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Vaishnavi Nayel Talawadekar is an internationally published architecture, design and art journalist.

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Vaishnavi works out of a sunny studio called Mangomonk where she writes for publications big and small.

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Latest Articles

The Local Project •

Murray House by Rob Mills Architects

Some sites ask for restraint; others invite something more ambitious. Set high above the Murray River with sweeping views across the river flats towards Albury, New South Wales, Murray River Residence by Rob Mills Architects belongs firmly in the latter category. Working with a dramatic natural slope and an extraordinary landscape, the team conceived a home that celebrates its surroundings at every turn, framing light, sky and water through a seamless integration of architecture, interiors and l...
Sotheby's •

From Renoir to Chagall: A Journey Through French Painting

There is a particular quality of light that falls across a Normandy cliff-top in late summer—thin, silvered, forever shifting. It is the kind of light that can undo a painter's certainties, and it very nearly undid those of Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919). By the mid-1880s, after a decade spent chasing the fleeting and the momentary as one of Impressionism's leading lights, the French artist had begun to want something else entirely: not the instant, but the eternal.It is tempting to imagine...
Livingetc •

[Print] COVER STORY / Hyderabad: No Walls Attached

There's a peculiar kind of panic that sets in when your architect knocks down half the walls in your house and you show up for a site visit expecting rooms and find, instead, air. That's exactly what happened to badminton champion Jwala Gutta and actor Vishnu Vishal, who, mid-construction, looked around their Hyderabad apartment and asked, in uncanny unison, whether they had any walls left.
It was, by all accounts, a beautifully engineered leap of faith, and luckily, the man asking them to take it remained entirely unruffled. Having designed for the family since 2022, Thomas Parambil of the Bengaluru practice Thomas Parambil Architects arrived already fluent in their taste, their quirks, and their tolerance for a little chaos mid-build.
The Local Project •

The Verso Collection by Basil Bangs and Tom Mark Henry

Some of the best design ideas are the ones that go almost unnoticed. That’s the thinking behind Verso, the latest collaboration from outdoor shade specialist Basil Bangs and interior design studio Tom Mark Henry. The 21-piece capsule range spans patio umbrellas, seating and soft furnishings, and it’s built around a single, quietly compelling idea: the best details are the ones that reward a second look.
The Local Project •

Casa en Palmilla by Estudio Ignacio Urquiza Ana Paula de Alba

Shaped by sun, wind and landscape, Casa en Palmilla embraces passive cooling, native planting and the understated beauty of Baja California Sur. Long before a single wall went up, Casa en Palmilla was already being shaped – by wind patterns, by the arc of the sun over Baja California Sur and by a 50-year-old palo verde tree that had no intention of being ignored. Designed by Estudio Ignacio Urquiza Ana Paula de Alba, with furniture and decoration by Alejandra Usobiaga, the home is less an object placed on the land than a translation of it.
The Local Project •

Logan House by Di Bartolo Architects

This interplay between solidity and openness finds its clearest expression in the Logan rock formations that inspired the design – natural structures notable for their considerable mass, yet capable of balancing with surprising delicacy. The reference is evident in the home’s chiselled stone base and cantilevered upper form, which hovers above the sloping terrain rather than resting upon it.
Internally, the architectural language shifts markedly. Di Bartolo describes the interior as embracing “t...
The Local Project •

Stoked Opens its Sydney Showroom

It is a quiet but confident statement: these are pieces considered enough to be design objects, holding their own in a showroom setting just as they do in the high-end residences and resorts they already call home. The Stoked experience begins the moment you step through the door, long before a single drop of water is drawn. For architects, designers and homeowners alike, the showroom offers something a catalogue never could – the chance to run a hand along brushed, 316 marine-grade steel, to re...
The Local Project •

Rockpool House by Architecture Saville Isaacs

Nestled into a coastal hillside behind Avoca Beach, New South Wales, Rockpool House is conceived as a robust yet relaxed retreat for a multigenerational family. Designed by Architecture Saville Isaacs, this 478-square-metre residence unfolds across five cascading levels, balancing solidity and openness as it draws in the surrounding landscape. Located about 90 minutes north of Sydney in one of Avoca Beach’s most coveted pockets, the six-bedroom dwelling responds directly to its setting between bushland and ocean, reflecting the location’s laid-back atmosphere and strong sense of community. The project carries personal significance for the owners, whose longstanding connection to the area informed the brief and inspired the home’s name, a reference to the rockpool at the southern end of the beach.
Architectural Digest •

This 16,000-square-foot bungalow in Karnataka’s Kundapur refuses to be ordinary

There is a particular kind of tragedy reserved for buildings: the tragedy of being merely fine. Such was the case for one bungalow in Karnataka's Kundapura—a perfectly serviceable modern shell, going up brick by brick, minding its own business, until its owners took one look and decided that 'fine' simply would not do. What they wanted, with the steady resolve of people who know exactly who they are, was a house that remembered where it came from. The owners in question, Sampath and Sonali Shett...
Livingetc •

[Print] Mumbai: Designing in the Dark

The call came from Hong Kong. The clients—well travelled, quietly assured, with homes across multiple cities—wanted their Mumbai apartment designed by SHROFFLEóN and handed back to them fully complete. There would be no extended back-and-forth, no iterative reviews, no site visits. A single phone conversation would set the course; after that, the architects would be left to their own devices. In fact, the first time Kayzad Shroff and María León would meet the homeowners in person would be on the day the project was finished.
AD Middle East •

This Heritage Resort in the Himalayan Mountains Was Once an Indian Freedom Fighter’s Refuge

Original timber, hidden stone masonry and a rich family legacy guided Design Legends' revival of this 150-year-old heritage resort tucked high in the mountains.Following his release from British house arrest in 1937, Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose spent six months in the picturesque mountain town of Dalhousie recuperating from tuberculosis. Surrounded by the mist-veiled peaks of the Dhauladhar hills, his time in the tranquil retreat was spent mostly in quiet seclusion, famousl...
The Local Project •

MyHomeware’s Elevated Online Bathroom and Kitchen Offering

This is where MyHomeware comes in. An Australian-owned online retailer, the business has built a sterling reputation among renovators, homeowners and trade professionals seeking quality tapware and fixtures for both bathrooms and kitchens – without a custom-build price tag. The approach is straightforward, with considered ranges of taps, basins, sinks, showers, vanities, mirrors, toilets, baths, shaving cabinets, tiles, flooring and accessories sold directly to the public online, bypassing the u...
The Local Project •

[Print] Loller Street Apartments by Telha Clarke and Mim Design

In Melbourne’s bayside suburb of Brighton, Loller Street Apartments presents a considered expression of contemporary coastal living. Designed by Telha Clarke with interiors by Mim Design, the boutique development comprises six residences informed by modernist principles, generous proportions and a restrained material palette. Together, these elements shape a collection of homes that feel quietly refined yet relaxed, responding equally to both their architectural framework and their seaside setting.
The Local Project •

[Print] Firma HQ by Cera Stribley

Set within Richmond’s evolving commercial zone, Firma HQ presents a confident rethinking of what a building company’s workplace can be. Designed by Cera Stribley for Firma Construction Group, the project is the result of a longstanding partnership where roles blur in the best possible way. Architect, client and builder operated in close alignment, allowing ideas to move fluidly from concept to construction with unusual clarity and conviction.
The Local Project •

[Print] Currawong Ridge by DFJ Architects

Perched on an east-facing plateau along a steep escarpment, Currawong Ridge in Coorabell, New South Wales, unfolds as a quietly considered response to its setting. Designed by DFJ Architects, the one-bedroom home embraces the surrounding rainforest and distant coastal views while maintaining a deliberate sense of restraint. Rather than asserting itself on the landscape, the project works with it — a careful composition of light, materials and landscape that privileges intimacy and adaptability over scale.
Wallpaper* •

[Print] House Around the Sapodilla Trees

Between them, architects Sönke Hoof and Khushnu Panthaki Hoof have an uncanny gift for noticing the almost invisible—that fleeting detail, or lack thereof, that others might overlook. Yet on a summer’s day not so many years ago, as they left the golden clamour of Ahmedabad for the languid green of its hinterland, they arrived at a site that appeared to offer almost nothing at all. Like many such plots on the city’s outskirts—some 30 to 40 minutes away, beyond the tightening grip of urban density—the land held no preordained landmark, no obliging ruin, no obvious architectural cue. What it did hold was a tumbledown one-room cottage, once a weekend getaway, which went largely unnoticed. And, at the centre, two old sapodilla trees, which decidedly did not. ‘The trees immediately anchored the place,’ recalls Panthaki Hoof, one half of the Ahmedabad-based Studio Sangath, which she leads with Hoof. ‘Everything else felt negotiable.’
Livingetc •

[Print] COVER STORY / Karur: The Art of Almost

If there’s one thing architect Rose Thampy of Kochi-based Edom Architecture has learned over the years, it’s that the unplanned often has a better sense of proportion than anything over-determined. Her latest project—a renovation of a bare-shell duplex apartment in Karur, Tamil Nadu—proves the point. The commission wasn’t exactly on her bingo card, and what began one way soon became something else entirely, with the design evolving much like the brief itself—unexpectedly, but all the better for it.
Livingetc •

[Print] COVER STORY / Chennai: Everyone's a Character

Before you notice the timber coffered ceiling, you'll probably spot the wrestlers. Or perhaps the women carrying trishuls. Or the group of village women gathered on a dhurrie, facing a moss-green Chesterfield dotted with ivory cushions. In this 3,800 sq ft apartment in Chennai's Nungambakkam neighbourhood – designed by Kochi studio Build Beyond – every room introduces a new cast of characters. They appear in paintings, murals, and collected artworks throughout, offering glimpses into the lives, travels, and memories of its owners, Balraj and Preetha.
Architectural Digest •

This wellness centre in Kerala's Puthoor proves that healing begins with feeling at home

What is home? Most people will tell you it's as much a feeling as it is a place. Yet no two people perceive it in quite the same way. Some crave crisp minimalism; others believe there's no such thing as too many books, heirlooms or cushions. Home, it turns out, is one of the few things that refuses to be one-size-fits-all. But that rule, as architects Nanda Kishor, Vivin Shankar and Sebastian K John would argue, doesn't necessarily apply to wellness centres. When the founders of Kollam-based studio The Design Room were commissioned to design Aswanimodam Ayurveda, an Ayurvedic retreat in Kerala's Puthoor, they arrived at an unexpected conclusion: if healing is universal, perhaps the feeling of home can be too. Their answer was to create a space that evokes the warmth, familiarity and comfort of home—a place where, for once, one size might just fit all.
The Local Project •

Omada by Studio Gram

On a heritage streetscape in the city, a vivid blue door interrupts the sandstone and render like a single brushstroke of Aegean sky. It’s the first hint that something different awaits inside – and it’s entirely intentional. That door is the only overt reference to Greece visible at Omada, a restaurant built not on cultural cliché but on architectural conviction.
The brief was to create a contemporary Greek restaurant with genuine cultural resonance, without leaning on the visual shorthand so o...
The Local Project •

Gunn Ridge House by Kennedy Nolan

Set beside the Yarra River, Gunn Ridge House in Toorak is a defining example of the distinctly Australian modernism championed by Merchant Builders, the influential Melbourne project-home company that brought architect-designed living to the mainstream in the 1960s and ’70s. Originally designed by Graeme Gunn for Merchant Builders co-founder John Ridge, the home has been recently renovated and extended by Kennedy Nolan, whose intervention deftly balances restoration with reinvention.
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Architectural Digest •

Inside a coastal Karnataka bungalow inspired by childhood memory

As sometimes happens when inspiration strikes, Salian found himself guided by flashes of memory, or as he puts it, “a faint, sensorial fragment from childhood. I remember stepping into a Mangalore tile factory, now long vanished, and being enveloped by its vastness. A double-height roof stretched overhead, its terracotta tiles resting on an exposed lattice of wooden trusses. The air was thick with the scent of sun-baked clay and ash. Light filtered in from high openings, casting long shadows acr...
Architectural Digest •

AD Visits: Diipa Büller-Khosla's canal house in Amsterdam is a postcard from 1614

Even from 6,000 kilometres away, Diipa Büller-Khosla’s energy is palpable through the screen. It’s morning where she is, and she and her husband and business partner, Dutch former diplomat, Oleg Büller-Khosla (the couple legally adopted each other's last names when they married in 2018) are perched in the kitchen of their Amsterdam home, in the company of their pet pooches, Kubii and Bimbo.

By their own admission, it’s a scene that just a few years ago, was a figment of their imagination. “We'd
Architectural Digest •

AD Visits: Ishaan Khatter’s Mumbai apartment is a sunset sanctuary

When he isn't busy filming or promoting or air-dashing off to exotic locales, Ishaan Khatter likes to appreciate the little things in life. “On Sunday mornings, when time permits, I slip off for a bike ride. In the evenings, I like to watch the sunset with some music and coffee,” says the actor, who was last seen in supernatural comedy Phone Bhoot, alongside Katrina Kaif and Siddhant Chaturvedi. So when he moved in a three-bedroom apartment along the Bandra sea face, naturally, his first priorit
Architectural Digest •

AD Visits: Actor Aahana Kumra’s Mumbai apartment is a pretty-in-pink princess pad

In a building full of identical brown doors, Aahana Kumra's entrance is the only non-brown curiosity. "I absolutely love pink. It's my all-time favourite colour—that's why it's right at the front," she laughs, holding open the candyfloss-coloured opuscule as she ushers me inside. For Kumra, the home is a manifestation twenty years in the making, and one that nods equally to her Lucknowi roots and her life in Mumbai. "There are whiffs of Kashmir, London and Delhi too. It's a collection of all my
Architectural Digest •

AD Visits: Actor Aparshakti Khurana’s Mumbai home displays drama in the details

Even before they had finalised their house, or decided who would design it, actor Aparshakti Khurana and his wife, events entrepreneur Aakriti Ahuja, had a chandelier picked out and stowed away in storage. "I had spotted it some years ago in Delhi and just knew I had to buy it," laughs Aakriti, and Aparshakti chimes in, "We had no idea what our future house would look like. Nothing was set in stone, except this big, blue bhaisahab." The bhaisahab in question now occupies a corner of their living
Architectural Digest •

AD Visits: Singer Armaan Malik’s Mumbai home is halfway between London and Los Angeles

At 10 AM on a Sunday, the last thing you'd expect is for Armaan Malik to be crisping the edges of a frittata. And yet, that's exactly the sight that greets me as I step into his kitchen, a California-cool bolthole with a London-esque edge. "I love making breakfast and treating myself to a good spread," he says, drizzling butter on bruschettas. Dressed in a casual button-up and chinos, he looks like a laid-back version of his on-screen alter ego, who, as fans of The Voice (on which Armaan appears
Architectural Digest •

AD Visits: Actors Aditya Seal and Anushka Ranjan’s newlywed nest is a storybook come to life

At the door of actors (and newlyweds) Aditya Seal and Anushka Ranjan Seal's new Mumbai duplex, the nameplate is conspicuous by its absence. What is not is the cheery (LED) baby seal that takes its place, animating the wall and nodding to its namesake owners. “It's fun to watch people guess," says Anushka. "Those who get it, get it. And it makes for a great conversation-starter." But the unlikely sea creature isn’t the only thing setting the entryway apart—because if the peach-toned front door (a