Indice dei contenuti per November - December 2023 in Architectural Digest India

Nina Campbell’s love affair with India has been long-standing and unabashed, layered with trysts across Rajasthani palaces, Darjeeling tea estates, and old Calcutta. The British design doyen’s latest paramour, in a sense, is Art-chives—an artisanal Indian label rooted in storytelling and nostalgia. The brand’s autumn/winter 2023 collection of luxury hand-screenprinted table linen, heady candles, and signature tote bags have made their way into Campbell’s newly reopened flagship store on Pimlico Road in London. “‘A day in the life of India’ unveils dreamy vignettes of a mystical land, accented with charming cameos—verdant lush banana palms, yellow amaltas, singing birds, floral riots, and the crackle of monkeys, in Iznik blues, crimson, summer yellow, and leafy greens. It’s like being in a reverie. Whimsical motifs on pure Irish linen appear as if magically,…

"Freedom, happiness, and sunlight—that’s what she needed,” says designer Carlos Mota of Bettina Iolas’s home in Lima, Peru. Safe decorating is an international issue, it seems: grey and beige upholstery, a signal lack of patterns to delight the eye, and walls painted 50 shades of white. Even Lima, the capital of Peru, is not immune. “Lots of white, very light, modern, that kind of thing” is how Bettina Iolas, a Lima native, describes the aesthetic status quo. She subscribed to it as well for many years, before embracing chromatic change. “One day, I was going around my house, and all I saw was grey and beige,” she recalls. “And I decided I needed more colour in my life.” Which explains why she flew to New York City one day and…

ASHISH SAHI PHOTOGRAPHER AD’s former art director is a regular contributor. In this issue, he photographs Stok Palace (pg 58). “The blazing noon sun, chilly night sky, and a bit of snow—Leh’s terrain was a kaleidoscope of change when I was shooting Stok Palace. But the warmth and hospitality extended to me by Gyalpo Jigmed Wangchuck Namgyal and Gyalu Stanzin Jigmed Namgyal made this ever-changing landscape a breeze to shoot—almost!” HAJRA AHMAD PHOTOGRAPHER A Ladakhbased photographer, her work spans landscape, portraiture, hospitality and more. In this issue, she photographs a series of architects, designers, textile artists, and restorers doing incredible work in the region (pg 48). “This story introduced me to people doing interesting things in places that are in my backyard. Ladakh of course is one of the most…

Take a wander through Rajesh Pratap Singh’s compositions of poppies with their bouffant wigs both majestic and delicate, their bright optical colours wince and blink as your eyes slide across the canvas and upholstery. Now imagine you are wandering through his head. Yes, you can enter this mental space quite literally with the Satya Paul Home & Living collection, and yes, it is non-linear, like the mind. Satya Paul’s latest line of home decor might well be seen as a necessary contrast to Singh’s eponymous fashion brand. Known for creating sartorial atmospheres often as melancholic as they are luxuriant, they are also about light and space, volume and flatness, rhythm and pattern, stark blacks and whites. Would the real RPS please stand up? “It’s the same person with the same…

In the book, The Unknown Craftsman, Japanese philosopher Sōetsu Yanagi asks, “What is the special quality of beauty in crafts?” And he answers, “It is a beauty of intimacy. Since the articles are to be lived with every day, this quality of intimacy is a natural requirement. Such beauty establishes a world of grace and feeling.” An afternoon walk through the workshop of the historic porcelain figurine maker Lladró, in Valencia, leaves you with such a feeling of intimacy. Light-filled quiet corridors, rows of sculpture studios, desks of painters sprawled with thin rigger brushes, a busy shop floor with massive kilns where everything goes through fire and comes out transformed—it is the ultimate metaphor for life. Perhaps that is why Lladró appeals to us as a timeless gift. The beauty…

The photographs of friends and family— especially of Indira Devi, former Maharani of Cooch Behar—made the room warm and lived in. The drawing room was elegant and restrained in chartreuse, with a happy blend of florals and stripes that lifted the mood. I first set eyes on Reeta Dev Varma when I was 10 years old. It was at Tripura House in Kolkata where I was visiting my sister, Padma Raje, the maharani of Tripura. She and my sister were dear friends. My first impression of her was that she was breathtakingly beautiful, warm and vivacious. I enjoyed spending time with her because, unlike the others, she easily related to us children. I saw her many more times during my trip, at dinner parties and even clubs like Firpo’s where…

For nearly five decades, Mimar Sinan—otherwise known simply as Grand Sinan—oversaw all major construction projects for the Ottoman Empire, reshaping the greater Mediterranean area one bridge, mosque, and mausoleum at a time. Today, five centuries later, a little-known wonder by the architect is welcoming back the public in Istanbul. The Zeyrek Çinili Hamam, so named for the blue Iznik tiles that once lined it (çinili translates to “tiled”), first opened around 1540, its domed rooms a breathtaking backdrop for communal bathing. History took its toll (those tiles, for instance, were long ago sold off to private and public collections), and the complex eventually fell into disrepair. But thanks to Turkish hospitality and real estate company The Marmara Group, it has now been reimagined as a multipurpose arts and wellness centre,…

When 18th-century gentlemen headed to Europe to partake of the Grand Tour—a crucial step in a civilizing education—they often recorded cultural sites in charming paintings, in much the same way that today’s globe-trotters snap away with smartphones. Van Cleef & Arpels, the Paris jeweller that was founded in 1906, has taken those watercolour reveries as inspiration for a new array of treasures: four bracelets set with gemstones—sapphires, diamonds, and more—that evoke the landscapes of Rome, Florence, Naples, and Venice. “Turning a watercolour into a bejewelled bracelet is both a technical challenge that I wanted to push even further and a very interesting creative development,” says Nicolas Bos, president and CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels. “They call to mind true paintings, but they are fully articulated, with a very complex…

Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India by John Guy is no ordinary book—it stands as a remarkable exploration of early Buddhist art in South India. This hardbound tome likely weighs as much as the first-century-BC carved-rock masterpiece of Nagaraja Mucalinda protecting the Buddha that graces its cover. “I am fundamentally interested in the beginnings of things, their origins, and how they germinate,” shares Guy, a leading South Asia expert and the curator behind an ongoing exhibition of the same name at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The stupa, a sacred funerary mound that houses relics of the Buddha—serving as both a place of veneration and artistic expression—takes centre stage in Guy’s narrative. The British historian traces its origins and diffusion throughout India, beginning in the…

It’s going to be the most unique fair that we’ve ever had,” says Jill Bokor, executive director of Salon Art + Design. “There’s an exciting mix of top international galleries returning, along with some young names who are pushing collectible design with new materials and forms.” Consider the evidence: Paris-based Mathieu Lehanneur, a multidisciplinary designer who not only creates beautiful furniture, but also designed the torch for the 2024 Olympics; iconic New York gallery Karl Kemp with their one-of-a-kind antiques; and side tables studded with semi-precious stones, courtesy of New Delhi–based DeMuro Das. There’s wit, design expertise, and craftsmanship like you’ve never seen before. At DeMuro Das, inspiration comes in from all four directions. Manifesting in the form of a bookshelf inspired by traditional Indian pedestals, as well as tables…

Hone, in English, means to enhance, to saw, file, sculpt—to rectify and refine. In Punjabi, it means now. It is this coming together of these two, wildly different meanings that makes designer Pravir Sethi’s debut furniture collection stand out. “At Studio Hinge, we have been designing bespoke furniture for our projects for nearly a decade. After many enquiries over the years, it seemed natural, necessary even, to produce and offer the furniture as individual objects,” Sethi tells us as we discuss the collection that was originally designed for his personal use and has been put through rigorous testing and refining—in short, honed—by the architect himself before being offered in the market. The capsule collection consists of striking yet fluid pieces—a bed, a dresser, a console, a bar, a desk, and…

“I look at the house as a sacred space. So many generations have lived in it and built it piece by piece.”—HRH Gyalpo Jigmed Wangchuck Namgyal “I have my father who knows so much about our construction techniques. So I thought, with his guidance, why not create a space for myself.”—Gyalu Stanzin Jigmed Namgyal I was a little mischievous as a child,” says Stanzin Namgyal with a chuckle, as he walks me around his family home. “I used to play with these,” he says, pointing to swords, bows, and arrows. On the face of it, that seems fairly normal for a child to do. Except in the world outside, Stanzin is formally known as Gyalu (prince) Stanzin Jigmed Namgyal and is the young scion of Ladakh’s 400-year-old Namgyal dynasty. And…

"There is a certain energy in these mountains and this spot near the foothills has the best environment for everything I love to do.” —Loulou Van Damme "I want this to be a tranquil retreat—a space to clear your head and rest a while.” —Loulou Van Damme Every piece of art or furniture has been hand-picked by Loulou, some even brought over from her homes in Goa. We are deep in coffee country in this far corner of the Western Ghats. The silence is broken by the occasional shriek of a peacock, the buzz of crickets, and the sounds of birds, frogs and other creatures of the forest. There is a dense fragrance in the air, a heady combination of coffee blossoms, ripe jackfruit, and aromatic spices. We turn the…

Across cultures, the seats of royalty were made of the most precious materials possible. Foremost of these were gold and silver, whose colour and reflective properties likened them respectively to the sun and moon, endowing them with notions of purity and sanctity. The malleable qualities of these precious metals rendered them ideal as a surface for furniture, capable of a high degree of finishing—whether with engraved designs and inscriptions or as a setting for further ornamentation, such as the inlay of gems and enamelling. Renowned examples of royal furniture covered with gold and silver associated with Indian rulers include the legendary Peacock Throne of Shah Jahan—removed during the invasion of Nadir Shah in 1739—which was covered with sheets of gold and inset with precious stones from the Mughal Treasury, including…