Architectural Digest India

principal The of Mayo College is a retired lieutenant general in the army. The first email that went out to his office in early February was met with a polite, but stern, “Maybe later in the year, Ms. Sharma.” Bharath Ramamrutham, one of our favourite photographers, who is also an architect by training, was on my speed dial those days. I was googling drone shots of the stunning old Indo-Saracenic-style building of the college and spamming him with those—dreaming of it already on the cover. The real firestarter actually was the Delhi-based journalist Anjali Puri, who had sent a message almost a year ago: “There’s something fabulous going on at Mayo College.” A good writer knows how to trick a nerdy editor. Leave something to mystery, don’t ask too many times,…

BHARATH RAMAMRUTHAM PHOTOGRAPHER With a career spanning over 30 years, Ramamrutham is a leading architecture and interiors photographer in the country. Little known fact: He is also an architect by training. In this issue, he shoots our cover story: the restored Mayo College in Ajmer and its many pavilions, gardens, amphitheatres and more, over a strenuous three-day shoot (pg 88). ABHIMANYU DALAL ARCHITECT A New Delhi–based architect and urban designer, Dalal’s practice is engaged with projects of urban conservation, institutional and residential. For this issue, he returned to his alma mater, Mayo College in Ajmer, to walk us through the campus and its ongoing restoration and put together an extensive and in-depth cover story (pg 88). ANJALI PURI WRITER A Delhi-based journalist, Puri loves writing about historical buildings. Previously she wrote about the Nehru homes…

The first thing that strikes you about the new Crossword is the lovely natural light. Then the open white volume, a feeling of airiness and lightness. “We stripped down everything—the false ceilings, the plywood that blocked the windows, the boxed frames around the pillars,” says Ajay Shah, the designer and founder of Ajay Shah Design Studio, who headed the spatial and visual redesign of the classic bookstore. The result is a large open hall, vibrant and joyous. When AD first approached me to write about the bookstore I was apprehensive. Crossword is not only a bookstore I’ve spent time (and a sizeable part of my income) in; it’s also a brand I’ve helped create. Bookstores are personal. They become an extension of you. You take offence if someone rearranges a bookshelf…

Just 40 miles east of Fabrègues, the small commune in the South of France that is home to Pierre Yovanovitch’s 17th-century castle, lies another abode steeped in French design history: Château de la Colle Noire, the one-time residence of Christian Dior. “Its architecture has always inspired me,” Yovanovitch says of the storied property, which is tucked away in the Grasse countryside, where the fashion legend mixed his perfumes. “My house is like this too, very simple architecture but strong and austere.” So when Dior Maison tapped the titan to dream up new home accessories, debuting on the heels of his recent adaptation of the brand’s Medallion chair, Yovanovitch found ample fodder in these common grounds. Musing on Old World necessities that might have existed at La Colle Noire, he set out…

In an ever evolving world, images are veritable windows into moments that are frozen in time. As the sociocultural landscape of India continues to change by the minute, a glimpse into our collective past lends us a perspective on our present moment in rather astonishing ways. “Convergence: A Panorama of Photography’s French Connections in India” is an endeavour that aims to achieve precisely that. Organized as a part of Bonjour India 2022, a pan-India festival for the arts presented by the Embassy of France in India, Institut Français en Inde, and Alliance Française India, in collaboration with the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, this travelling photography exhibition was launched at Amdavad ni Gufa—the historic art space by B.V. Doshi and M.F. Husain in Ahmedabad—on 24 March. The show examines India…

Ahallstand as iconic as Gufram’s Cactus, with its various iterations over the decades, has given the design community many a reason to celebrate it since 1972. This year, as the sculpture turns 50, the Italian brand has collaborated with the Andy Warhol Foundation to ring in the birthday, which, quite frankly, feels like a creative marriage that was only waiting to happen. Charley Vezza, CEO of Gufram tells AD, “Andy Warhol is absolutely timeless; his art and his character are ageless and always contemporary. Our Cactus has been contemporary for the past 50 years. It has always been in a never-ending flux—with no past, no present, no future.” Much like the other editions of the hallstand, this limited edition of Cactus—in “Andy’s blue, yellow, and pink”—is crafted out of the original…