CERTIFICATE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This project has been a product of the collective mind at Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture. I would like to thank KRVIA for

funding my research and providing an excellent academic environment for the study. I must admit that my guides Rohan Shivkumar and

George Jose have allowed me to wander and even go wrong with the project. It was Rohan who introduced me to the concept of 'domesticity'.

George has provided excellent reference readings and explanations in cultural theory for my project. I take this opportunity to thank them for

being patient with me throughout the process.

My prime discussant during the entire process was my friend Deepti Talpade who has not only sat down with me and explained ways of

research, but helped me in taking a stance for the project. I also want to thank Sonal Sundarrajan, who has made me realize that it is more

important to attempt, and there need not be a “why” for everything. She has also contributed her idea for the cover of this book. Immediately

after his return from London, Atul Mhatre has been a frank and honest critic of my work. He has not only shared the story of his house, but also

his knowledge of mapping and diagramming which remain at the background of this work. I want to especially mention Kairavi, my fellow

'fellow', who kept assuring her conviction in my project. She has been a person to fall back on, share confusions and discuss ideas during the

past several months.

I want to thank Rupali Gupte, with whom I conducted one year of Architectural Design studio at KRVIA, where I learnt new ways of thinking.

Rupali has kept on maintaining that “your material is much richer” and has discarded almost all write-ups that I have produced earlier. I now

go on only with my material. This page would be incomplete without the mention of Prasad Shetty, who made me realize the importance of

field work, and has helped me get clarity over the subject and put my material in an appropriate perspective. He also suggested the title for

the project, which envelopes the idea and the form of the presentation.

Lastly, I want to thank all my colleagues and friends at Academy of Architecture who have allowed me to peep into their houses. I thank

my parents and my brother for taking care of “all other things” that I almost overlooked during my study.

CONTENTSPrefaceResearch MethodologyCases

Strong and safe as Steel

Covering the Leakage

American Desi

Fevicol Furniture

Decorating Plywood

Grandeur and Comfort

Revival of the Godrej

House is a Museum

Reuse and Recycle

Adjusting Ideas in Budgets

The Geometric Modern

Modular Solutions

‘Self-designed’ homes

Inside Outside

Fabulous India

Vastu-shastra

Think out of the box

Elevations

Showroom House

Imported Furniture

Postscript

Bibliography

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PREFACE

Domesticity is the way in which we inhabit an interior space and relates to the activities that happen inside the home. This process of

inhabitation involves bringing a lot of ideas and objects together which relate to the way we live, and the way we want to project our living. The

objects laid together in the house give meaning to the everyday activities and thus are cultural manifestations in the design of a house.

People get objects in their house with an idea of something that would perfectly suit their living – in utility, taste and conception. Thus, these

objects embody the ideas of the ideal. Home making is an active process in the city. Homes are constantly upgraded, transformed and they

adopt new ideas. The domestic space contains ideas of an ideal space.

Although the city is always understood through its outside conditions, it is also a summation of the domestic spaces that it accommodates.

The domestic space allows the expression of personal desires which may be different from the collective desire of enterprise or development

of the city. The idea of living in grandeur, the wish to be different from the rest, the imagination of reliving history, the need of feeling secure are

desires that make up the city, but are materialized only in the home. Domestic spaces may therefore be seen as representations of urban

desire. These urban desires are handled by a group of professionals today, called interior designers who have started to shape up interior

living spaces. Their professional expertise claims authority over functionality of objects, utilization of space and perfect ideas of beauty. This

expertise is achieved through a formal training in Design, and the profession thus operates itself through the machinery of Design Institutes,

magazines, journals and exhibitions. Through this training, the practice of Interior Design is able to construct a space which in recent times,

has started looking utterly minimal. The practice relies on absence of objects in space to bring out its value. It credits 'detail' as 'God', uses

high end materials, expensive finishes and borrows ideas from its own academic and professional circles to reproduce a 'sanitized' space.

Such space is considered to be an ideal space in the profession of design.

In the context of the practice of interior design today, domestic spaces are seen as a mismatch to the above ideal. Against the backdrop of

clean interior designed spaces, residential spaces that I dealt with during my initial practice immediately after graduation seemed unclean 1

and cluttered. The users always demanded more space for storage and detailed particularities that they would like to see in their houses. But

these particularities were commonly repeating. Colours, textures, decorations, furniture - all were idealized very differently as compared to

the academic conception of aesthetic – which is supposed to be beautiful, minimal and clean. In contrast to the academic idea, the client's

idea of 'good' was measured by the value of objects accommodated within the space. It was then when I realized that I was dealing with

domesticity, and not interior design. It is difficult to understand the domestic through the profession of interior design, which tries to

rationalize objects and ideas through its academic understanding of efficiency and beauty. This schism between the designed interior space

and the domestic space is the interest of my study.

The domestic space goes beyond just the idea of efficiency and rationality of objects. In fact, it tries to encompass new and intangible ideas

into the physical reality. Keeping memories of events, remembering experiences through images, thinking back of various places through

textures, making statements through colours and choices of objects – all form the sensitive space of the home. The paper tries to understand

this nature of domesticity we live in. What is it in a home that it reposits things completely different than the city outside? What is it in the

domestic space that allows multiple ideations to coexist? How does it perform, and how does it manifest itself? These are some questions

which have surfaced during the research.

Often, the perception of such domestic space becomes difficult due to the moralistic position that we take as architects or designers, being

trained primarily in the field of the aesthetic, to make things look good. The domestic space seems to be an ambiguous idea in the frame of

academic beauty. But such domestic space would be of great value in recording the cultural history of a city, of the way people lived, or the

way a city evolved or even how the practices shaped living conditions in the city. In 'The Cultural Biography of Things', Igor Kopytoff talks

about a possible biography of people through objects they make. “In doing the biography of a thing, one would ask questions similar to those

one asks about people. What, sociologically, are the biographical possibilities inherent in its “status” and in the period and culture, and how

are these possibilities realized? Where does the thing come from and who made it? What has been its career so far, and what do people

consider an ideal career for such things? What are the recognized “ages” or periods in the thing's “life,” and what are the cultural markers for

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them? How does the thing's use change with its age, and what happens to it when it reaches the end of its usefulness?”

The setting up of criteria for the analysis of domestic space is inherently problematic since an empirical survey of such spaces would be

inefficient to map desires, tastes and ideas that people have of their homes. These are varied and do not fall under a limited set of

classification parameters. The paper tries to talk about homes through stories of their making. The stories presented here primarily talk of

domestic space of the middle class. This space is charged with desires. The term middle class conveys a certain limit in spending potential, a

certain taste of materiality and a certain sense of domesticity. The project tries to explore all the three and the new consumption pattern that

they create. While making the house was primarily the task of the home maker, today there is an emergence of various agencies of home

making outside the home-maker too. What are these agencies and how do they affect the decision of the homemaker, or improvise upon the

home-maker's ideas? The agencies not only facilitate the execution of the home, but bring in a new knowledge of technical expertise to the

user. In a way, the book can be read as a collection of this knowledge or experience of the users of domestic space. And thus, one can also

construct the image of this user through the stories stitched here.

It was interesting to observe the skepticism of the interviewees in sharing the images of their houses. They distinctly separated themselves

from formally “Designed” houses, which approach Interior Design firms or Architectural practices for achieving a “Designer” look. The

stories presented here are in acknowledgment of their space - which I title as 'domestic space'. Stories of domesticity will help the readers to

relate to their own domestic space as against the clean looking, elitist and hi-design images projected by the interior design practices.

Another objective of this research is also to use these stories as a reflection to our practice of designing interior spaces. On the other hand,

Kopytoff's questions can be helpful in understanding the 'subject' of domestic space – here, the middle class user. It is exciting to explore

the subjectivity of the home, since although it works within the parameters of budget, materiality and idiosyncrasy; it brings out newer

ideological questions such as “how does one articulate concepts and reference images” or “how does one understand what people actually

mean by modern/different/new/fresh”? Alternatively, what possible relationships can we programme by understanding settings of objects

in domestic spaces? The paper tries to open up discussion on the practice of 'interiority' and 'design' by seeing in detail, the conditions of

the domestic space.3

This project should be considered as a beginning in the understanding the nature of domesticity in the city. The scope of the project is

primarily to introduce the importance of studying domestic spaces of the city, and therefore is not too comprehensive. The analysis, as

explained, could not have been empirical and the idea of the paper is to present dominant patterns in the space of domesticity. What has

added to the limitation of the project is the problem of the communication language - the disparity of what the user wants to convey by using

certain terms (like modern, contemporary, ethnic, etc.) and the interpretation of these terms by the researcher due to certain training in the

field of design. Therefore, the stories are descriptive and present the word of the interviewee without any bias. The patterns identified too,

therefore can be debatable. However, the essence of the paper lies in recognizing the domestic space and the various vectors it opens up for

pursuits of design methods.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research is a compilation of narratives of the making of domestic space. The narrative form provides a framework where one can talk

about objects and ideas together – placing it appropriately in time. Thus one is also able to simultaneously discuss how decisions taken by

the user and agencies operating on the objects transform the final manifestation of the house. Moreover, the story-form connects to everyday

life by talking about objects we use in our daily living.

The narratives are constructed through personal interviews, questionnaires and photographic documentation of houses of the middle class

section in the city of Mumbai. Every case presented here represents a phase of idea that persisted in the domestic space of the city. The title

of each story hints at this idea. The cases chosen for the study were selected on the following basis:

1. Most cases talk about the domestic space of the apartment type present in the city. The apartment typology has almost become the

identity of the 'home' for the aspiring middle class section of the society in the city (due to its sheer number of availability,

affordability and the emerging character of the city).

2. Most houses fall in a similar economic bracket – within 1BHK (Bedroom-Hall-Kitchen) to 3BHK. The space and the luxuries they

could afford (as surveyed in the questionnaire) confirm this. A few cases diverge on either extreme for the convenience of

establishing time and space relationship.

3. Most houses are privately owned houses. This conveys that permanent changes could be made in the configuration of the house.

However, it has been observed that most users did not alter volumes in the available space by breaking the original shell.

4. Most cases are 20 years old or newer. This time period characterizes the establishment of the interior design profession in

residential spaces and also is representative of the liberalization phase in the country, which brought in new ideas to the house.

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5. Finally, most selected houses have been set up without the use of architects or interior designers. The houses here are designed by

the users themselves. This was helpful in deconstructing the academic idea of aesthetic (beauty) and opening up new ways of

thinking about ‘designing’the home.

The stories are structured through an analytical framework of three main stages of the final outcome of each house:

1. Ideation: Looking for what holistic idea the user wanted to present in the house.

2. Execution: What alterations did the agencies that operated upon the ideas of the user brought to the house?

3. Manifestation: What was the final objectification of ideas in the house and how does it change through use, utility and function.

CROSS REFERENCE KEY:

On reading the stories, one might feel an underlying sameness in all the narratives. This sameness strengthens the case of 'domesticity' that

the paper tries to establish. However, to understand the finer nuances of this sameness (which add the difference to each case), a cross

reference key has been devised. There are icons placed at the right hand side of each story which point out to an alteration in ideation,

execution or manifestation of the object in the space. Sometimes, it also calls for a statistical attention. The icons in the key are looked upon

as patterns which have almost become 'iconic' in the domestic space. Thus all stories become comparable and newer structures of objects

can be read out of them.

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A s s e m b l a g e o f B H K s ( B e d r o o m , H a l l s a n d K i t c h e n s )C A S E S

CROSS REFERENCE KEY

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stories of domesticity

Steel furniture/Godrej

Imported item

Show off

Indian/ethnic furniture Antiques

Vastu

Fevicol furniture

Budget issues

Decoration

Feng shui object

Reference

Modern

Leakage

Folding furnitureModular furniture

Recycled

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Steel folding chair9

Strong and safe as Steel

A Maharashtrian lady (now single) stays in a chawl in Dadar. The chawl was built about 85 years ago, when her family moved in. Her house has

two rooms - a living and a kitchen. Due to space constraints, it was imperative that the furniture they had in the house could be folded. During

her marriage, her parents had presented to her a folding steel bed. Another one was added to this by her father in law. Folding steel beds

during that time were ideal for long term durability and were cheap, but useful gift for a newly-wed couple. Today the bed lies in the living room

not only as memory but also since it has remained intact in the past 50 years. It has been derived from the traditional khatiya, where steel

straps criss cross each other and make a mesh on which the mattress is laid. Not only steel beds, but Godrej's steel cupboards and steel

office furniture had become quite popular during that time on two fronts - one for their safety features and second because they were

affordable. Two Godrej steel cupboards are kept in the living room, and have not been removed. Similarly for the kitchen, she took a smaller

steel cupboard later. Unlike getting it done in wood, steel, she says is easier to maintain, long lasting and also cost effective. Wood catches

fungus, and brings in insects like cockroaches and lizards. She says that although such cupboards are used to store clothes, she did not find

it awkward to keep her everyday steel utensils and boxes. Steel has proved its durability and even the small pooja case in her kitchen is made

of steel. She has also preserved a pair of folding chairs made in steel. There is a steel rack to keep her everyday vessels and plates in the

kitchen.

Once while her maid was washing clothes and utensils in the bathroom, she heard a loud noise. When she peeped into the bathroom, she saw

a hole in the floor large enough for a person to pass through. She observed that the wooden joists on which the floor rested had decayed and

the floor had fallen down, along with the maid. Fortunately, the room below was unoccupied and the maid landed safely. After the incident,

the floor was repaired in steel.

Earlier a part of their home was a typing institute. So they had a curtain separating their living space from the work space. Later the institute

was closed, but the stools used there were preserved, since they were made of natural wood. There were about 10 stools Initially, out of which

most were distributed to friends and relatives. She always believed that wooden furniture brings in a lot of insects in home. Now, only two

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Plywood two-fold dining table11

now. This curtain

also used to be there to make a space for the newly-wed couple in the initial years. When asked about the safety door (since there is already a

safety door at the passage common for all the residents at every floor), she said that this was built during the 90s when there would be a lot of

salesmen who would come to each house to sell or market for their companies' products - selling soaps to toasters. The character of the

safety door was such that it allowed only partial opening to be accessible. When closed, it still had a steel grilled opening which allowed air

inside the house and also visual connectivity.

The sliding door in between the living and kitchen was built during her son's eighth class. Their house faced the road and there used to be a

procession every now and then which would be noisy and would disturb her son's studies. She said that the door was made in acrylic so that

they could see anyone at the door and at the same time, screen the sound coming from the street. This was suggested by her husband to the

carpenter and left to the carpenter for its execution. The entire framework of the door was done in aluminum and not in wood. In her kitchen,

she has a two-fold dining table, which was purchased from a local shop. It opens up in both the directions. The dining table was brought in the

house to avoid bending while serving and eating. Also, she sees it as an organized way of keeping her eating activities. The kitchen platform is

extremely small - about 4'. The wall against the platform is tiled up to eyelevel, although the room height is quite vertical.

The TV table is actually a computer table which she has got from the nearby modular furniture store. The store owner did not have design in

steel, since it was out of fashion. She therefore had to choose from the existing options. The table she chose was perfect to the size which

suited that space and she did not want to get it custom made (since it would be costly). She asked the store owner to make some changes for

her in the computer table. She got drawers made by removing the keyboard tray, and closed the lower area by adding shutters and a plywood

back. Initially the owner resisted, but later she got all these alterations done for free. Now the computer table is her TV table. There is no

computer in her house.

wooden stools remain in the living room. The pelmet which held the curtain has been preserved, although there is no curtain

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Stone claddings for leaking walls13

Covering the Leakage

A Maharashtrian family is staying in a 4BHK in Dahisar since the last 20 years. When they moved in, they just had some basic furniture

requirement in the rooms like the sofa, beds and a dining table. Just within a year, there was a leakage in all the rooms of the house. Year by

year the leakage went on increasing. Since the wall was already damaged permission was given to the daughter to paint and draw on walls

and doors. Initially the house had white walls and the kids had scribbled all over the walls. Once the children grew up, the parents decided to

replaster their house. The daughter always wanted to paint and she also convinced her father saying that the paintings would hide the

damage caused by leakages. So within a year or so, she painted all possible walls to hide the leakages. Her parents and relatives were pretty

impressed with the paintings. Then onwards her parents preferred furniture which have larger or flatter surfaces, such that she could paint.

For example, a small TV unit gifted by their relative over which a painting was made by the daughter. After 10 years, that is last year her brother

was very keen in renovation as he wanted to have a new look for the house. The new house had to resolve the problem of leakages and his

father thought that all walls must be cladded in stone as a permanent solution to end leakage woes.

The civil contractor wanted to make profit and he convinced her father to clad the entire wall. When the daughter came home from her college,

she saw that they had almost broken wall more than lintel height, whereas the leakage was only at the bottom level. She tried to fight with the

contactor, and ordered him to clad only where there was leakage. She thought of doing some random pattern from the wall tiles her brother

already had ordered assuming the whole wall surface. In the evening when her mother returned home from office, she saw the half cladded

wall in stone. Since the whole house is on steps (and there are two levels in the house too), her mother immediately associated the stepped

pattern of cladding on the wall and the house and asked her daughter to instruct the civil contractor to continue the 'step' theme. So her

daughter decided to continue it on the flooring (in different tile colours) as well as the false ceiling in POP. The false ceiling was also made just

to hide the ceiling water leakage.

Furniture never played any vital role in the house and was never custom made. Furniture pieces just come in and went out as per the

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A range of sealant products from M-Seal15

requirement and function. For example when she and her brother were in school they had readymade study-tables which were sold out when

they completed school. They did not change the other furniture during the civil renovation. Her father just removed the old sofas from the living

room he just removed the old sofas. Since he wanted a large living space, he got a sofa cum bed. But the dining table, bed and the Godrej

cupboard are the same that were 20 years ago.

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Do it yourself manuals - American furniture

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American Desi

This 3BHK house was a gift given by the husband to his wife when their daughter was born. The daughter's room has a bunk bed which was

built about 20 years ago. When they were doing their house, American magazines and several Indian magazines had started talking about

foreign furniture. The idea of double decker beds and study tables was quite new. Thus they decided to have such furniture for their children.

The daughter's room has a bunk bed which actually has only the upper level of bed, since she was the only child then. A wooden ladder takes

you up to the bed. The room is quite cozy and this bed actually rests on the two opposite walls of the room (the shorter distance). The walls of

the room are cladded in brick like tiles, and they are not arranged in any particular brick bonds, but are more playful. The door of her wardrobe

has diagonal lined texture and is polished like a play house (an American conception) in brown woody colour. Her brother's room, made later,

has a study table as big as the wall, which is covered in books, collectibles, papers, drawings, pens and pencils, computer on one side, cds,

dvds, and different kinds of things. His study table is a place of fantasy. Although the study table came as furniture to organize his study, the

table has taken multiple forms to accommodate his interests, hobbies and obsessions.

They also wanted to make an open kitchen like the foreign houses but realized that it would not be appropriate in their cultural context.This

kitchen of the house is on the verge of semi-open, still closed. It opens to the living room though semi transparent wall fabricated in steel

frame and paneled in glass and wood (it is only 3” thick) to save space and for transparency. The niches formed in the steel framed partition

wall take up various things like photographs, keys, etc. The living room of the house is almost consumed by a dining table, placed in the centre

of the room. It is permanently occupied with day to day food stuff or a flower vase. There are chairs kept on one side which were gifted to the

mother when she was newlywed. The TV in front of the dining table has small things kept over it. One wall of the living room is cladded in stone

to avoid leakage, making a pattern of English bond. The living room opens out to a small barsati. There used to be a study table prior to the

current jhoola which is placed in this space now. Another terrace beyond this one takes an enormous garden, and is also canopied by the

expanse of a tree planted in the compound of the building. This barsati occurs beyond a staircase well, the last landing of which has been

converted into a small office space. The family says that occasionally butterflies pass through the window of the living room, moving out to

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Manifestation of the semi open kitchen19

the “garden”.

earlier kota - it was ceramic tiling. The passage connecting the new space was vaulted and has post modern Greek brackets made in POP. This

vault also has some spot lights embedded in it to resolve the darkness of the space. The column projections also have similar POP brackets

which support glass shelves on which show pieces can be kept. This new family room has sofas and Indian diwans for seating. The walls are

textured, cladded in stone and colourful. After the daughter grew up, the bunk bed could no longer fit her. Hence, the staircase has been

folded towards the wall, and a new bed has been brought into the room. The American bunk bed now serves as a book shelf (although difficult

to access).

When the house was extended on the other side, the flooring was changed. This was a new kind of flooring as compared to the

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From the 1989 issue of Fevicol Furniture Books: Wall units21

Fevicol Furniture

This family used to live with their parents and brother earlier in a 3BHK and decided to move in a 1BHK house about 20 years ago. While

making their house, the prime requirements that the family identified were a TV cum storage unit, a work-table and a bed. To lay these out,

they tried taking help of a draftsman-cum-designer who provided some rough drawings for the layout. Keeping in mind the budget, they

finally commissioned the work to the family carpenter, who had earlier worked for his elder brother. The carpenter got a couple of Fevicol

Furniture books from which they mix-matched designs. After a lot of deliberation and thinking over the main unit of the house, a symmetrical

design was chosen. At that time, asymmetry was hardly popular. The TV unit consisted of a space for TV (which could be covered with a sliding

shutter), video, transparent show cases, and in the bottom - opaque shutters for files. The TV unit was as big as one wall of the living room in

width as well as height. The carpenter added his own embellishments to the unit using mouldings and grooves.

Fevicol had not released their issue on work tables by then. Therefore, the work table was purchased from outside. It is a table manufactured

by Godrej company made in steel. Everything of the table (structure, cupboard and drawers) are made in steel except the table top which is in

plywood finished in laminate. He decided to get a glass top on this wooden top to make the table even more maintenance free. The glass top

was kept from sliding by using rubber-bands and various notices, pictures of gods, time tables, phone numbers, visiting cards and things to

remember could be seen through the transparency. The drawers and cupboards were on the left and right of the table while the centre space

was leg space. For seating, earlier the family had stacked two mattresses on the floor itself, which could be spread in case there were guests.

Later, his brother gave him a sofa, since he was taking a new one, and the old sofa was still in good condition.

The bedroom has a Godrej cupboard. Another small one was purchased when their second daughter was born, since the requirement for

storage had increased. The bed is a rectangular block containing enough storage for extra mattresses, pillows and blankets. Fevicol books

were referred to, but the final design was altered according to the needs of the family and detailed as per the budget. Also, it was made by

giving references of their brother's bed to the carpenter.

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Fevicol furniture: Wardrobes and beds

23

Intermediate renovations include replacement of old windows by sliding ones and renovation of the bathroom. The last renovation of the

house took place recently where the old mosaic flooring of the house was changed to vitrified tiles. They added a stone seat inside the living

room. This idea was borrowed from their neighbours, many of whom have made such stone seats. They say that it is easy to maintain and a

permanent solution to swelling of wood, termite attacks or recurrent repairs in wood. The stone seat spans an entire length of the short wall

and is set below the window opposite the TV unit. Recently they took a bigger refrigerator which left no space for a small crockery unit placed

above it earlier. The glass doors of this unit were painted by his daughter and they did not want to throw it away. Hence they just placed the unit

on the adjacent kitchen wall.

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Moulding profiles to hide timber joints

Veneer finishes for plywood

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Decorating Plywood

A south Indian family has been living in their 1BHK house since the last 20 years. The current setup of the house has been put up her family

itself. Their entire living room has plywood furniture polished in dark wood. It was custom built in 1991 when the house needed storage. This

includes the sofa set, the TV unit and the corner table. The sofa is finished in veneer polished like dark wood but patterned like brick. The brick

surfaces are pull out drawers. The sofa set is complimented by a centre table made in wood and glass, which was chosen from a catalogue of

furniture presented by the carpenter. The sofa hides her study table, which lies behind. The corner table filling the square gap between the

sofas contains old news papers, old photograph albums, etc. and becomes a show case on the top surface. The show case in the house was

also designed by her father referring to the Fevicol TV unit catalogues along with the help of the carpenter. All these pieces are finished in

veneer and polished such that they appear like wood.

In her bedroom, the mother has a large bed which was custom made when her twin sisters were born. The bed is contrastingly finished in

white laminate. The Godrej cupboards are maintained as they were. The box iron grilled window was originally made to accommodate the air

conditions. The grilled window (grills have brick patterned bracings) is a garden (her mother likes gardening), and the daughter recollects

playing in this space as a child.

The last major renovation was done in 2003, when the kitchen platform was altered. During the renovation, the kitchen platform was

extended into an L-shape to accommodate more appliances. In the kitchen, the underneath of the platform storage is not covered.

Traditionally, their family believes that the stored spices (in glass jars) add to the colour of the kitchen. Hence, one sees no shutters in the

kitchen. The kitchen also has a stainless steel utensils holder. All the utensils are stacked in this unit hanged on the wall. Walls of living room

which are common to the bath, toilet area have been cladded in stone to hide the leakage cracks. This was suggested to them by the local

mason whom they generally call for. They maintain that amendments were done following society rules. The cladding stone is similar to the

sofa colour as well as the pattern. The flooring of the entire house was changed from mosaic tiles to vitrified tiles to match to the new colour of

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Laminates in wooden textures27

family has preserved a trouser stand, placed in the bedroom, which is existing from their grandfather's time. They call it an “installation” in

the house and say that they have not seen it anywhere else.

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POP Cornice profiles29

Grandeur and Comfort

A chemical engineer living in Vashi in a 2BHK row house upgraded to a 4BHK recently by combining the adjacent houses in the row. Now the

house has a sizeable living room which has an entertainment area and a formal seating area. When redoing the new living room, he had the

idea of comfortable designer sofas and chair which he saw at his boss's office. Thus, while there are Indian diwans on the back side of the

room, the front is occupied by leather sofa set. In order to customize the entire arrangement of the sofa seating, parts of it are made rotatable.

They can be moved in particular angles but cannot be dismantled. The TV too, is placed on a rotatable disc, which was made by the carpenter.

This was done to position oneself comfortably while talking or watching television.

The idea of comfort also stretched to grandeur. To add grandeur to the place, two tiers of boxed false ceiling run along the perimeter of the

room and the ceiling edges have cornices in POP. These cornices on two levels are painted in golden. The floor was redone in marble and

reflects the chandelier and spotlights on the false ceiling. The profile of the cornice is followed in the TV unit mouldings, kitchen cabinets,

doors, wardrobes and other furniture. The emphasis on the grandeur is brought by placing old furniture pieces and vessels from his native

place (which are no longer in contemporary use) as antiques throughout the living room. One does not see such objects anywhere else in the

house. Being a chemical engineer, his father keeps travelling to Dubai and places in the Middle East. Therefore a lot of other objects like

photographs, medals, lamps animal statues, etc brought from all over the world are displayed in the living area. Certain other features of the

house include the door which has the traditional brass plugs like the ones put on the main doors in Kerala. The plugs were ordered in a good

number from their native place in Kerala and those not utilized in the house were sent off to be put on the main door of their office.

The staircase leading to the upper rooms has been designed by him in steel and executed with the help of a fabricator. He is really proud of

having this “sleek” design, and the space created underneath the staircase has been closed off into a wardrobe, or used for keeping the

refrigerator. Small pockets achieved in the upper floors underneath the staircase are also converted into trapezoidal storage spaces. There is

a sofa cum bed in his elder son's room since he mostly stays out of town, and the space can be used by guests. The room is otherwise blank.

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POP ornate panels31

Most of the doors of the house (including those of wardrobes) and windows are made in natural wood frames which are polished richly similar

to doors in Kerala. The panels of these doors are covered in similar laminates because they are made in plywood and would not give the feel of

natural wood grains. In the kitchen, the shutters are made up of fibre boards, which too are finished in pine wood grains. These shutters are

self moulded and have designs similar to the fevicol furniture.

Sofa-cum-bed32

Painted Godrej cupboards33

Revival of the Godrej

In order to upgrade their lifestyles, a Gujarati family shifted to their new 2BHK house, which was closer to their old house. While setting up this

space, they did not want too much disturbance by the workers. Hence they decided to go for readymade furniture, along with some other

furniture pieces that they carried over from their old place. This included their Godrej cupboards, computer table and show cases. The Godrej

cupboards were the biggest objects in the house which were old and to be retained. For a long time, they wondered whether to keep them, box

them in plywood wardrobes or throw away. Finally, keeping in mind their budget, they got their Godrej steel cupboards repainted in bright

colours - a suggestion by their painter, which now look freshly purchased in their house. Amongst the new furniture that they got was the sofa

set and dining for the living room, a double bed with storage for the master bed room and a folding bed for the daughter's bed room. They

went around looking for such individual furniture pieces in showrooms displaying interior objects. Even though the family preferred dining on

the floor, the dining table was kept for guests. The legs of the dining were changed to a cheaper material, which otherwise would have shot up

its cost.

On the civil end, they did not disturb their bathrooms, neither did they pack their lofts. The kitchen platform was not disturbed either. The

storage in the kitchen was made out of refurbishing the old storage they had in their earlier house. The jhoola in their living room is more to

remind of their native home-environment. The mother believes that ‘no house is complete without a jhoola’. Since the mother prepares a lot of

food stuff for the family like wafers, pickle or other foodstuff, they have preserved the balcony space for drying, etc. They have installed a wind

chime to ward off the crows from the drying balcony. When asked about the cultural significance of the chimes, they said they didn't really

believe in it and the sound was used for a purely utilitarian purpose of avoiding the pigeons and crows to make nests in the balcony.

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Shops making old furniture in Chor Bazaar, Mumbai.

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House is a Museum

A Maharashtrian family shifted from their house in Vasai to a 2BHK apartment in the northern suburb of the city in Kandivali about 6 years

ago. They sold of their earlier flat along with the furniture since they felt it would not suit the new décor of the house. They did not even preserve

the steel Godrej cupboards because they were keen to have a holistic look for their new house. What they only got to the new house was the

square pine wood finish dining table set. When they came to the new house, it already had marble floor and corniced ceilings. However, they

got the marble floor polished to bring its luster.

Much of the furniture has been brought from nearby furniture store in their new area. Wardrobes, sofa and beds are all purchased

readymade.The sofa is particularly slim since they did not want a bulky one like that made up of leather or cushion. The TV unit was especially

gotten designed from a relative who is an interior designer. He also designed some other furniture like the shoe case-cum-partition since they

wanted to screen the dining table. Her mother is really fond of antique furniture and hence, they went around looking for old furniture in Chor

Bazaar in Mumbai. They picked up an old Victorian style table along with an Edwardian love seat (two seater) for the house. She also brought

two poofies for the living room when she visited her brother in Egypt. Since many of their relatives stay in Egypt, they keep getting souvenirs

and paintings from there. Her mother also keeps on referring to a lot of interior design magazines and keeps making different things. An open

show case which is hanging in one of the bedrooms is an idea she copied from a magazine and got it made from the carpenter. This she carried

over to her new place from Vasai. The dressing table in her bedroom is got custom made from a local furniture store. In the furniture store, they

were showed various catalogues and they selected a design and ordered for its execution. The dressing chair (seat) is ready made from the

same store. There is a computer table kept in the room without any computer. After their desktop went out of order, her father decided to take

a laptop. But the computer table has now become a storage-cum-study table where the keyboard trolley has become drawer for books and

the CPU space beneath takes the laptop and bags. Similarly, there is a study table in the daughter's room, which she only uses as a computer

table. She never uses for study since she feels it is a bad corner for her. She actually sits on the bed facing the other side of the room for her

studies.

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Conversion of the door into sofa37

Reuse and Recycle

Since their earlier house was really small (1 bedroom, kitchen), the family shifted to their new 1BHK house about 6 years ago. Things were

added in the house slowly, and some favourites from the earlier house were plugged onto the new house. One of them was the folding dining

table, with storage. The father being an engineer has his own mind of designing objects. The folding table being one of his favourite objects

was not thrown away and was retrofitted in the new house. The table when folds down, drops a stand - neatly designed, and reveals a host of

shelves which contain everyday stuff like glasses, bottles, etc.

In the living room they have kept a fish pond and a custom made sofa set. The idea for the sofa set was taken from a newspaper ad, which

suited the image he had in his own mind. He referred it to the carpenter, and asked if he could match the design. The carpenter was supposed

to use the old-style main door of the new house, since he suggested, that the wood was natural teak wood and should not be disposed off. So

the new modern looking sofa was to be executed out of the old style natural wood door. One can see the consistency of the structure of the

sofa set limited to the thickness of the main door. There is no carving or design on it, and it suits their definition of “simple”. The cushions for

the same were upholstered in material brought from Delhi by her mother. These were chosen to match the already existing curtains in the

house. After making the sofa set, the remaining wood of the door was utilized for making the centre table's structure, which holds the glass on

the top and a storage tray at the bottom. When asked about the fish pond in the living room, she said, “well we had a small one before...my

dad likes fishes. According to my dad, keeping a fish tank is good and he loves watching them for hours... it's a sort of time-pass for him...”

For storage, the old Godrej cupboards were utilized. Only that they were covered in plywood box-like wardrobes to suit the new décor of the

house.

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Texture paints: Ad by Nerolac paints39

Adjusting Ideas in Budgets

The family of five stays in a 2BHK in Borivali since last few years. When they redid their house recently, they wanted a “modern” look. What the

daughter meant by modern was “anything that looks different”. However, they had budget constraints and therefore had to reuse or refurbish

a lot of their existing furniture. The old TV unit was designed by the carpenter, it had mouldings, and the TV height was high. It was changed

into new “less bulky” unit, being ripped off its mouldings and by cutting of the top portion. Thus the new unit fell within the framework of the

old one. Parts of furniture in the hall were taken to the bedroom. This was to make up for the loss of storage in the TV unit and also to save on

the budget. The dining table is unusually kept in front of the kitchen, which could have been placed inside. This was done to solve two

problems - the mother takes tuitions of small children and needs some corner of the living room to conduct classes and at the same time, the

grandmother used to watch TV during tuitions. Hence there was no other place the dining could have been accommodated, the chairs of

which were used by her grandmother while she watched her serials on TV. Some corners of the house, specifically the external walls of the

house are cladded with stone from the inside. Primarily this was done so as to avoid leakage and seepage. It also helped in preventing the

students to write, scratch or draw on the walls of her house.

The colour of the living room wasn't kept white as they thought it would appear like “lime plaster”. So parts of walls were made peach in colour

and some of it was covered in cladding. The other rooms were also made more colourful - highlighting a single wall in contrasting colour or

experimenting with textures. For example, in the elder daughter's room, texture paint was put on the wall. Although she wanted to put a wall

paper, they settled for texture paint since it was less expensive and maintenance free. The colour of the texture paint chosen by the daughter

was light blue earlier, but later was revised to dark blue since her father thought, “it must stand out and speak loud in the room”. The idea was

to expose or “show” the entire wall of texture paint and a light colour would not be seen at all. Even the mirror of the room which was earlier on

the texture paint wall was shifted from there to behind the door so that more of this painted wall is visible. The texture paint was done by the

painter very “mundanely” and not like as in the Asian paints brochure, which the family was referring to or imagining the wall like. They say, “It

came out to be much lined than random”. The mirror has now become very inconvenient, since every time one has to use the mirror, the door

has to be closed first.40

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Inspired by Walt Disney: Impressions Wall emulsions, Nerolac

41

The beds in the rooms were designed by the carpenter and he was asked to create maximum storage underneath. Also, the wardrobe has

been designed by the carpenter, with the mirror set in the wardrobe and storage created behind it. The earlier marble flooring was replaced to

vitrified tiles since it had become too dull, and there were a lot of scratches on it due to the daughter's craft works and cuttings which she did

on the floor. However, the rooms still have marble floor due to lack of budget to undertake the entire house's flooring.

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Ideas of Modern Living: Kalpataru developers43

The Geometric Modern

A Maharashtrian family shifted to their new house about 5 years ago, due to space constraints. This time they took a 3BHK, for a family of four.

While doing up their house, the family wanted a modern look. What they meant by modern look was furniture without any kind of intricate

decoration or carvings. “Something that is more geometrical.” They began their search for the living room furniture by going to various show

rooms looking for rectangular or geometric sofas. At one of the stores, they saw furniture pieces from Dubai. They liked one sofa from this

collection, which was quite expensive, but fit their idea of modern. So they thought of getting it custom made. They asked at the shop-keeper

if he could facilitate this job, and he was quite willing to undertake this task.

In order to cut costs, the original spring mechanism of the sofa was replaced with a layer of elastic bands underneath the seating. Since the

sofa was being customized, the family decided to interchange the original colour scheme of the seat and cushion, which was white and blue

respectively. Now the sofa had a blue back rest and the hand-rests became white. Initially, the sofa was comfortable, just that it sank more

than usual; however, as the elastic bands started giving up their elasticity, in due time the sofa became more and more uncomfortable. The

seat would sink in to a great extent causing the back cushion fall into the seat. The carpenter was called for and the elastic slats were replaced

with a thin sheet of plywood. Also, a minor correction to the back cushion followed by champhering it backwards. Everyday habits of wiping off

hands onto the hand-rest resulted in spoiling of the white colour. Now the hand-rest is permanently kept covered in a white towel.

In abiding by the modern, the living room's false ceiling was to be geometric - circular - something that complimented the orthogonal form.

Since the length of the room was more than the breadth, the circle was stretched to become an ellipse. To break the monotony, it was cut

along its two axis. The POP worker added his own version of stripes onto the cut ring. Also, to compensate for this tedious job of a curved false

ceiling (which would fetch the same amount of money as it would cost for a simple boxed false ceiling), the living room has a periphery of a

boxed ceiling too. It was not removed because of the money that it had already cost. The centre table of the living room was chosen to reflect

the pattern of the false ceiling ring. It was elliptical.

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Contact: For references of Modern Furniture, Inside Outside, 200045

For the bedroom, the family purchased one set of furniture (wardrobe and bed) for the son's room from a local furniture store in their area.

Though the bed was of the son's choice with a flat and rectangular back rest, the wardrobe had two large full length mirrors, which he

considered as girlish. Hence that wardrobe was shifted to the daughter's room, and the bed was retained in the other bedroom. Later, a bed

and a wardrobe in each of the rooms were made separately to match to the colour of these purchased set of furniture. The colours chosen for

the house are contrasting and bold - purple in the living, reds and greens in the room. These were considered to be latest, fresh and modern. In

the bathroom, the family ordered for tiles of two colours to be arranged in a specified way. Not waiting for the instructions, the civil contractor

went ahead and alternately laid out the violet and yellow tiles. This was the safe imagination of the civil contractor, which was perhaps the only

possible arrangement with two colours - for which he did not feel necessary to wait for instructions.

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Modular furniture: “Don't deny change”47

Modular Solutions

Her family shifted in their new 2BHK house in 1999 from their earlier rented CIDCO 1BHK house. The house has evolved out of necessity and

things have been put up by them over a period of time. Her father is very utilitarian by nature and does not believe in design and unnecessary

embellishments. But he does like to purchase branded furniture. As one enters the home, there is a Godrej TV unit which was purchased in

2009 along with the dining table (as well as the air conditioner and the LCD TV). In contrast to the Fevicol units, this TV unit is extremely simple

and devoid of any mouldings. It's more modular in its construction. Since the TV unit does not have a cover, a separate cloth cover is put over

the LCD TV because her father feels that it should always be kept covered. The story behind the purchase of these objects is such that the

mother works in a bank and is entitled to a one time furniture allowance one lakh rupees. The furniture was brought in to utilize this sum.

In their original kitchen, they realized that the granite counter (as provided by the builder) sloped away from the sink. As a corrective measure,

the civil contractor suggested sticking a stone piece over the platform which would separate wet and dry area. A similar stone piece was

thereby brought and stuck on the platform. There were sliding class shutters and channels underneath the platform. The channels

accumulated a lot of dust, and the shutters made certain areas of storage inaccessible. Due to all these reasons, it was decided to re-do the

kitchen. The new kitchen décor is selected from the Godrej modular furniture catalogue. The colour and model of the shutters were selected

from those mentioned in the book. Subsequently, the tiles were selected to suit the new colour of the furniture.

Although they dine on the floor like many Indian households, a dining table had become “necessary” whenever grandparents / guests come

over. After it was bought, the whole living room was planned around accommodating it. Basically it was new, so her mother wanted to place it

prominently so that it could be “showed off”. Some of the old chairs were donated to the watchman since their upholstery had worn off. The

old table was moved to their other flat since they were getting a rather paltry sum for it. The sofa cum bed presently in the living room is taken

from a local furniture store, and kept primarily for her grandparents, who occasionally come to visit them. The then existing furniture in the

living room (sofa) was shifted their bedroom. This sofa was taken from a place which sold furniture at an affordable (read inexpensive) cost.

Some storage in the daughter's bedroom was designed by the carpenter, and he insisted to choose amongst some laminates that he brought48

Modular Solutions by Home Town49

(inspite

carpenter's suggestions.

of it not being of her choice). However, her father completely trusted the carpenter, and the laminate was chosen as per the

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New agencies for Interior Design & Decoration

‘Self-designed’ Homes

This Gujarati family has been staying in the current 2BHK since the past 6 years. The father has helped a few of his friends to decorate their

houses earlier. Prior to doing up his own house, he also helped his elder brother in doing up his house. This comes purely by interest, although

he being an engineer. A lot of furniture in the house seems ready made, but is actually not. His father believes in latest and modern furniture.

To take an example, the TV unit and the allied storage have been made by the carpenter and instructed by the father. The TV unit is like a low

bench, isolated from other furniture kept besides it. It consists of four drawers and is as deep as the large screen TV. There is another

showcase on its left, which was designed and executed by the carpenter referring to the contemporary modular furniture available in the

market. The other storage unit on the right was instructed to the carpenter and made solid, which contains things not to be shown.

For seating in the living room, the family purchased a sofa from a local furniture store. They chose from the options that were available at the

shop. There is a stone seat adjacent to the sofa placed under the window with storage underneath. This was done primarily since there was

not enough space for a second sofa. Also, during rainy season, water enters the room from the window, which would have otherwise spoiled

the sofa. This comes from the father's experience of doing his friends' and relatives houses earlier. Since the window goes too low, the stone

seat is set against it and has a good width for storage. On the corner created at the junction of sofa and the stone seat, the family has put a

plastic stool on which they keep things temporarily. To keep show pieces, small glass shelves are placed on top of the TV and other corners of

the room. The chairs in the room are kept covered in cloth to save them from stains.

The dining table is custom ordered from a furniture shop. Actually, when they went to the furniture shop, they saw a lot of different kinds of

chairs with chair backs. The store owner told them that the backs can be changed as per instruction. He showed a number of catalogues of

different companies and also some alterations and designs he had made earlier for other clients. To be different, the father instructed the

owner to make its legs and the chair's backs my mixing and matching the already displayed furniture in the showroom. Thus, the dining table

has wavy wooden legs with a glass top, and the chairs have straight legs and criss cross patterned back made in natural wood. In the

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Magazines on Home-making53

bedroom, the bed was made as per the family's storage needs. The bed is high, to allow for enough storage underneath. The elevations and

the laminates used on the wardrobe or the bed's surfaces is his father's conception, gathered from various sources such as seeing at other

people's places and visiting various showrooms. There are trapezoidal patches or horizontal bands in contrast to the background laminate of

the wardrobes. The children's bedroom has two single beds. Small spaces have been created in nooks and corners of the house to fit in a

small TV, keep show pieces, antiques from native place, etc.

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Home Decor Magazines

Interior Design magazines for people55

Inside Outside

A Maharashtrian family, earlier staying in Baroda shifted to Mumbai about 10 years ago due to the job transfer of the father. They decided to

take their own 2BHK flat about 7 years ago. When transferring from Baroda, they carried a lot of their furniture from that place. When they got

the old furniture in their new house, it looked very huge and lavish. The same furniture looked quite proportionate in Gujarat, where they could

afford a spacious house. Earlier, the sofa had a pink cover. When brought in the new house, it absolutely did not match the new cream tiles of

the house. Although the family wanted a modern furniture piece, the sofa was preserved for its simple, grand colonial feel. Its cushions were

refurbished in beige to match the overall colour of the house. The dining table of the house was brought from Gujarat, which originally did not

have the glass top. It was added to the dark polished wood of the table allow hot items be placed on it without ruining the wood. The chairs too,

brought from Gujarat, were refurbished in green upholstery.

To blend the entire furniture with the new space, various home décor and lifestyle magazines like Inside Outside and Society Interiors were

referred to and combined with the mother's own instinctive ideas. She knows a Rajasthani carpenter, who is very skilled at work. All the

furniture work had been commissioned to this carpenter who himself has a catalogue of Inside Outside magazines collected over the last few

years which are his reference manuals. Ideas have been chosen and discussed from these magazines and assembled in the house. Both -

father and mother are very fond of the Fab India products and the paintings or the jharokha in the house are brought from there. They visit a lot

of Society Interiors exhibitions and the furniture has been inspired from there too.

The last renovation that took place was that of increasing the kitchen space of the house. The boxings of the building outside were taken

inside the kitchen to make more space. The wall of the kitchen was tiled then too. The reason for this change, as they say is: “The small size

was initially one of the main reasons for redoing the area, additionally, it lacked, in search of a better word, the 'zing' that the rest of the house

had.” The wardrobes or bookracks in the bedrooms and beds of the house have been suggested and designed by the carpenter. Small

changes were suggested by the family during the entire process of construction.

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Indian Antiques57

Fabulous India

A Maharashtrian family shifted from their earlier 1 room kitchen to a 1BHK. Within one year, they upgraded their space by purchasing the

1BHK adjacent to their house combining two 1BHKs into one 2 BHK. They wanted the look of the house to be “Indian”. The living room has

sofas and chairs which have baluster like legs, upholstered in floral velvet fabric. The cushion covers are printed/batik. These were custom

made by giving instructions to the carpenter. The family maintains that they like the furniture of Fab India, and try to use 'ethnic' colours like

they find there. A lot of furniture of the house is reproduced by taking ideas from the Fab India stores. Like the idea for the book shelf was

borrowed from the internet and as per the need to store bigger books and smaller books but the colour chosen was dark, similar to what they

saw at Fab India. Similarly, the dressing table also is adopted from a furniture piece at the same store. However, the beds are high to

accommodate storage. The colours painted in the house are mango yellow, fresh green - as highlighters on one wall out of the four. These are

inspired again from Fab India, and an aspiration to have an earthy look. An attempt was also made to make a warli painting on the wardrobe

shutters in the daughter's bedroom for the Indian touch, which did not succeed according to her.

The earlier flooring of the house was mosaic tiles which was removed and redone in vitrified tiles. In the extension of the house, they chose to

lay kota tiles since they found that vitrified tiles remain much warmer than natural stone. There is a clear distinction where the vitrified tiles

end and kota stone begins. The civil contractor suggested putting a black granite band to separate these two materials. To break the

monotony of the grey kota, small white marble squares have been inserted regularly at joints. This second-phase flooring resembles patterns

used in old Indian households. To resolve the two main doors of the house into one, the family had an interesting idea. They made their boxed

wardrobes in this new bedroom, and one of them contained the old godrej steel cupboard. So if they remove that cupboard, the main door

would become accessible. They stayed in the earlier set up for about a year when they had done vitrified flooring tiles. The renovations were

done in phases since they had budget constraints and it has been executed “by observing good interiors around and taking help from books

too”. There was a balcony in the bedroom which has been merged with the room to achieve larger living space. The previously separate bath

and WC were combined to make the bedroom bigger.

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59Colours inspired by Fab India

In the renovation of the kitchen, the family did not want to repeat the earlier pink and light coloured combination. Hence they went for cream

tiles and solid brown and burgundy laminates to echo the essence of the Indian. The rest of the shutters are made in solid peach colour to

match the tiles somehow as per their idea. There is a small dining table in the kitchen, with absolutely contrasting chairs as compared to

those in the living room. These came with the steel-legged and transparent dining. Since they wanted to avoid a “closed feeling” in the

kitchen, a transparent glass dining table was chosen. The dining table helps them to keep all the stuff together, and according to her father,

avoids otherwise bending while serving on the floor.

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Vastu for peace, prosperity and happiness61

Vastu-shastra

A family living in a 1BHK in Borivali was passing through a strained period of finances since a long time. Earlier, there were clashes between

sister-in-laws, the son went through an emotional imbalance, daughter's studies were unstable and health of family members remained low.

They tried seeking help from astrologers and started doing prayers. Later, they happened to meet a Vastu expert who told them that their

house is not oriented properly. He suggested them some remedial measures like covering off the mirrors on the Godrej cupboards which

reflected the bed, or shifting the position of the place of worship, etc. The family made the changes. There were no significant changes after

that in any kind of troubles except that things were just stable.

After some time, the son got engaged and the family decided to renovate their house. Since the budget was limited, they just wanted to

renovate their living area. This time, the Vastu specialist was called for before setting up the house. The Vastu specialist told them to slope

their living room floor in a specific direction, and suggested grey-white colours for tiles in the corner where they had the bathroom. He also

suggested to avoid placing the water tank above their toilet loft. For the kitchen, he asked for a revision of the space of the sink which was in a

wrong direction according to him and to take the cooking stove on the opposite side. This would change the entire layout of the kitchen along

with plumbing and gas connections. The family realized that this would not fit in their budget. Hence they did not undertake work for the entire

house at once. Accordingly, now, the bathroom has grey tiles on floor and walls and a grey WC too. In the living room, the vitrified floor tiles,

newly set, have gone haywire in an attempt to manage the slope. The new wardrobe does not have a mirror and is polished in dark wood. The

pooja almirah is placed on the right of the bed which is in the centre, although turned to match the direction. The rest of the room is consumed

by a TV table and a separate dressing table.

The vastu specialist was willing to give remedial options if the family could not restructure spaces in their house through placement of various

objects.

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The Gujarati family's House:Out of the box = curved forms (note curves in plan)

PLAN

ELEVATION

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Think out of the Box

A Gujarati family wanted to renovate their 20 year old 1BHK house in Dadar since they wanted a new look. They thought of taking help of a

professional interior designer, and called for him. The designer worked out the entire house professionally making it most usable. Initially the

family was skeptical since what he had designed was all orthogonal and the furniture looked only like “boxes”. It did not look “new”. After the

bedroom was made, they were not satisfied at all, since it didn't feel anything fresh. They called off the designer paying him some lumpsum

money. They waited for two months to find another person who could give them more exciting forms. The father's friend's son was studying

architecture and he persuaded him to visit his place. This young student thought it would be a hands on experience for him to experiment with

real material.

The family showed him what the earlier designer had made. They rejected it saying that it was too uninteresting and they wanted something

dynamic. This student had only the living room and parts of the bedroom to work on. He came up with ideas that were completely opposite of

what the earlier designer proposed. His objects were all curves free flowing study table, a curved TV table and a curved show case. The family

was quite fascinated and got it executed. Although this student had proposed open shelves where the curve tapered, the mother resisted that

she would have to clean a lot of dust that would accumulate not only on the shelves, but also on the show pieces. She convinced the young boy

by saying that she was old and would not be able to maintain so much of open cases. Therefore they ultimately decided to make curved

shutters in glass. The father had a friend who had a glass workshop and who would be able to manufacture curved glass for him. Infact, he

also asked this young designer if he wanted to add colour to the glass, which could be done for free. Also, the preliminary colour scheme

suggested as per the new design was white and red, which was rejected on the grounds that it would look like “BEST buses”. Later, they

decided a blue and buff coloured combination, which too they were skeptical looking like ICICI bank interiors. However, finally they got their

house in blue silver and buff colours.

In the bedroom, the new designer proposed a free form study table, with a free form curved shelf. This table was to support the shelf above,

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Lines changed to Curves in elevation of wardrobe 65

but it was ultimately fixed on the wall itself. Since the original design drawing had a support which looked good, the family brought a separate

decorative wooden baluster and attached to the table as a false support. The family really appreciated the new design. The cupboards below

the table were almost circular and they thought it was much better than what they earlier designer gave them. Since the living room was to be

air conditioned, a new requirement was the door that would shut off the space. This door would open in the passage, which also was the space rd rdfor the safety door of the house. The new designer proposed a door with 1/3 - 2/3 shutters. The family asked if they could have something

curved on the door too. Finally, the frames of this door were curved like waves and inserted with coloured etched glass. A final addition in the

house was the mirror at the entrance, in a space which looked very dark and small. The designer suggested that there be no decorations on

the mirror, and if at all, just an etched border. The family tried a lot to convince him to get it fully etched with their Jain sayings (since it would

cost the same as that for etching a single line). The designer left the final decision up to them. They then installed a plain mirror.

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Door & Wardrobe Elevations67

Elevations

The family earlier used to stay in a chawl room and have shifted to a 2BHK flat about 5 years back. Some of the furniture was brought from the

old house, while other furniture pieces were newly made. They caught hold of a carpenter who has his own workshop and makes objects in

bulk. This carpenter is an extremely busy person and could not devote his entire time working at site. To meet their requirement in time, he

suggested that he must work at his workshop. Hence the family agreed for it. They wanted a TV unit which would not be cluttered and minimal.

The carpenter showed them some examples of his work executed at other places and then proposed this design. What he suggested was a low

storage with one part of the unit going up to bear the show case. Since this unit's elevation was looking very plain, the family decided to add a

backing to the whole unit. Initially, the colour of the back of the unit was plain white and the family felt it was too bland. They asked the

carpenter to add some colour and gave the combination of a pink laminate in contrast to the existing cream laminate. The elevation of the

shutters of this unit was made in a combination of the same colour and wavy pattern to match the back of the unit.

Along with the TV unit, the wardrobe for the bedroom was also ordered for. The internal partitions were directed by the family as per the needs,

as well as the elevation of the wardrobe. The carpenter had suggested orthogonal patterns on the surface, but the family wanted to match the

pattern to the TV unit in their living room. Hence, this pattern was drawn and conveyed to the carpenter. Along with the curved pink pattern,

they also added some circles since the surface of the wardrobe looked very blank. The family is not happy with the workmanship of the

carpenter in the execution of the circles. The computer table and the dining table are purchased from furniture stores in their area. These were

not custom made which would have been an expensive affair. The computer table is different from the general models, since according to

him, it has 'minimal' look. The bedrooms are still having basic furniture, due to budget constraints and will be furnished in later phases.

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Tangent Furniture Mall69

Showroom House

The family has been staying in the current 3BHK house since past 5 years. Most of the furniture in their house was bought from showrooms.

The TV unit, wardrobes and beds in rooms, bookcase in living room were designed and executed by carpenter. Since their extended family

stays in Dubai, the family visits there often in a year. The family's obsession with IKEA (the Swedish furniture design store) has made them

import a lot of things from Dubai to Mumbai. On every trip they bring back some piece of IKEA furniture (small enough to carry on flight) to add

to the house. The lights in bedroom, the round animal seating in the living room, most of the lamps, vases, bed linen, dustbins, etc. are all

from an IKEA showroom in Dubai. The family wanted a sofa which was extra cushiony and soft as the ones typical in IKEA. The sofa in the living

room was bought from a furniture store Tangent. They say that, “It definitely feels different from other sofas here; people coming to the house

have said so too.”

The living room is large and a continuous band of cornice runs along the ceiling edges. The TV unit in the living room was custom made and

was executed by the carpenter. It looks like something inspired from old Victorian furniture and borrowed from the Fevicol furniture books.

The unit is a full length unit, symmetrical in appearance with the TV being the centre. Initially the family wanted a darker veneer for the living

room units. But the carpenter argued that it would make the house look like some “purane zamane ka bungalow”. After a lot of negotiation,

the carpenter gave in and used the dark veneer as the family wanted. But he imposed his own design by adding the silver band on the back of

the TV unit in the shape of a crown.

The light color veneer in the children's bedroom was chosen since it was most popular that time. Although the daughter was insistent on

minimizing details and removing all extra cornices, mouldings and etchings off the unit designs, her father kept saying that, “let the carpenter

do all these things because he is anyway charging us so much, might as well get all these extra 'decorations' done by him, it will look

grander…” Also the kitchen was done completely by one of those kitchen brands, who have their own in house designers. They came and

measured the kitchen, and gave a complete kitchen unit design solution within a week. All the family had to do was choose the colors.

Changing colors of the walls seems to be one of the easiest & quickest ways of giving a new feel to the room. They haven't renovated any room

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Ego Furniture Lounge

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since the beginning, except for changing the color of the green wall in the living room. The single bed in that room opens up to the size of a

double bed allowing constant reconfiguration. Also the computer unit of this room was the only piece of furniture they retained from their

earlier flat.

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Durian imported furniture73

Imported Furniture

This family used to stay in a bungalow in Khar before they shifted to a 3BHK flat in Bandra in 2002. They primarily shifted to the new house

since the old bungalow had a lot of leakage and maintenance problems. The father works for the German Tradefair company and therefore

has a lot of foreign friends. They carried some furniture from their old house like the study table and the bed. Much of the furniture in the house

is German - like the working desk in the son's room. This has been brought from the father's office, which had excellent German furniture, but

since they were shifting, they were discarding a lot of furniture. He therefore decided to bring it home trusting its good quality. Earlier, the

daughter had a king size German bed in her bedroom. It was actually purchased from a German family who wanted to sell of their furniture.

The bed was heavy and had two thick spring mattresses on it, which consumed a huge volume in a room. It suited the bungalow, but left no

space in the room in the apartment. Therefore, the family decided to give it up and make a new single bed for the daughter.

Other furniture in the house is inspired by the taste for imported furniture that they have developed. For example, the dining table and chairs

in the living room are made out of pure wood and polished in dark colour. They have the elegance of old German furniture. They even have

square seating which have four soft edged legs. As the children have grown older, they have started to tweak this pattern of the imported

house by painting their own rooms in colours of their choice and pasting posters and collectibles. However, the living room has been

maintained in the imported style. A lot of paintings and statues in the house are brought from China and the south east Asia. Earlier, the

colour scheme of their house followed black and white influenced from China, but later, as they shifted to the new house, they decided to

break away and add some colour to the house. Still, the German dark furniture and polished cream tiles bring out similar contrast like the

black and white.

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Steel furniture

POSTSCRIPT

“…but (it) is the everyday cultural practice through which the work of imagination is transformed”

-Arjun Appadurai; Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization; University of Minnesota Press, London

The shaping up of the domestic space has always been the task of people who inhabited it. People have always been 'designing' their own

houses - dealing with multiple agencies like carpenters, masons, plumbers, fabricators, etc. involved in the making of the interior. The

introduction of the interior design profession in the '70s and the rise in the number of houses in the city during the past few decades have

generated interesting characteristic conditions of domestic space in the city. The profession was responsible in a certain organization of

agencies which worked towards the execution of the interior - resulting in a formal image of the interior. As the image of this professional

interior aesthetic establishes itself, the image of the informal domestic seems insignificant. In the following essay, I would briefly like to talk

about the various important phases that occurred in the domestic space, using references of objects, ideas and agencies. I will summarize

the ideas that a domestic space encompasses in the later portion of this write up.

One of the most important furniture in the domestic space has been the steel cupboard. Introduced by Godrej, the steel cupboards had a self

locking system, with an inbuilt safety locker and provision for hanging or keeping clothes within. The steel cupboard became an ideal

container for different kinds of storage in the house and it almost became a symbol for safety and durability. Till today, most households have

preserved their old Godrej steel cupboards since they have remained almost intact. Steel beds too were in use then since they could be folded

and stretched to regulate space. They mostly became popular with people staying in small spaces like chawls or single room tenements.

Shortage of living space resulted into introduction of a lot of folding furniture. The early folding furniture like folding chairs, beds and stools

was all made in steel.

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Interior Solution agencies

Previously, use of natural wood allowed a good amount of detail. Carvings, intricate decorations and embellishments were a forte of the

carpenters during the time. Also, since natural wood wasn't available in large sheets, furniture would have a lot of joints, which were

concealed with mouldings. As plywood became available in large sheets, the number of joints reduced. However, the decorations on furniture

continued. In 1989, Fevicol came with its range of furniture books in India. It presented a range of patterns for wall units, beds, tables, etc.

While the early focus was on objects, eventually Fevicol introduced room-specific books. Furniture books were primarily given to Fevicol and

plywood dealers who could distribute it to the carpenters making such units for people. The units - as one can easily observe, are joint

intensive. These units had many compartments, requiring a lot of strong bonding for the cross members. Fevicol was a great option and it

gave ideas for free.

Fevicol and a range of other interior design magazines brought the foreign domestic space to the interiors of the people's houses. Fevicol

opened up concepts of open kitchen, bunk beds, study tables and plush seatings in the house. In the '80s, American ideas of making one's

own home became popular and a lot of “do-it-yourself” manuals were released and distributed with magazines like the American Reader's

Digest. These would explain how to make beds, wall units, kitchen storage, partitions, etc. in the house. The books would elaborate not only

ideas, but also techniques and tools. They brought the American interior into Indian domestic space. Plywood had become a very common

building material, and its consumption rose sharply by the late '80s. But plywood was bland and did not have the richness of natural wood

grains. The concept of a finishing material brought in a possibility of imitating textures and bringing in colour separately to the otherwise flat

sheet of plywood. Laminates and veneers began by imitating different shades of wood and later experimented with ideas outside its image -

printed patterns, flowery designs, random patches - all kinds of prints were possible on laminates. People appreciated this variety and

brought in different ideas to their homes.

This variety opened up too many choices for people. Often, it left them confused. Tapping on this 'confusion' created due to increasing

options of textures, materials and ideas, a range of home-making agencies sprung up. These agencies call themselves “Interior Solution”

agencies suggesting home-making as a problem solving exercise. They offer various combinations of such choices, ready for installation.

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Patterns of domesticity79

Realizing home-making as a laborious and time consuming, another set of agencies introduced quick installation modular furniture. Steel

had already gone out of fashion as it was considered heavy and visually bulky. Godrej revised a lot of its furniture from steel to wood. Modular

and light weight furniture made in fibre and wood were convenient to transport as well as they offered a variety of shades and patterns to

choose from. Such modular furniture also suited to the migrant user group in the city, who were constantly on a move and required instant

installation/de-installation of furniture in the house. Apart from this, a lot of folding furniture too was reinvented. Sofa-cum-beds, folding

dinings, drop down tables, moving sofas - all became the need of the day - objects to accommodate the spillover of activities in the house

became popular.

There has been a constant progression of materiality in space – steel and natural wood have been replaced by plywood, fibre board and even

non-fibre materials like plastic etc. The objects in the domestic space have taken on many such materials and the image of its manifestation

therefore appears fragmented. One sees many kinds of objects together from different time periods, from different geographies and

encompassing different ideas together in a domestic space. What keeps this fragmented palimpsest together is varied compulsions of taste,

beliefs and sometimes utilitarian necessities. These are the 'interesting' conditions that I mentioned in the beginning. In the '90s, when free

market economy allowed a lot of foreign goods in India, the Chinese aesthetic of Feng Shui (literally translated: “wind-water”) entered the

home through wind chimes, laughing Buddha dolls and fish ponds, which generally occupied corners of the house as show pieces. What

affirmed the belief of Indian mindsets to Chinese philosophy is un-understandable, but having a wind chime in the house was considered a

sign of good luck. More so, one saw gift shops filled with wind chimes, which were available in different configurations (not to mention with

different significances attached to them), laughing Buddha – from singles, to sets of three, to sets of seven in varying sizes, and later all

different objects. Water fountains, crystals, bamboo shoots, cactus gardens, turtles in water – all had become the operational means of

Feng Shui. Later, Vastushastra (the science of keeping objects: vastu meaning 'object', shastra meaning “science”) almost appeared as an

incognito Indian parallel of Feng Shui. Vastu conceptually attributed the energy flow to placement of objects in a certain direction, in

opposition to Feng Shui, which was flexible enough to every house. People empathized with vastu immediately - it being an indigenous

'science' and adopted it in their daily practice of arranging objects. Realignments and shifts in houses followed, and the philosophy affirmed

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Conception Execution ManifestationWhere are the images and how are they formed? What are the sources?

Who works on the image? How is the knowledge of the one who executes affecting the image?

What is the new image that is constructed? How does its use further transform it?

PlayModernGrandeurAntiqueTraditionGardenBeliefMemory

SelfCarpenterCivil contractorPainterDraughtsmanDesignerFabricatorVastuConsultantFengShuiConsultant

Bunk BedOpen KitchenClean LinesMechanicalMulti purposeWater FountainsRound BedCorniceGlass Table

Fish TanksWind Chimes

MarbleMirrorGlass

Idea Object Agency ConstraintBudgetSpace Size & Shape

DisseminationMagazinesBrochurePamphletsShowroomsNewspapersTV / Films

UtilityStorageSit/Sleep/DineShowHide/CoverAppliance

Initial framework of analysis81

“positive results”. People started covering up mirrors facing their beds with curtains, putting red lights inside their houses because the

entrance may have been in a different direction, position of the sinks in the kitchen was shuffled or pipelines were turned, water tanks in the

houses were shifted, beds were rotated or study tables were re-aligned. In many cases, such rearrangement of existing furniture in the house

created unusable pockets of space. Vastu went till the extremes of manipulating floor levels in the house, regulating colours and bringing

peace through placement of metallic objects inside the structural parts of the house. Later, in spaces where such shifts were not possible,

Vastu also came with its objectified solutions – vastu pyramids, crystals, etc. Today we have a special agency called Vastu consultants who

often tie up with interior designers and provide “interior solutions” where Vastu becomes an integral part of house planning. The builders try

to orient their apartments in a multi-storied building using principles of vastu, such that they can attract more buyers for their space.

In this discovery of the Indian philosophy, people also started giving importance to personal traditional cultures and settings. Old objects not

in use (utensils, vases, etc.), old design details from one's own country land (doors, windows, etc.) and furniture resembling the ones in their

native places (jhoolas, diwans, etc.) became exclusive properties of the traditional house. For those who did not really have such traditions to

relive in the house, the Indian ethnic came to rescue. Furniture stores like the Bombay Store or Fab India popularized the use of old khadi

fabric, solid colours and antique objects in the house. Production of antiques is a fascinating industry in the old parts of the city today, where

such old designs of furniture or show pieces are constructed and painted in dark polish or rusted paints. There are also specialized boutiques

like the “Good Earth” store which sells antiques that look rusted, old and seem unavailable. Antiques also became a medium to indicate a

certain sense of pride in tradition and history. Historical references of palaces (houses of kings) continue to influence domestic interiors

through cornices and arches which echo a certain essence of grandeur of the past in the present everyday domestic space.

The new movement along with the Indian traditional is the feel of modern. In the domestic space, the idea of modern has multiple

interpretations. Translated literally, modern look is 'new' look. The desire for something new manifests into modern objects having

orthogonal lines, less decorations (in case of reuse, even removing decorations) or painting walls bright. Stretched definitions also describe

modern as geometrical or minimal. The earlier generation of carpenters who have worked with natural wood, find it different to build clean

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Outer ring: ConceptionMiddle ring: ExecutionInternal core: Manifestation

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surfaces. Hence, they invariably try to add a moulding here or there, to relate to the furniture piece they are making. The newer generation of

carpenters has changed their practice by starting workshops where they can produce a similar object in bulk. Since the furniture does not

involve any decoration, the production is quick and they exhibit such furniture in their outlets, which they call modern. The domestic space

does not interpret modern in terms of rational thought. In fact, the modern is rationalized through popular image, utility and economic limit.

For example, the image of the new TV unit is non-bulky and minimal while its utility is to hold the television. Economic constraints force users

to recycle their old furniture (say the Fevicol TV units) into modern by ripping off their mouldings and decorations, and finishing them in new

colours or laminates. Still, the idea of the modern is almost always maligned because it never encompasses our peculiar domestic needs of

storage, our habitual ways of living or our constant urge for change. Modern has very little to do with “modern movement” or “modernist

ideas” of the post world war.

Such imagination of ideas is further redefined by the agencies which support the production of domestic space. Users of domestic space

learn properties of materials and techniques of making primarily through the agencies they deal with. Thus, these agencies are the prime

schools which regulate their thought. Unlike the professional practice of interior design which structures these agencies through the

principal channel of aesthetic, the practice of domesticity organizes these agencies through various parameters such as the budget, utility or

desire (and perhaps many more which the research has not embarked upon). Therefore, the image of the domestic is almost beyond

comprehension. However, these images help us in understanding the biographies of people and therefore cultures that once structured

people's lives. When we see the Godrej cupboard in a house, we know that it is as old as 30 years or the stone cladding on the wall

immediately tells us the possible history of the house. When we see an Egyptian painting in the house, we can understand that a family has

toured to a foreign land or when we see a jhoola in the house, one can understand the attachment to a certain kind of ambience that the user

has been brought up in. There are distinct patterns of such tastes too, which have not been the focus of the study. Through such patterns, one

can understand what kinds of people the city is composed of.

The practice of interior design almost nullifies such perception of the city because of its preoccupation with plainness and emphasis on

importance of space. Although the home is an extremely difficult territory to operate upon, the interior design profession has only

constructed it through its academically learnt skills. To be able to understand the home in its totality, the profession will have to look at the

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house through many other frameworks of anthropology, ethnography, sociology, mathematically, etc. Such new understanding will help in

revising the academic idea of beauty which the profession currently operates in. The numerous agencies like the modular solution

companies, interior solutions or new generation carpenters-turned-contractors or civil contractors-turned-decorators are already creating

a new way to deal with the objects in the house. It is only through their study that one can understand what users actually mean by the words

they use to describe their house. For the profession, it is important to grasp this user's imagination of the home.

We constantly imagine and re-imagine our houses. In his article “Prosthetic Homes”, architect Rohan Shivkumar says that “homes are

vehicles through which we become more than what we are… There is a 'here and now' to desire and can be found in the objects we make, the

systems we put in place, the ideologies we espouse.” By using the adjective 'prosthetic', he suggests that there is an incompleteness to our

being which we fulfill through the domestic space - the home. Further he adds that homes are spaces where our desires are manifested. Such

imaginations (desires) can be mediated only through the tangible. There is a context to this tangible manifest, and it is possible to perhaps

excavate into the desires through the way people make their homes, place objects in their homes or even the way we use things. “To be able to

excavate the imagination of the home then it is imperative to look closely around us, to turn a fine eye towards the way in which we arrange our

furniture, the knick-knacks we keep on our showcases, the way in which we use the home. In these objects, in their form, the references they

make, the languages they speak like our homes… The assemblage of the home thus helps us transform the city into what we want it to be.”

The domestic space allows us to transform the city into what we want it to be. Something that it is not - comfortable, cozy, intimate, personal,

private, soft and ideal. The contentedness of the user of the home shows his achievement of the platonic object – the idea of a perfect entity.

Can the practice of interior design deal with multiple ideas of putting up a home together? Can the practice offer “more in less”? Such

questions open up a possibility of tweaking the existing practice to suit our domestic space. Interior designers can feel proud of the sanitized

spaces that they design. But the truth is that the images they project in their portfolios are taken just before an interior-designed space turns

into a domestic livable space.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

Appadurai, Arjun; Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization; University of Minnesota Press, London, 1996.

Barthes, Ronald; Images Music Text; Fontana Press, 1993.

Barthes, Roland; Mythologies; London, Paladin, 1972

Baudrillard, Jean; The System of Objects: Structures of Interior Design; Verso, 2005.

Bhatia, Gautam; Punjabi Baroque and other memories of Architecture; Penguin India, 1994.

Davis, Howard; The Culture of Building; Oxford University Press, New York, 1999.

De Certeau, Michel; The Practice of Everyday Life; University of California Press, Berkely, 1984.

Eagleton, Terry; The Ideology of the Aesthetic; Blackwell Publishing, 1997.

Kopytoff, Igor; Appadurai, Arjun ed.; The Social Life of Things: Commodities in a Cultural Perspective; Cambridge University press, 1986.

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels, McLellan David ed.; The Communist Manifesto

Nelson, Robert and Schiff, Richard ed.; Critical Terms for Art History

thTate, Allen & Smith, C. Ray; Interior Design in the 20 Century; Harpes & Row, 1986.

Tiersten, Lisa; Christopher Reed ed.; Not at Home: The suppression of Domesticity in Modern Art and Architecture; Thames and Hudson,

London, 1996.

Simmel, Georg; The Metropolis and the Mental Life; Lecture at Dresden. 1903.

Reissue,

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Shetty, Prasad; Stories of Entrepreneurship; SARAI fellowship paper 2005, published by Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI, Mumbai) in 2008.

Venturi, Robert, Denise Scott Brown and Izenour Steven; Learning from Las Vegas: the Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural form; MIT Press, 1997.

Wiederspahn, H. Peter; Mutable Domestic Space: The Choreography of Modern Dwelling; essay, Northeastern University.

MAGAZINES & PERIODICALS

thShah Dhwaj; Redefining Architecture; Bombay Times, Times of India 27 June 2009.

Indian Architect & Builder Archives (1978-2010)

Inside Outside Archives (1982-2010)

Joshi, Anubha Sawhney; Driving Designers up the wall; Times of India

The Reader's Digest Complete Do it yourself Manual; The Reader's Digest Association Limited; London, Cape Town, Sydney.

Volume (2009-2010)

WEBSITES

www.artindiamag.com. “Building Bridges”, Art India.

www.anarchytect.blogspot.com; Shivkumar, Rohan; Prosthetic Homes

Design Digest, November 1995.

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www.fevicolfurniturebook.com

http://www.fippi.org/plywoodindustry.htm; History of Plywood

http://www.ancientsciences.com/AncientSciences.asp?CategoryID=15; Vastushastra

http://business.in.com/article/harvard/the-return-of-the-salesman/11832/1

http://www.architectureweek.com/2001/0905/culture_1-1.html; The History of Interior Design by John Pile

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