Isn’t It Good, Norwegian Wood

Fendi, Calvin Klein, Vera Wang, Oscar de la Renta...celebrities have long worn their clothes. For a while now their houses have been wearing their look too. Wayne Clark said it. “Where once people thought nothing of owning a luxe suit,” the Canadian couturier says, “they are now more likely to purchase a custom-made chair, something as equally reflective of their own personalities. As dressing has become more casual, style is increasingly all about the home.” And fashion’s finest in India has only vigorous nods to offer in agreement.

Once where it would take six years for the style on the runway to reach a furniture showroom, the margin has narrowed down—design becoming a single universe. Uber chic home decor—from luxury pillows, bold rugs, vint­age-style duvets, durries, bolsters to affor­dable tableware—is the new style statement, and the country’s top des­igners are rising magnificently to the occasion. They are designing entire homes, incorporating Indian sensibility and international trends to produce bespoke residences.

Noted couturier Tarun Tahiliani believes interior design has the potential to link fashion and lifestyle organically, and the sensibilities complement each other well. “It was a natural progression for me,” he says. “I started with Ensemble in 1987, and then I did all our stores, built my houses and collaborated with many architects. Since I love design, doing interiors is just an extension of my design philosophy.” Tahiliani is the master of the culturally rooted contemporary silhouette, lavishing it with traditi­onal embroidery. “The same philosophy is followed in our interiors that are modern in form and structure, but have elements of intrinsic Indian craftsmanship such as jaali work, mother of pearl inlays in floors and carved panels covered in silver leaf,” he says. The colour palette remains equally vital, and Tahiliani prefers the muted shades of ivory, taupe, grey or black infused with bold hues, much like his couture collections.

For couturiers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, interior design wasn’t a ratio­nal or planned business decision. “We began with a furniture exhibition based on global architecture from Gothic to Mughal in 1996,” they say. “It sold out on the first day. This led to us taking up interior design consultancy, and ever since we’ve worked on several high-profile residences in India and UK.”

Photograph by Jitender Gupta

Fashion designer Suneet Varma is getting his kicks elsewhere. “The experience of working with one of the hardest materials in the world—stainless steel—has been an exciting journey,” he says, having recently unveiled his elegant collection of homeware and tabletop accessories. “From working with textiles and embroideries over decades to now creating modern home products, my design philosophy has come full circle—good design is universal and transcends time.” Among the standout features in the antique section of his collection is a set of three bowls moulded in stainless steel and ins­pired from the earliest finds of the Indus Valley, another set is reminiscent of a Benarasi woven sari coated in 18-carat gold. The more contemporary vases have been coated in rose gold and dark bronze, or studded with golden shadow Swarovski crystal. With the exception of the Swarovski line, most of these products are priced up to Rs 10,000.

Aspiring for a designer home is all very fine, but dare one ask the question: how original are the designs truly? Designer duo David Abraham and Rakesh Thakore think that while there is some originality in new work, a lot of it is also trend-driven. “Designs should be adapted to our needs. India is culturally distinct, has different climatic conditions and colour palettes. All these need to be borne in mind while designing interiors,” they say.

Even Tahiliani fears that there is too much imitation going on. “People are obses­sed with say Italian or Norwegian-looking homes because an overload of information is streaming in. What’s wrong with what we have?” At the same time, he’s optimistic that a very nice Indian voice is being re-established and many people are finding their own aesthetic. “The internet is omnipresent and influences people’s thinking, but my inspiration comes from what I observe—craft, history, heritage, travel or nature, which I combine with contemporary technology to create spaces which are modern Indian.”

Master couturier J.J. Valaya agrees that the ultimate tool in the hands of designers despite the explosion of images online and the many blogs dedicated to revamping interiors is one’s own imagination. “Once that gets rolling, art blossoms into something magnanimous,” he says. “Imitators are bound to crop up, but imitation should always be seen as the best form of flattery.”

Photograph by Sanjay Rawat

The design market is changing rapidly, and so is the awareness quotient of Indians. Valaya, who has been in the business of fashion for 24 years, launched his embroidered wall tapestries line back in 1996 when uber-luxe home decor was still a very niche market. “Now, a lot more people are aspiring for beautiful and expensive homes, what earlier used to be the preserve of palaces in the Middle East or the top business honchos in India. Consumers today could be the aspiring rich who want to move up in life or the evolved rich who can relate to a designer’s ideology. Valaya expanded his repertoire from fashion to home when he laun­ched his dramatic Home Experience Centre in Delhi last year, which has on display furniture, bespoke floors and ceiling finishes, ceiling installations, soft furnishings, home accessories and tapestries. About the price pinch, he says, “It all depends first on spaces, mindsets and requirements, and then on resources.” The important point is when it comes to spending, Indian families now invest mostly in homes and weddings.

Satya Paul, who recently launched his Paul Salon line, featuring luxe bedspreads and cushion covers ranging from Rs 8,000 to about 50,000, thinks that a big chunk of consumers in India today are well-groomed and have an eye for design. “Our line, which is divided into five categories—Simple Luxe, Absolut Moderne, Passion de Fleur, Ethnique and Beauti d’Histoire, featured at Maison e Objet in Paris and at other exhibitions in the US and Japan. It has now been launched in India because of the vibrant market here.”

Designerspeak apart, have the consumers really become more discerning, and do they really have a critical eye for uber-luxe home decor? Alka Sharma, a 34-year-old marketing executive who feels the brand sensibility fits in well within her home space, says that more Indians are picky about decor and ambience having travelled around the world, made money and developed their own aesthetic sense. Dakshita, owner of Jagdish Store in Delhi featuring the Paul Salon line, thinks that dressing up homes is the big thing in India right now, with people more conscious of design, colours and comfort. Beyond global travels, fashion designer David Abraham thinks there’s also a proliferation of foreign brands in India, sociological changes and the growth of small families. “More young people are int­erested in creating their own homes and choosing from an array of options.”

At a time when there’s a hugely ‘cur­ious’ customer who is aspirational and wants to acquire a lifestyle, luxury is now about how we live holistically. Says designer Sandeep Khosla, “It’s more than the clothes we wear, or the jewels and cars we own. It is our homes, how we eat and drink.” In fact, ahead of its foray into the Indian market next year, Swedish giant Ikea’s products are being given a test run in over 15 homes in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi. From Ikea-like stores to high-end luxury, it is all definitely riding the boom in demand for uber-luxe residences. The aesthetic is now all about comfortable elegance and a lot of layering, and many designers are working around myriad elements, influences, styles and inspiration to create a multi-hued smorgasbord. Tarun Tahiliani says it: “Homes don’t need to make a lar­ger-than-life statement, rather they should luxuriate in the experience and finishes.”