JOIN USHandpicking products, offering exclusivity, making room for customisation — a number of players in the home decor market are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that you get your home done, the way you want it. Ruth Dsouza Prabhu explores the options.
For those setting up their homes, the approaches to interiors are varied. Each of these approaches works towards easing the process of curating looks for a home that is unique and customisable, all the while being representative of the homeowner’s personality.
Technology has played a huge role in easing the once complicated processes of mood boards and selection of elements. Three-dimensional renders of possible interior options give customers a better idea of what to expect. In fact, with choices being made available at the click of a button (online), just about everything you need is now simpler to get. That being said, there is a still a good demand for customised creations for homes that can be created or curated from scratch for a completely unique home.
There are several service providers in the market that work on this. Radeesh Shetty, founder of The Purple Turtles Lighting Ideas Pvt Ltd (they create customised lighting solutions), attributes the increased demand to customers being well-travelled and knowledgeable. “Thanks to the Internet, the world truly has become small and people can access and see things happening almost in real-time. Owing to this phenomenon, people are spending a lot more time designing their space, and more specifically, furniture and furnishings to their taste and liking,” he says.
Catering to evolved tastes
“Quality and something beautiful are what people are looking for, for their homes,” reckons Venkatram Reddy, co-owner of Basava Ambara, a boutique in Basavanagudi that occupies the outhouse of the beautiful heritage home of the Mahadevans. Indian art and artefacts in various forms and media such as stone, wood and metal collected over the years by Venkatram adorn the store with their distinctive beauty and are made available to the discerning consumer.
“Today, customers are exposed to fine things from all over the world; so even in a contemporary setting, they want a piece of heritage that has history,” he says, while ensuring that he picks and chooses pieces that are of quality and not simply because they are old. The connoisseur prices are well justified by the history each piece has, their age and the craftsmanship involved.
Knowledge is power
“Information on the latest trends on the international circuit empowers consumers to look out for the best piece of furniture for their personal spaces, available at
realistic prices, says Sunil Kumar, MD, Cherry Pick (a furnishing store that offers international furnishing brands such as blinds from Hunter Douglas, mattresses from Simmons, carpets from Pierre Cardin and sofas from IMG in Norway, among other products).
“In their bid to have something unique, consumers are interested in buying the best of international furniture styles that are trending, while not compromising on the comfort factor. They are smart in their purchase and will no longer simply settle for what is available in the market, believes Sunil.
Jaya Pravindra, managing partner, Raintree, curates brands from across the country that provide niche offerings in soft furnishing as well as interior solutions, among other categories. The latest addition has been the shop-in-shop of Shades of India, a two-decade-old creative textiles company led by Mandeep Nagi (design director) and David Housego (former UK journalist). “From my interactions with customers in my store, I find that people are increasingly choosy about what they want,” says Jaya. “The men are also more involved in the decision-making process than they were a few years ago. People are discerning and do not hesitate in spending a little more as long as they get a good product.”
Towards this end, Shades of India, through Raintree, creates a mood board for a prospective customer. Everything from styling to customised creation, final delivery and installation is taken up by the brand. This effort is undertaken even for a single room, if clients prefer it that way.
Living up to expectations
There is no doubt that the customer of today is more discerning. A direct result has been the rise of customised interior designing solutions that offer the ability to create something that is unique. Radeesh believes that there is no lack of ideas, but a dearth of people to execute it well. “Today, clients are willing to pay top price for a job well done. Customers also pay a design fee to ensure that the design is never repeated or developed again for a certain period of time,” he explains.
Sunil adds that with the kind of exposure the consumers have today, it is quite challenging to shortlist a few designs or a specific number of products to have on hand, because one can never predict what the consumer has in mind. Handpicking products, offering exclusivity, making room for customisation — all go a long way in providing a brand an edge in the competitive market.
Being able to provide a customer with a seamless experience from the customised designing stage to the final installation is what can make a business stand out, believes Jaya. In the end, evolving with the market and keeping abreast of international trends that make their way to the country soon enough is what drives such initiatives and makes way for some brilliantly-designed interiors.