Gauri Khan, famous for being one of the 50 most powerful women in Fortune magazine is known for her exceptional talents in the field of film producing and interior designing. She graduated with a B.A Honors degree after which she chose to undergo six-month training in interior designing from NIFT. At first, she considered designing as a hobby and then made it a full-time profession starting with ‘Mannat’, her family home, as she worked alongside her close friend Sussane Khan. After ‘Mannat’ proved that she indeed had an eye for design, lavish interior projects started rolling in right from Karan Johar’s penthouse terrace and Siddharth Malhotra’s bachelor pad to Ralph Lauren’s retail interiors. She also launched her store called ‘The Design Cell’, showcasing a wide range of unique furniture pieces. Gauri talks about eight design fundamentals that she follows to achieve a rich look in all of her designs:
Pick your favorite interior theme:
Most of Gauri Khan’s interiors are contemporary and luxurious with a modernistic touch. In her point of view, a design must always have a blend of practicality and aesthetics. She strongly believes in prioritizing the functional aspects of an interior space over anything else as our clients would ultimately use the space. While she creates a warm and cozy atmosphere for private spaces like bedrooms, she gives semi-public spaces a lavish look. Her interior makeovers always combine antique and modern elements to provide a contrasting character to the space. It’s a secret she uses to give her designs a glamorous look.
Draw an inspiration:
The first step to designing is to always look at ideas that inspire you. Creativity flows in its rawest form when one looks at live examples and comes up with different ways to add flavor to the same space in their style. Khan sources her inspiration from art and culture which is evident in ‘Mannat’, as showcased through the various collectibles she has gathered over time. She mentions that the spaces we live in play a crucial role in development in all aspects. Quite interestingly, art and culture are two entities that evolve or age beautifully.
Prioritize your client’s needs:
A good design always starts with the ability to gauge what your client needs. This is where soft skills come to the rescue while communicating with your client. Communication is the key to a client’s heart and it can be done through different media like drawings, write-ups, renders, presentations, and lastly the art of convincing! Gauri Khan tells us that the conversation between the designer and the client is what determines the success of a project. A thoughtful design proves to be a useful space when we see that the clients can utilize a space as they wish, especially in terms of functionality.
Always play with light and shadow:
As trivial as it may seem, the first thing anyone notices about space is the interplay of light and shadow. Light can change a person’s mood according to the temperature it gives off in space. Most of Khan’s designs speak stories on behalf of the type of lighting she focuses on. It is also important to note that the lighting used in a design must always adhere to what the client envisions the space to be. For example, Gauri Khan embraces the idea of using warm lights to create a welcoming atmosphere in Mukesh Ambani’s house.
Stick to a common theme instead of multiple ones:
When it comes to interior design, spaces that are related to each other must always speak a common language. If we try to bring in different themes into a single space, we may feel a little disoriented and the room loses its purpose to please the user as it should have. One must always try to find a suitable style that suits the place to achieve a good ambiance. Spaces that have a certain degree of commonality tend to flow freely into different places. Moreover, Gauri also mentions that a common theme turns the space into our comfort zone.
Navigate and overcome challenges as a team:
According to Khan, teamwork does boost productivity when it comes to viewing the problem from different perspectives and coming up with a unique set of solutions. What may pose a problem to you might appear as a solution to others. Different opinions help us reach a common ground in terms of excellent planning. Most successful firms always have a good number of team members because this helps us address the design problem from all sorts of angles, ensuring a successful outcome. Working in teams helps us arrive at quick solutions.
Offer a middle ground to different opinions:
Sometimes, our ideologies may not match with the client’s, but that’s okay since we have the power to help our clients visualize what the space would look like after the completion of the project and arrive at a common conclusion. Gauri Khan mentions that taking a detour is an important step when it comes to understanding and being understood by our clients. The complexity increases with the number of people involved with the project, but discussing and ideating on the same helps us value every opinion and arrive at the outcome.
Set a trend instead of following one:
Gauri Khan says that she is not one to follow in the footsteps of trends that already exist but likes to look at the client’s requirements and then set the trend accordingly. Designing is more about meeting the client’s expectations and more about originality. It’s about the type of spaces we design. For example, an office is designed for a formal setup as compared to a house which requires interaction and is an informal environment. People need to be able to read the atmosphere as soon as they enter a space. After all, the feel of a certain space is what sets a trend in design.
Reference:
- Sadaf Shaikh. (13th September 2022). Gauri Khan shares 8 interior design fundamentals-and you should take notes. Vogue. [Online]
Available at: https://www.vogue.in/web-stories/gauri-khan-shares-8-interior-design-tips/
(Accessed 30th September 2022)
- Web Stories: Gauri Khan shares 8 interior design tips. Vogue. [Online]
Available at: https://www.vogue.in/culture-and-living/content/gauri-khan-shares-8-interior-design-fundamentals-and-you-should-take-notes
(Accessed 30th September 2022)
- Home Page. Gauri Khan Designs. [Online]
Available at: https://gaurikhan.in/
(Accessed 30th September 2022)
- Gauri Khan. (Last edited: 1st October 2022). [Online]
Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauri_Khan
(Accessed 30th September)
