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Architectural Digest •

Mumbai: This Dadar home on the 51st floor pays an ode to Indian art and craftsmanship

On the 51st floor of a skyrise in Mumbai, most things seem distant. The traffic is muted, the chaos seems collected, except the art which presides over this Dadar home in various ways. Shape-shifting from traditional to contemporary to abstract, it holds a mirror to a smorgasbord of artists and artisans along the way. “Our intent was to bring the old and the new together, pay homage to Indian art and artisans, and highlight craftsmanship of all manner,” says Gauri Satam, one half of Mumbai-based
Architectural Digest •

This Kerala bungalow is built into the mountainside

The hills of Pezhakkapilly, in Kerala's Muvattupuzha, are ideal for hiking and bird-watching, or even a spot of mountainside meditation. Not so much for building a house. With a contoured topography and lots of vegetation, it's not most architects' cup of tea. But Sachin Sathyan isn't most architects. So when he was presented with a brief for a Kerala home that called for retaining the contours and the vegetation, the challenge—and the opportunity—were too great to risk passing up.

For Sathyan—
Architectural Digest •

A Couple’s Old Furniture Collection Got a Cool Spin in Their New San Francisco Home

Even before they’d signed the deed or put down a deposit, Caitlin O’Neill and Sean Weinstock knew who they’d bring in for the interior design of their new home in San Francisco’s Glen Park neighborhood: Christina Higham of Sun Soul Style Interiors. It didn’t matter that Christina was based in Kauai, or that they’d just finished renovating their previous home. By two years into their marriage, they knew they needed a bigger place. And as for Christina taking the lead from 2,500 miles away, the co
Architectural Digest •

This designer couple's Kochi apartment celebrates the beauty of dark, brooding hues

What wasn't quite as straightforward were the three distinct views—four counting Arya's—that came with each aspect of the design process. "But right from the beginning, we agreed to disagree," jests Rakesh. As a project close to their hearts, the couple christened the project 'Ikigai', Japanese for 'a reason for living'.

For Binesh, the line between clients and colleagues was blurred—in the best way possible. "Bindu and Rakesh have worked with some of the best designers in India. And although w
Yellowtrace •

Art Attack: A Haussmannian Apartment in Paris by Rodolphe Parente.

An image of a bloody knee on the dining room wall isn’t everybody’s idea of mealtime company. But Rodolphe Parente isn’t everybody. And anybody even vaguely familiar with his work knows one thing for certain—to expect the unexpected. Bloody knees et al. Case in point: one particular Haussmannian apartment on Paris’ Canal Saint Martin where bare-bodied photographs and stone busts lay bare the glory of the human body.

When Rodolphe took the design reins, he was clear about preserving and restorin
Yellowtrace •

Nota Blu Marbella in Málaga by Astet Studio.

In Marbella, Málaga, it can be tempting to stay outdoors. With golden beaches, boutique stores and Andalusian architecture that draws from Renaissance, Baroque, Gothic and Moorish styles, there’s no reason to retreat—unless of course, you feel like a quick bite or some respite from the permanently blazing sun. Nota Blu Marbella takes note. The brasserie—designed by Barcelona-based Astet Studio—features a foldable facade that blurs the line between the interior and exterior, making a case for atm
Clever by Architectural Digest •

This Midcentury Oakland Home Is Inspired by Hollywood Regency and Travel Memories

When they’re not busy traveling to faraway locales, Shasta and Jen Scobie can almost always be found at the nearest (or furthest) thrift store, foraging for discarded studio pottery and other curious novelties. “I didn’t start traveling until my late 20s, but once I did, I made it a priority and collected many treasures over the years,” says Shasta, a strategic program manager for a tech company. And yet, the couple’s collection had little room to shine. “We had just three pieces of furniture: a
Yellowtrace •

Beachside Beauty: A Holiday Home in Sydney’s Northern Beaches by YSG Studio.

By and large, the end of summer heralds three things: cooler weather, better behaved flies and permanently flung-open doors. And yet, there’s one house, nestled amidst Sydney’s Northern Beaches, where the summer lingers on—minus the flies. Gently, quietly, behind closed doors, manifesting in sunset tones and citrus accents. Make no mistake, when the homeowners—a young Sydney-based family—first acquired the holiday home a few years ago, it was anything but summer. “They had acquired the house wit
Architectural Digest •

A 110-year-old Portuguese bungalow in Bandra gets a new lease of life

In the bylanes of Bandra, around the corner from the suburb’s bustling beachfront and scintillating fashion streets, is a home that dwells in the past—in 1910, to be precise. By the time the owners inherited the ground floor of the Portuguese-style bungalow a few years ago, it had already travelled down three generations. But the 110-year-old structure was now weathered and old and the couple desperately needed help to bring it back to life. After casting their net deep into the design seas, the
Clever by Architectural Digest •

This 645-Square-Foot Rome Apartment Is a Maximalist’s Dream

Italian interior architect Mirta Ottaviani and her partner, construction entrepreneur Augusto Carchella, hadn’t always expected to rent an apartment, much less one in Rome’s Parioli district. “The plan was always to buy a place, but we needed somewhere to stay while we searched for our dream home,” says Mirta, who worked at several interior design studios in Italy and France before setting up her own firm in Rome in 2021. Plan B was leasing an apartment in Piazza Venezia, Rome’s historical city
Yellowtrace •

A Roman Ruin Turned Family Home in Granada by Ignacio Quemada, John Hoyland & Victor Cadene.

For Celia Muñoz, the prospect of purchasing a holiday home in her birthland of Granada posed a head-versus-heart conundrum. The London-based fashion designer and founder of kidswear label, La Coqueta, was a frequent holidayer in the Andalusia region, but every time she visited with her husband and their brood of five, she’d always board with family. So naturally, the idea of staying in a home of her own, even and especially with her folks so close by, was a bit of a doozy.

The more she let the
Yellowtrace •

Past Meets Present Meets Future: A Clothing Boutique in Guangzhou by TOMO Design.

In Guangzhou, China is a clothing boutique that channels Dr. Who—minus the spaceship. The retail space—the first physical destination of vintage clothing brand MASONPRINCE, conceived by TOMO Design—transports visitors through transcendental realms of space and time, spurring the clock back and forth (and back again) and blurring the line(s) between past, present and future.

The store occupies a Western-style residential structure that harks to centuries past. But there’s nothing historic about
Elle Decor •

[Print] Bangalore: The Window Seat

Most weekends when they’re there, Aprameya Radhakrishna and Parinita Narain can be found on the katte (Kannada for ‘bench’) in the courtyard, sometimes with a friendly neighbour, always with some piping hot filter coffee. For the couple, such weekend sojourns are a regular occurrence—the happy result of a long-ago manifesto to escape the city more often, albeit on their own terms. “A weekend home was the obvious solution,” says Shalini Chandrashekar, principal and director of Bangalore-based architecture and design practice Taliesyn (co-founded with architect Mahaboob Basha in 2007), who was tapped by the couple to breathe life into their recently acquired 3,800-square-foot plot in Bengaluru.
Elle Decor •

[Print] Cover Story // New Delhi: Sunshine on Her Shoulders

In New Delhi's Friends Colony, is a home that unfolds in phases. Each angle presents a different view, beckoning you to venture ever closer to uncover what lies within. And contrary to the ease with which this home navigates various vistas, its kaleidoscopic avatar is hardly happenstance. With interior designer Vaishali Kamdar at the helm, a volume with multiple vignettes was always a certainty. What was not was the sheer magic behind each. “I’ve always been fascinated by what you see when you’re looking at a home from the outside. I wanted glimmers of art, light and furniture to peep through and evoke moments of curiosity,” says Vaishali who is Founder and Principal of her eponymous Gurugram-based design studio. She was tapped by the homeowners, a couple with two teenage boys, to transform their newly built 6,500 sq ft New Delhi residence into an elegant, understated and inviting home.
Vogue •

Kunal Nayyar and Neha Kapur’s Delhi home is a love letter to India

It’s just past 10am when I reach Kunal Nayyar and Neha Kapur’s housing enclave in South Delhi, but the guard at the gate has no intention of letting me in. No cabs allowed, I’m told, although he is unwilling to commit how far I have to leg it. With half an hour to go (my meeting is scheduled for 10.30am), I convince myself that it can’t be that far. So I pop on my sunhat and slip through the gate, in search of the magic number I have sprawled on my palm. Only, several mistaken turns later, I sti
Architectural Digest •

House of Masaba’s Bandra store is a meditative sanctum

Colour creeps in here and there, bashfully doffing its hat to the brand’s vibrant spirit—and its bindi-embellished logo. At the entrance, a sculptural mosaic bindi, made out of scarlet tile chips, masquerades as the main door handle, while inside, four-foot-tall aerial installations hold a mirror to the circular leitmotif.

“For me, that bindi is not just a circle. It’s a centre of consciousness. It serves as both a nazar ka tika as well as something that can immediately ground you,” avers Gupta
Architectural Digest •

Nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar’s Mumbai apartment is designed without doors

In nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar and Himalayan trekker and entrepreneur Gaurav Punj’s Mumbai apartment, the bedrooms don’t come with doors. It’s not that they were forgotten, or that they broke free and went on their way. It’s that they were never intended in the first place. “The interior evokes a monospace, where loose thresholds merely suggest realms for various activities,” says Krishna Mistry, co-founder and principal of Surat-based multidisciplpinary collective DOT, who along with his co-founder and fellow principal, Anand Jariwala, was invited by the couple to transform their Bandra home into a calming retreat. The architects collaborated with Mortar Construction, Vishwakarma Furniture and Nashwin Electric for the build, furniture and electrical blueprints, respectively.
Architectural Digest •

This Thane apartment plays out like a black-and-white movie

Unlike many of us during the pandemic, Shraddha Shah wasn’t baking banana bread or figuring out the perfect milk-to-water ratio for her Dalgona whipped coffee. Instead, she was feverishly working on design concepts that she hoped to put into practice when the pandemic blew over. One of those was a sailor's den—with earthy tones, floral prints and lots of reclaimed wood. “I imagined it as the home of a sailor who was always travelling, either for work or with his partner,” recalls the co-founder and principal of Mumbai-based interior design firm Olive Roof. Some years later, she found her sailor. And his partner. (In reality, they found her on Instagram.) Their names were Andreaz D'souza and Reema Christian and they had a lot in common with the make-believe seafarers she had dreamed up in her head.
Yellowtrace •

Dance Meets Design: A Spiral Apartment in Madrid by Raúl Almenara.

Raúl Almenara isn’t just an architect. He’s also an artist and innovator and choreographer—if his latest project in Madrid’s El Rastro neighbourhood is anything to go by. Designed like a spiral monospace, the home revels in pirouetting forms, with dazzling curves demarcating one space from the next. Make no mistake, the dancerly flourishes are far from incidental: as the home of dancer, choreographer and director of the National Ballet of Spain, Antonio Najarro, the design was conceived to hold
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