Evolve Design, Mumbai: Vibrant Elegance

Having been asked to deliver a spacious and classy look to the interiors of this apartment for five located in Mumbai, the designers have sought to begin with optimising the available space for the three bedrooms, kitchen, dining and living room accommodation required. While this has been achieved by doing away with unnecessary walls and using glass and other thin sectioned partitions in terms of creating physical space, the expansive look has been achieved through the use of wide format, almost joint-less, panels, walls, marble or other stone tiles and other finishes. The colour scheme remains predominantly white through the whole scheme, occasionally pitching up to a beige, gold or grey. The darker blacks, browns and reds, wherever they are used, are not small, repetitive of reflective splashes, but again large format single surfaces that serve to highlight the infinite whites and enhance the spaciousness.

The luxury, though amply apparent, is in understated style. It is articulated mainly through the use of high end finishes and fittings. Walls and panels are finished with veneers, laser cut wall-papers besides paint and the flooring is of Italian marble throughout the house. The welcoming entrance foyer wall, articulated with a pattern of backlit louvered stripes finished in wall-paper, is artfully juxtaposed with a set of white vertical dry twigs arranged in a planter box. The electrical ducts on either side of this wall are well concealed by dark veneer panelled shutters, while a row of neat shoe cabinets at the bottom is mounted with a long seat that continues, after bending round the corner, along the dining room wall to serve as seats for that side of the table. The common dining and living room is large, airy and uncluttered. The sofas and the dining chairs are large, comfortable yet not overtly fussed upon, defined in neat lines and finished with striking, exclusive fabric and composite leather upholstery. The wall décor includes an eye-catching mirrored mural on the dining room wall and a sophisticated and understated full-wall grid done in laser-cut, grey patterned wall paper on the large living room wall. The well-appointed kitchen, opening out from the foyer on the side facing the dining area, is again a neatly laid out modular scheme in white-n-black, with maintenance made easy by the use of back-painted glass for the back-splash over the counter.

The interesting feature about the bedrooms is their layout with the bed placed centrally to allow for movement all around it. The master bedroom has raised hardwood flooring at the rear side of the bed that creates a podium that one can ascend to enjoy the view from the window behind the bed. Whites, greys and beiges again dominate the scheme in all the bedrooms, with colours and prints appearing only on wall panels, fabric window blinds and bed runners. Wardrobes, dressers, tables are all pushed into composite sets that cover entire walls, merging within the walls to give an uncluttered space occupied by only the bed. It is notable how even the wardrobe has been given large format glass sliding shutters to avoid breaking up the surface into smaller units, further enhancing the feeling of expanse and spaciousness. The youthful touch required for the son’s bedroom has been attempted through the dominant use of coloured glass for the wardrobe shutters as well as the bath walls, and a sleek mirror framed in stainless steel suspended over the wash counter and angular mirror for the dresser. Another feature of interest is the horizontal disposition of all the windows in this house owing to a higher than usual sill level combined with wall to wall width, which is further sharpened by the horizontal fabric blinds. This, as opposed to full height windows which enhance the volume, serves to enhance the sprawl of the space, and leads us to conclude that every possible trick has been employed to create a spacious look, combined with an element of heightened yet minimalist contemporary sophistication and class.

This interior design project for showroom and office of a furnishings brand located in Mumbai clearly showcases the firm’s ability to finetune their innate and individual design style towards different demands and dynamics. Being a retail commercial establishment, they required to have an attractive and inviting aesthetic on display while providing an efficient and comfortable working space for the management and employees. The designers have managed to step up to accommodate these without compromising their fundamental style, which is the definition of true ‘evolution’.

Again, the foundation of the design is laid by the selection of light shades and pure whites lit up by bright white lights as the background on the canvas of their art work. The spaces are freed of unnecessary partitions and obstacles, making frequent use of glass, to open them up and make them expansive. Colours, prints and textures appear, as usual, only on a single wall, surface or piece of furniture in each unit of space. Lines are neat, the horizontal being emphatic again, and furniture is marked by a subtle aesthetic accompanied by uncompromised comfort. 

To add the verve of attraction that a place of sale has to display towards its customers, Evolve Design has chosen to get playful using the showroom’s furnishing wares themselves as their toys. Clean rectangular tiles of different colours and patterns of the owner brand’s upholstery fabric (which can be removed and replaced for change) come up as grid collages on chosen walls of the showroom, adding a cheerful exuberance to the otherwise neat and ordered ambience. It is thrilling to note the variety of different types and schemes of these collages that seem always to be waiting to spring a pleasant surprise round a corner, along a display area or up a light and sleek stairway. The cabins and staff working areas have also been tastefully and efficiently detailed, again with wall size panels of the same brand’s fabric adorning one wall in each cabin.

As Evolve Design principal Sonu Mistry puts it, their approach to design is to use it as an instrument that enables a space to evolve into the potential it is meant for in terms of function, articulated in a contemporary and minimalist aesthetic, amalgamating the relevant advantages that developing technology has to offer. Certainly, the journey ahead seems promising.