Endowed in 2009 and sprouting with a crown of showcased work abroad at London, Milan, and Germany, the earnest enthusiasm of two designers, Sahil Bagga and Sarthak Sengupta, recites the chronicles of the contemporary Indian user through its products. Compiled in a heterogeneous palette of metal, glass, textiles, and pottery, inquisitively crafted using primitive modus operandi like chasing and stamping, this studio reforms craftsmanship to line nests of contemporary spaces, hotels, and high-end homes.
Knitting together threads of ethics as idea exchange and fair pay, ethnicity as human story and relevance, and rephrasing ecology with bundles of contemporariness, this south Delhi studio incorporates zero kilometer design. Binding tradition with the global meets local approach and a friendly hand touch to graphics and communication, the mixing bag of the studio aligns perfectly with ingenious management of the consumer experience.
1. Interiors: Silver Sand resort, Neil Island
Neil Island, a jewel to the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, unaware of globalization and still rooted in traditions put forth by the 3000 of its people, demands to preserve its natural ecosystem. Addressing this need to minimize the vegetation clearing, organic and fluid massing evolved its way to accommodate maximum cottages. The architecture of the place, animated from the huts of the traditional Kondul and Jarwa tribes, merges hand painted tribal exteriors with modernized interiors flashing local history relevant products.
2. Interiors: Lakshman Sagar resort, Raipur:
Raipur in Rajasthan prevails the existing jajmani system in the village to spawn over several skilled artisans who craft their livelihood by their art. The 12 rustic and bohemian, mud, and rock cottages, divided with artificial water channels, stretch over these 35 acres of land and boast local crafts and skills bound with vernacular materials to narrate the core idea for the resort.
3. Installations: The Park Hotel, Kochi:
The 18m high installation in the atrium, amassed with seventy-two, 910mm wide, palm leaf-shaped, and brass coated Kasavu pendants, is energized from Mohiniattam dancer costumes, the pride of Kerala. The eight diversified designs organized in three colors offer a visual treat to its spectators.
The nettipattam ornaments, usually adorning the temple elephants during festivities, find themselves reinterpreted as five large installations jutting from the front porch.
4. Interiors: The Lodi garden restaurant, New Delhi:
Lodi Gardens, being the highlight for Delhi and its visitors, demanded to stay true to the roots of a petit garden to maintain its serenity. Thus, while revitalizing the structure, profound design elements exemplifying biomimicry were introduced. Outdoor lights signifying the sharp angular geometry of the honeycomb and the fragility of bird cages adorn the passageways.
5. Interiors: The Indravan: Indira Gandhi National center for art, New Delhi:
Stationed amid Lutyens Delhi, the rooms herein put glory to the story of the nation and the influences of the narrative milestones in the historical tale of India.
a. The Harappan room:
Ploughing the roots of the Harappan civilization, the grandeur of the past, the olden seal motifs find themselves embellished in lampshades. The crop cultivated economy is a manifest of the grain motifs carpet. Caricaturing shapes of toys in lamps, bullock carts as tables, and worship vessels as bed legs, the Harappan room brings out the glory of the primitive civilization.
b. The Mughal room:
Inline geometrical symmetry embodied in golds, silvers, and greens with pieces of broken stained glasses embossed in jali patterns on Lapis Lazuli walls, dominated with a velvet soft furnishing floor is what the Mughal room promises to offer. The silhouette elements from the red fort, the pride of the dynasty, shine securely in bed and chair backs.
c. The golden age room:
Notifying the onset of the classical ages, where artful prosperity had weightage over function, sipped in cups of yellows, pinks, and peacock blues with gold and bronze plated temple arts, the tale narrators of Panchatantra splash the Indianness on the walls. The life of Kanjeevaram sarees breathes openly on the bind folds as the curves of veena echo on the couch.
6. Installations: Kalpataru, the wishing tree:
The free-standing showstopper of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, metal framed with brass comprising utensil textures, is known to flourish customs of the festival of lights. The tallest central motif, 3.5m high, often illuminated from below, is the pride of mural work from Keralan artists.
7. Restaurant revamp of Silversand resort, Havelock Island:
Persuaded by colonial architecture, eco-friendly materials and sustainable processes combine themselves with the regional flora and fauna to dip rooms with aquamarine splashes adorned with fish motifs and jellyfish pendant lamps.
8. Tijara fort hotel, Neemrana hotels, Rajasthan:
With the historical background of a strong fortress, the later converted Tijara fort hotel boasts of serene rusting ruins that demand to be kept undisturbed. Specially tailored lights hover from the ceiling, bringing elegance, rustic and innate beauty. The external form of these lights features the cascading sand-dunes in response to the large bird populations as the bulges cause a hindrance to any bird resting upon it.
9. The Social Auto Project:
With an honest attempt to create ambulatory installations, the designed and fabricated auto-rickshaws feature crafts, colors, and graphics of the respective cities they abode in, viz. Coimbatore and Jaipur. Designed as mini food vans or hotel gift shops with the hood replaced by outdoor awning materials, these prime lobby installations aim to boost neighborhood connections. The emblematic elements constructed out of wood, metal, and fabric are either printed on vinyl or hand-drawn with enamel paint.
10. The Katran Collection:
This collection collectively assembles all tiny bits of leftover colorful cloth from the neighborhood mills and knits them back into an ethnic modern-day lifestyle product. Available in various colors and textures, this one-of-a-kind, “glocal” that is a global and local handcrafted piece is unique in its sense as the same combination and flow can never repeat for another. Currently featuring at Ambiente Fair Frankfurt, 2012, and Triennale design museum, Milan, this product is the eyecatcher of many residences and resorts.
