting contrast with the sculpted surfaces of the frame, and underline Poltrona Frau’s leather processing prowess. (poltronafrau.com)
PAY I N G ‘ H O M A G E ’
Homage, the Turkish furniture brand, can now be found at Idus, the New-Delhi based luxury brand that offers a wide spectrum of furniture and accessories from international brands. This Turkish furniture collection is a blend of style and thoughtful design, inspired equally by traditional and contemporary concepts. All the pieces from this collection are made in Turkey, a country known for its passion for wood. Featured here is the ‘Hangar’ bed from the Hangar bedroom set collection. (idus.in)
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ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST|DECEMBER 2019
RY
VERS
A
AN
9th
NI
INDIAN EDITION
THE LAST WORD IN TRAVEL OCT-NOV 2019 | 200
I W
WORLD’S SEXIEST ECO LODGES ★ HOW GOA IS GETTING GREENER EXPLORING FAROE ISLANDS ★ THE OTHER SIDE OF IBIZA LIGHTING UP LADAKH ★ INDIA’S 50 HEROES OF SUSTAINABILITY
AT N T A RE HIM HE S K T S GU OR ALA HY AY LM T & YA BE AR S N R G PA
Travel for a
scouts W H I T E C H O C O L AT E
For those work-from-home days, a corner like this is what we yearn for. With a marble tabletop which continues to the wall and beyond, this space defines elegance and style. Niches carved in the wall serve as storage for books and files, while sheer drapes allow unhindered sunlight to seep in. The chairs are upholstered in rich leather; the smooth texture of marble pitted with the leathery feel of the chairs makes an interesting ensemble for this study area. Light wooden flooring perfectly complements the immaculate design of this space. (livspace.com)
200|
ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST|DECEMBER 2019
scouts P O RT F O L I O E X PA N S I O N
An ultra-luxury range of aluminium windows and doors have been recently launched by Fenesta, the leading brand for window and door solutions in India. This elegant series is a style statement that enlivens even the most mundane spaces. The range provides the flexibility to achieve complex layouts that are structurally stable and extremely robust in nature, while their slight and almost petite appearance adds grace to a space. (fenesta.com)
STRONG, ST YLISH & LONG-LASTING
For those who crave just a touch of drama, a glossy backsplash can liven up a neutral-themed decor. The recently launched Glosstra XL wall tile collection from Somany does just that. These wall tiles are a great addition in the current range of Glosstra wall tiles, touted as the glossiest in the industry. These tiles are available in a wide variety for customers to choose based on their requirement and budget. Measuring 300 by 750 millimetres, the wall tiles can be paired with matching 300-by-300-millimetre floor tiles. (somanyceramics.com)
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ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST|DECEMBER 2019
THE WORLD
INDIA
ACCORDING TO RUSSELL PETERS
HOW TO
ROCK THE BIG INDIAN WEDDING GQ TRAVEL SPECIAL
WHERE TO GO NOW
KATRINA KAIF
Making Waves
KATRINA KAIF PHOTOGRAPHED BY TIBI CLENCI
N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 9 `1 5 0
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C R A F T E D W I T H PA S S I O N
Innovative technology, enduring finishes and beautiful natural textures define the newly launched E-Shield Glazed Vitrified Tiles (pictured) by Kajaria Eternity. The first of its kind, these innovative tiles are made from a special glaze with anti-microbial treatment and anti-skid properties, and can be used in hospitals, schools, homes, offices and for other commercial applications as well, where longevity and hygiene is important. These 60-by60-centimetre tiles are available in two finishes: premium matt and super matt.(kajariaceramics.com)
MEET MARGOT! A modern leather armchair with a softly sculpted silhouette and youthful vibe, the Margot has been specially designed to match any other product from the Gamma collection. It is beautifully set on an elegant tubular base which embraces the backrest with nonchalance. The modern toggle detail is an exquisite decorative addition. (venturainteriors.com)
I N N OVAT I V E , S O P H I S T I C AT E D & V E R SAT I L E Broadly accredited and valued for their durability, ruggedness and optimum quality, HKS Flooring offers over 300,000 shades of wood to choose from. They work in close coordination with HKS 1835, Germany, and use quality-assured materials along with access to an experienced and quality conscious installation team. With a 1,200-square-foot studio in south Mumbai (pictured), and a 10,000-square-foot warehouse in Bhiwandi on the outskirts of Mumbai, the firm has gathered enormous patron credibility across the country based on their strengths that include timely delivery schedules, a wide distribution network, client-centric policies, complete customization solutions and competitive market price. (hksflooring.in)
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ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST|DECEMBER 2019
NOV
A L I A B H A T T
WOMEN of the YEAR 2019 (and the men we love)
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PHOTOS: TALIB CHITALWALA, SARANG GUPTA.
and availability were checked at
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22042299; KAPOOR WATCH,
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DELHI 011-46536667; CHENNAI
THE CARPET CELLAR:
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044-28257070; LUXURY TIME,
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4288522 (LOCODESIGN.IN)
AHMEDABAD, 079-26469797
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MUMBAI 022-24951954
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VAYU: NEW DELHI 011-23072821
SPLENDOUR: MUMBAI 022-
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T H E M O O D : S H A R A N PA R E K H
Design entrepreneur and motor-sport engineer Sharan Parekh has transformed fabric brand Splendour into a boutique studio and design hub by fostering both homegrown and creative practices from around the world. At Milan Design Week, he launched Ilo Rugs and Almst Black “A cane work sample for a new project. I like to experiment with material, redefine the use of a peculiar material.”
“Blueprints of a two-stroke Rotax MAX engine— although I do not race in the Rotax MAX challenge anymore, it’s one of my favourite engines. And I still tinker with the engine when I get the chance.”
“These framed insects sat proudly in the collection of a good friend who decided to gift them to me because his partner at the time considered dead bugs as bad for vastu. I’m sure he wants them back in his collection. And I’m going to hold on to them to remind him of the repercussions of bad dating judgement!”
“The two volumes of History of Medieval Deccan (1295-1724) were given to me by a research student I met in a cafe in Paris almost five years ago. I’m a history buff and these books discuss, in detail, the historic compounded events from the central region of India. It’s fascinating what one can learn from the military tactics of generals and princes.”
“I first saw Gio Ponti’s ‘699 Superleggera’ chair at Nilufar Gallery in Milan and I think it’s a marvel of engineering.”
“I bought this sculpture from an antiques shop on Jew Street in Kochi. Textiles being what we specialize in, travelling and exploring are the best ways to find new techniques and designs.”
“These swatches are from Splendour’s new Shibori collection. We have been working on a new bed linen collection using natural dyes. The idea is for the bed linen to tie in with a new collection of rugs made from natural yarns.” “These engineering drawings are of a current project that we are working on. Although, we predominantly produce furniture in our workshop, I like to have a section specifically for the machine components.”
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“Sun Tzu’s Art of War is probably one of the best books a business owner can have around. It is my go-to book when in a management or HR conundrum.”
“I bought these graphic pieces of naturally occurring stones from a small shop on Rue Bonaparte in Paris. It effectively looks like satellite imagery of a desert meeting the sea.”
STYLIST: SAMIR WADEKAR. PHOTO: SARANG GUPTA.
“At 15, when I was studying in Germany, a senior architect, and close friend of my host family decided to take me to see the Aachener Dom. Seeing this building through the eyes of an architect changed my perspective on the importance of history and engineering.”
“The process to get the consistent shades of brass coating on steel took a lot of trial and error. The intense prototyping is integral to our furniture production.”