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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

Architectural Digest India •

This tropical modern villa in Chennai winks to its seaside locale

Also read: A 2,500-square-foot family home in Chennai swears by the Danish concept of HyggeIf the brooding facade is anything to go by, it’s safe to assume that the architects reserved the vistas for the interior alone. “It doesn’t give too much away at first,” Raghuveer notes of the dwelling, located on Chennai’s East Coast Road, although “too much” might be a bit of an understatement—or overstatement, depending on which way you look at it. The exterior walls are plain and high, offset only by...
Architectural Digest India •

Bindoo by Kumar La Noce gives Indio-Italian heritage a centre stage in Milan

Altreforme is an offshoot of Fontana Group, the producer of avant-garde aluminium parts for luxury car brands like Ferrari, Rolls Royce, and Jaguar. The collection is therefore born from the same know-how and technology, sculpted from the same aluminium as said automobiles, and even shares with them a production facility.Kumar admits that the design process was equal parts visceral and cerebral, and that it took months of work, technical drawings, 3D modelling, and colour studies to realize the...
Architectural Digest India •

This timeless bungalow in Kerala’s Thrissur is a moody and monastic oasis

A brief by any other name is still a brief, even if it evokes more questions than answers. Fortunately, architects Arun Shekar and Mohammed Afnan, by their own admission, have always been the nosy kind, so when it came to designing a brief-less bungalow in Kerala (Thrissur), the principals and co-founders of Kozhikode-based AD100 design practice Humming Tree weren’t afraid to ask questions. “To be fair, there was a brief. It just wasn’t very helpful,” deadpans Shekar. The prompt from the owners,...
Clever by Architectural Digest •

A Circa-1915 Minnesota Kitchen Steps Into the Light

“Dinged-up.” That’s how Cheryl and Cody recall the condition of their circa-1915 St. Paul, Minnesota, bungalow the first time they set foot inside a few years ago. Nonetheless, the couple—who share two kids, a dog, and some chickens—deemed it not too shabby. They saw it as an upgrade from their existing 900-square-foot condo and the perfect size for their growing brood. Convinced it was the right move, the couple decided to call off all bets and make an offer. “We loved the historic charm of the...
Clever by Architectural Digest •

A “Haunted” 860-Square-Foot Casita in Spain Gets a Colorful Second Life

Antonio Montilla isn’t scared of ghosts. “I’m intrigued by strange things,” admits the Spanish-born, London-based architect and furniture designer, who put his spooky side on show last year when scouting around for a pied-à-terre in Marbella, Spain. “The estate agent called it the ‘Horror House,’” he says of his current abode. “Apparently no one would spend longer than five minutes inside.” So obviously, he set out to be the exception. The longer-than-five-minute search paid off, because it gave...
The Nod •

Architect Vinu Daniel is building sustainable homes (and other things) out of waste

If Vinu Daniel had had his way, his life would have been very different. For one, the Dubai-raised, India-based architect would be spending his days on a stage, not a site, trilling Carnatic romanzas and still living tax-free somewhere in the Gulf. “I never thought I’d be an architect,” reflects the former aspiring musician and present-day principal of architecture practice Wallmakers. Indeed, had his Malayali parents not played doomsayers and coerced him into picking something more m...
Architectural Digest India •

Makaan by Tahir Sultan is filled with 200-year-old urns and other rare curiosities

The store is as whimsical as the objects that inhabit it. Old rusted sewage pipes—found and saved several years ago—masquerade as art installations beside artisanal clay pots of Sultan’s own design. Cardboard boxes and bamboo laddersdisplay artwork and vases. Old boxes of incense find new life as pedestals. “People come to Makaan for the experience,” reflects Sultan, who refreshed the aesthetic lexicon last year to reveal its most soigné identity yet: think triple-height ceilings, black stone b...
Elle Decor •

[Print] Mumbai: It's a Shore Thing!

The thing about sea-facing abodes, as some designers might argue, is that attempting to equal or exceed the view is a rather impractical folly. So impractical, that when it came to designing a coastal aerie in Mumbai’s Lower Parel, architects Anand Deshmukh and Chetan Lahoti of Pune-based multidisciplinary practice Mind Manifestation Design decided to simply opt out of said zero sum game by extending the view indoors. “We imagined the interior as a sun-warmed beach, like something the tide could have washed ashore,” says Anand.
Clever by Architectural Digest •

Inside a 340-Square-Foot NYC Apartment Full of Secret Storage

The architect Andrew Magnes likes to think he knows his neighbors, but it took him a soup-to-nuts home remodel for a long-time friend—a whole neighborhood away—to realize he might not know some as well as others. “Or not at all,” says the founder and principal of his Brooklyn-based architecture firm (AMA). “When it was time to bid out the project [to a general contractor], we came across Petro Benedyk from Stroybat. I had never met Petro, and I remember receiving his proposal and seeing that the...
Architectural Digest India •

AD Small Spaces: This 900-square-foot Mumbai apartment is an escape from bustle of the city

Metros everywhere are plagued by common laments, laments that can often disappoint or discourage those from smaller towns from switching to a cloistered Mumbai apartment or a flat in Delhi. How Mumbai-based Neha Prasad and Shantanu Gupta remained immune to said phenomenon is a mystery even to them. The couple (they're both senior professionals at ed tech company upGrad), who had moved to Mumbai some years ago, had grown familiar with the perils of an urban existence, which they deemed exhausting...
Architectural Digest India •

[Print] Makaan by Tahir Sultan

The best things in life happen when you least expect them. So maintains Tahir Sultan, the Jaipur-based designer who brought to life a concept store, Makaan, on the very heels of COVID. “I didn’t have a vision when I started,” reflects the Kuwait-born entrepreneur, who put down roots in the Pink City during the lockdown. “I wanted to open a store, but I didn't know where. One day, a friend of my mother’s suggested a house nearby, and said the owner would be happy to rent it to me. But the place had seen better days, and there was just something about it that seemed improbable,” recalls Sultan, before taking a breath, “but not so improbable that I couldn’t make it work.”
Architectural Digest India •

[Print] Bindoo: Through the Looking Glass

What’s the next best thing to owning a Ferrari? If you ask architects Bhavana Kumar and Nicola La Noce of Indo-Italian design practice Kumar La Noce, it’s owning a mirror—or three. The pair’s most recent labour of love, a trifecta of geometric mirrors christened Bindoo, created in collaboration with Italian high-end aluminium furniture company altreforme (an offshoot of Fontana Group, the producer of avant-garde aluminium parts for such luxury car brands as Ferrari, Rolls Royce and Jaguar), is born from the same know-how and technology, and sculpted from the same aluminium, as said automobiles and even shares with them a production facility.
Architectural Digest India •

AD Small Spaces: This 900-square-foot apartment in Bengaluru is a Japandi-chic oasis

Saurin Shah is a stickler for perfection. “He is rather particular,” concedes his wife, Jimi, who was witness to said perfectionism, for better or worse, during the making of the couple’s first apartment in Bengaluru in Whitefield. The brief was simple. What wasn't was the expectation, which, as Jimi tells it, specified “a simple, minimalist, and highly accessible design with all sorts of storage, from small cubbies for paper bags to big compartments for suitcases. All in minimum occupied space,...
Clever by Architectural Digest •

Inside a Century-Old LA Home Where the Sun Never Seems to Set

If there’s one thing Alex Anderson and Aaron Kravitz swear by, it’s the power of instinct. Ask the couple how they came to be Angelenos and they explain that it was thanks to a stroke of serendipity. “We never meant to move,” says Alex, who works in the creative field. “We started our home search here for fun after feeling priced out in San Francisco.” All virtually, mind you.
Architectural Digest •

Step Inside an Oasis in Todos Santos, Mexico, Where Bold Colors and a Playful Spirit Rule the Day

Interior designer Faith Blakeney doesn’t believe in always doing things by the book. What she does believe in is kismet, and the notion that one’s stars, during any turning of the tide, align only briefly. Which explains why, on a trip some years ago to Todos Santos (a town on the Pacific coast of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula), she had zero qualms about flagging down a semitruck full of handmade furniture in 100-degree weather, mere moments after her client, a Belgian-born, LA-based, Oscar
Kinfolk •

Vinu Daniel: The architect creating homes out of waste.

Architect Vinu Daniel doesn’t work from an office. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s conviction that the ideal house should be made with material sourced within a five-mile radius, the founder of award-winning practice Wallmakers instead works wherever his next project happens to be. In the past, this has taken him to southern India, where he built a mountain-shaped home from local construction debris; Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, where he mad
The Local Project •

Shorebird by Those Architects

Enclosed by buildings yet open to the elements, Shorebird by Those Architects defies its suburban Sydney setting. Although nestled between neighbouring homes, the beachside dwelling maximises light, air and privacy through an array of thoughtfully designed architectural interventions. Offering uninterrupted vistas of Bate Bay, Shorebird establishes a dialogue with its immediate surroundings by embracing nature. Co-founder and director Ben Mitchell explains that the location set the stage for the
Architectural Digest India •

Palinda Kannangara turns this 5-storey house in Colombo into a calming oasis

Those who know Colombo, deeply and intimately, can confirm two things to be true: that time here likes to stop for nobody, and that it's just as easy to get lost in the colours as in the clamour. “It's a vibrant place,” says Palinda Kannangara—so vibrant that its effect, evidently, seems to have worn off on the celebrated Colombo-based architect. That is, if his latest residential project is anything to go by. Situated in the heart of the Sri Lankan capital, just strides away from the Cinnamon Gardens and the candy cane-striped Jami-Ul-Alfar Mosque, the dwelling, designed as a white column that rises towards the sky, is a quiet antithesis to the surrounding smorgasbord of colour.
Architectural Digest India •

This glorious heritage hotel in Udaipur basks in the glow of the City Palace

When Kapoor stepped in for the redesign, there was, as she explains, “nothing terribly wrong with the place.” At first, anyway. “But then we noticed water from the lake had seeped through in places, and of course, some of the layouts needed optimising,” reflects the founder and principal of Mumbai-based Noorein Kapoor Design, who was entrusted to revitalise the lower level of the restaurant, the al fresco patio and bar, as well as the rooms by rotation. What didn’t need optimising, mind you, was
Livingetc •

[Print] Mumbai: 'Tis the Season by Chestnut Storeys

How do you maximise the views in a sea-facing home? You minimise everything else. At least that’s what conventional wisdom will have you believe. But if you know a thing or two about Farah Agarwal, you know the word conventional isn’t part of her vocabulary. When the Chennai-based interior designer and founder of multidisciplinary design practice Chestnut Storeys was entrusted to design a three-level penthouse by the sea, the first thing she did was dial up the colour. “Not all the way, mind you—just enough to rival the views and fulfil the clients’ caveat of no neutrals,” continues the designer, who is widely known for her minimalist signature. “The real question, then, was how much colour was too much colour?”
Clever by Architectural Digest •

This Eclectic London Home Nods to Its Owner’s Greek Heritage

James Arkoulis doesn’t take no for an answer, at least not in matters regarding his home. When the London-based interior designer and cofounder of interior design studio Howark Design couldn’t find a bathtub to his satisfaction, he decided to design one himself, lying supine day after day in an attempt to paint on the perfect floral details. The bathtub, of course, is merely a metaphor for his mind. He admits he never tires of reinventing, as was the case during the remodel of his and his husban
Vogue •

Exclusive: Bharti Kher dedicates her most extensive UK presentation to the female body

Over the course of her 30-year career, the artist became famous for her use of snake-shaped bindis in and as art. Kher’s philosophy is this: Art by any other name is still art; no matter the object from which it is created. Take Ancestor, an 18-foot-tall patinated bronze sculpture from her Intermediaries series. Portraying a mythical mother figure, the installation features 23 small heads, each salvaged from a broken clay figurine (it was displayed at New York’s Central Park between 2022 and 202
The Local Project •

Hidden House by Studio mkn and Eliza Blair Architecture

Characterised by a combination of highlights and shadows, a distinguishing feature of the design is the glazed facade, which is defined by custom timber slat screens. These innovative screens serve as aesthetic interludes between indoors and outdoors while also affording privacy and shielding the lounge from the unrelenting western sun. “The lounge serves to immerse occupants in the lush greenery of the surrounding garden. Positioned to cantilever into the outdoor space, it offers a seamless con
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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