Eager for more elbow room, Tina, Kulbir and their two children moved from the city to the suburbs. They renovated most of the rooms in their big, new house with ease, but they were stumped when they got to their cramped and dated basement. Both self-professed computer geeks, Tina and Kulbir wanted the room turned into an efficient home office space.
However, they also wanted it to function on several other levels: as a rehearsal space for budding musician Kulbir and his bandmates; as sleeping quarters for overnight guests; and as a TV and lounge area for the whole family.
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Over the last decades, designers in India have shown themselves to be a confused lot, if only because they haven’t been to handle international and Indian influences simultaneously.
Where traditional havelis have replaced the low-seating in the baithak with incongruous imported sofas, apartments in cities have attempted to play the ethnic card with ludicrous results.
India’s great tradition in crafts was never intended for urban homes, and though a few designers have been able to carry it off with panache – Romi Chopra, for instance – most times the interface between cultures simply ended up in a mess. (more…)
