Design for Art

By Savitha Hira

Leena n Paresh Daru

“I disallow my awareness of a person to intimidate my professional inputs,” says Mumbai-based interior and furniture designer Lalit Hira, of his renovation of friends - national award-winning costume designer Leena Daru and veteran art director Paresh Daru’s home.

 

Here was a home that was overflowing with a vast collection of traditional artefacts, and an assortment of fashionably-styled awards and mementoes. They all demanded a pride of place, as each piece had a little story attached to it. Added to this, was the fact that both homeowners were prolific with their distinctive contributions of artistry, which also sought its own legroom amidst the paraphernalia, which included carved brackets, antique furniture, assortment of bells, figurines, and the like – a clear regional mix of styles, processes and thoughts spanning the country, and testimony to their experiences.

So, with customary civil changes that opened up the balcony, widened the passage and merged the kitchen with it, relegated storage units to the periphery, opening up spaces, design had to be reined-in to allow two foremost aspects of the project at hand: a merger among three individualistic design professionals, where each had to facilitate the other’s vision, without compromising on his own expertise and sound judgment; and accomplish a beautifully designed interior at par with the ilk of the homeowners. 

Synergies synchronized – the artist in the designer and the designer in the artists – worked in succession (considering practical priorities of a renovation), finishing the home with a flourish of Rajasthani Maandana embellishing, camouflaging, rejuvenating the interiors without interfering with everyday routines. Symbolically, the décor statement fell into place as a natural extension of Paresh and Leena’s personalities – ingenuous and ingenious.

Another lesson in design humility.