Enticing Interiors: Connoting a symbiosis of ambience and utility

The Notion of Beauty: Driven by Aesthetics and Functionality Against the backdrop of an increase in the design conscience of Indians, more and more people have realised the importance of interior design. People are now more aware of how an interior designer can help them organize and utilize spaces effectively without compromising aesthetics.

Shagun Singh, Founder Homework Design Studio, states, “Whenever we design a home space, we are mindful that maintaining a home is not easy. Even if you have a battalion of employees managing your home, it is still hard work to keep everything looking good and homes not looked after can deteriorate very fast. Everything you see that is beautiful may not always be functional or ideal for a home, but everything functional can also be beautiful.

As a designer and proud homeowner, I know what it takes to keep my home looking the way it does, day in and day out, so I am very mindful of suggesting designs to clients that I know they can maintain. When I walk into a client’s home to design, it’s the first thing I see and understand in terms of their lifestyle and how much time they
can invest in their home maintenance, and then I make my suggestions. In my opinion, everything can be made to look pretty if you think of it and position it artistically.”

Talking about how we consume so much beautiful imagery daily, Mr. Amit Rastogi, Founder of Design Transcend, adds, “Even if it’s not beautiful, just stunning imagery, that it has shifted the way we think about or perceive beauty. The goal isn’t just to find beautiful images but to find comfort, which means more than physical, not just the way we occupy space. In other words, comfort isn’t just physical, but the way we occupy space. How we should design spaces will depend on how to balance aesthetics with
functionality.”

Furniture: Another mainstay for good interiors Mr. Amit elucidates how well-designed furniture will facilitate the intended use of space beyond just serving the function.
For example, a well-designed seating space in a family room will facilitate bringing the family together for conversations; by creating the right scale of space for the comfort of conversation. Also ergonomically designed to use the seating for casual and relaxed sitting postures. Understanding your space and its dimensions
and then choosing your furniture, adds Shagun Singh, as you can have the most expensive and beautiful piece of furniture. Still, if it’s not positioned right or the right size for the space, it will likely lose its beauty quotient very quickly. Being mindful of comfort at all times and again beautiful and yet comfortable is always possible, but sometimes all things beautiful aren’t always comfortable.

Interior Design: A cornerstone for creating comfort and ambience
Siddhant Aggarwal, Sales Director, Collins Kitchens and Wardrobes, says, “A good design is not only about something looking great! It needs to improve the user’s life and make them comfortable functionally. So anything that looks great and is specifically customised to the user’s requirements is a good design.”
Mr. Amit adds, “A good design goes beyond the comfort only the body needs. It can create the right kind of environment holding its own energy, which can affect the mind and soul. Space in one way can be designed to either instantly cheer one up and be more casual, or in another way to bring a lot of formality in the way people use the space.”
Talking about good designs, Ms.Shagun says, “I believe design is like art. It’s what resonates with you as an individual. People go to different designers simply because they feel like the sensibility of that designer is what works best for them. It’s like they say beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, and so similarly, what may be a good design for one person may not necessarily be for the other. So it is the lens that you are seeing it from.”

Kitchens: complexities, needs and necessities
Speaking of Kitchens, Amit says, “I prefer to make kitchens a bit richer in terms of materials than going with a very minimal look. Combining a little bit of wood with deep shades in satin finish is my kind of kitchen, counter and dado being more minimal in either concrete or neutral tones.” Adding to it, Shagun Singh says, “Kitchens are
one area that must be functional, really easy to maintain and handle. And in much upper middle class and above households in India, kitchens are handled by staff, so they must be designed with the idea of beauty but also easily handled by staff. Also, knowing that Indian kitchens and Indian food are cooked differently from food abroad.
Full of (in most cases) oils and masalas products and materials are used. Keeping that in mind, the kitchens can last long and be maintained easily.

Each home handles and uses their kitchen differently, and each homeowner should spend adequate time thinking through their kitchen storage needs before undertaking a kitchen renovation.” Siddhant concludes, “Kitchens don’t need to be very complex. Our design philosophy is more towards the contemporary and straight line. But that is only us. Another person could look at it differently and want a differentlooking kitchen. It is straightforward to make a beautiful kitchen, but making one that is also well engineered requires discipline. Everything must be specified correctly, from something huge like the correct machines to something small like the glue used for edge binding. Sometimes, as many as 100 small and big components go into making a kitchen. Since our focus is quality, we need to keep an eye on every single one of them.”

24