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Vaishnavi Nayel Talawadekar is an internationally published architecture, design and art journalist.

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Vaishnavi works out of a sunny studio called Mangomonk where she writes for publications big and small.

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Latest Articles

Architectural Digest •

This Mumbai production studio is designed like a film that slowly reveals itself

More often than not, when it comes to creating a space, architects Aashna Shah and Ruchir Jain of Mumbai-based RAD co + lab like to resort to a bit of make-believe. “We like to imagine first and design second,” says Shah. For one home, that story might unfold in a sun-dappled English garden. For another, it could begin with a postcard from Japan and end somewhere delightfully wabi-sabi. So when the duo were commissioned to design the office of a leading Mumbai production house in the suburb of S...
Architectural Digest •

Housed in a 70-year-old building, this Puducherry boutique feels almost monastic

Task architect Deepak Jawahar and designer Justine De Penning of Chennai-based The Architecture Story to conjure a space, and chances are, they’ll begin, crucially, by taking things away. Not stripping it bare necessarily, but editing—gently, patiently—until what remains feels almost inevitable. That approach finds its perfect counterpart in fashion designer Naushad Ali’s new boutique in Puducherry, housed within a 70-year-old building in White Town, where, as De Penning explains, the intention...
Architectural Digest •

This 17th-floor Chennai apartment measures space in everyday moments

High above Chennai, on the 17th floor of a tower that gathers both heat and horizon into its embrace, a Sunita Yogesh Studio apartment looks out over a city that never quite settles and, beyond it, a strip of sea that appears and disappears with the light. Inside, however, there is none of that restlessness. The mood is composed, considered, hushed—less about effect than about the art of living well. The home, in a way, mirrors its owners: a couple in their thirties, both in demanding IT careers...
Architectural Digest •

This architect’s Chennai studio is a home disguised as an office

Set on a bustling street in Chennai, the studio occupies a 1980s building that once functioned as a family home. The owners still live upstairs; life continues above in its original domestic register, while the ground floor has passed through years of commercial tenants, each leaving behind their own alterations. Yet beneath those layers, Menon found something intact—a quiet, unshowy integrity. The mosaic floors were what first caught her. Different in every room, slightly irregular, distinctly...
Architectural Digest •

This architect couple gave their parents' 40-year-old Chennai home a delightful upgrade

Pablo Picasso once said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." Husband-and-wife architect duo Kavin Sundar and Preethi Baskaran of Chennai studio Two Straight Lines never had that problem, because to Kavin’s parents, Sundar and Raji, their son and daughter-in-law have always been creative first and grown-ups second. So when the couple proposed transforming the underused terrace of the family’s 40-year-old Chennai home into a light-filled extension fo...
Architectural Digest •

This Rajkot cafe is built around traditional courtyards and teracotta

The idea of stepping out rarely comes with the promise of slowing down—especially in bistros and brasseries, where even leisure tends to feel scheduled. You walk in, pick a table, scan the room like you’ve done this before, and instinctively edit yourself to match whatever version of you the space seems to prefer. But every so often, you stumble into a place that resolutely refuses the whole act. Exhibit A: Café Beats.A stacked terracotta matka partition marks the first pause inside Café Beats,...
Architectural Digest •

This jewellery store in Tamil Nadu's Pollachi feels more like an heirloom than a showroom

Architect Sowmya Kumar likes to see the glass half full. The trouble is, when it comes to her work, the founder of Coimbatore-based OWM Architecture can never quite resist filling it right to the brim. She slipped into this habit, almost irreverently, while designing Tvishi, a jewellery store in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, repeatedly revisiting a scheme her client had already enthusiastically green-lit and returning with iteration after iteration—each more dazzling than the last. "There came a point w...
Architectural Digest •

Inside a multi-pavilion Surat home inspired by a grandson’s memory

Distil Surat designer Rahul Dholakia's memories of his grandmother down to their essence, and one scene remains: a mud chullah crackling in the courtyard of their ancestral home, bajra na rotla rising over the flame, and a young boy sitting close enough to carry the smell of smoke with him for years to come. The house itself wasn't remarkable. The memories it contained were. Dholakia grew up in a sprawling Gujarati family that now numbers more than 70 members. Business eventually took him around...
Architectural Digest •

This house in Kerala’s Idukki hills practically disappears into the landscape

More often than not, before he begins designing spaces in real life, architect Prabhul Mathew of Kottayam-based Mindspark Architects likes to create them in his head. Sometimes, these structures are large. Other times, small. Some have gabled roofs. Some, flat ones. But almost all of them, in one way or another, begin on reassuringly flat terrain. For Mathew, however, architecture in real life rarely begins with a predetermined idea of form. Instead, the terrain, climate, vegetation, light, and wind gradually shape the building over time. “The site decides what it needs,” says the architect, who worked alongside team member Shahana Salahudeen.
Architectural Digest •

The Homeowners' Favorite Room in This Napa House Is Actually Outside

For designer Rachel Vineberg Jones and her husband, Eric Jones, their latest chapter was one they hadn’t seen coming. It began with a prolonged hospital stay for their newborn son and continued with the purchase of a 3,000-square-foot home in Napa. “I remember looking around and saying to Eric, ‘There's something about this place—I think it's going to become important to us,’” says the founder of San Francisco–based design studio Vine Projects. At the time, the property offered more promise than...
Architectural Digest India •

A 5,000-square-foot Kanpur farmhouse that channels the energy of a Greek island

There is, throughout the home, a distinct sense that nobody was terribly interested in behaving formally. Corridors widen unexpectedly into conversational pockets; sit-outs appear precisely where one might wish to abandon all productivity with a cup of tea; and nearly every room seems engineered to encourage the art of doing absolutely nothing for slightly longer than intended. “The architecture understands, perhaps wisely, that farmhouses are rarely used according to plan,” says Namrata Somani,...
The Local Project •

Rockpool House by Architecture Saville Isaacs and Madeleine Wood

Located in one of Avoca Beach’s most coveted pockets, the six-bedroom dwelling responds directly to its setting between bushland and ocean. About 90 minutes north of Sydney, the Central Coast enclave is known for its laid-back atmosphere and strong sense of community – qualities that shaped the home’s tone as much as its architecture. The project also carries personal significance for the owners, whose longstanding connection to the area informed the brief and inspired the home’s name, a referen...
Architectural Digest India •

This Indian designer turned homesickness into Portland’s warmest textile store

When the time finally came to move into a dedicated studio, Kalia knew she didn’t want a polished commercial showroom stripped of personality. After an uninspiring search through generic retail spaces, she instead bought a small house tucked into a quiet Portland street. “The moment I opened the front door, it just felt right,” she recalls. “I could instantly picture how every space would come together.” That warmth still defines the studio today. Original wood flooring was refinished rather tha...
Vogue •

Bees are helping women in rural India earn their first salary

In India’s vast agricultural landscape, the beekeeper has traditionally been imagined as a man: face veiled, smoker in hand, hauling heavy boxes through mustard fields under a punishing sun. Bees, after all, are still widely associated with risk, sting and brute endurance. Which is precisely why Monika Shukla is an anomaly.At 37, the IIT Kharagpur silver medallist and former Goldman Sachs analyst is building what she calls a “pollination economy”: a sprawling network of rural women beekeepers ac...
The Local Project •

Angel Dream by Clint Nicholas Design

In Holmby Hills – one of Los Angeles’s most storied enclaves, tucked between Beverly Hills and Bel Air – the echoes of old Hollywood still linger. Known as part of the ‘Platinum Triangle’, the neighbourhood is defined by sweeping estates, tall hedges and quiet, tree-lined streets. It is the setting for a sprawling residence by Clint Nicholas Design, where a postcard-like European air meets contemporary family living. “It has this very established, romantic character,” says interior designer Clint Nicholas. “Holmby Park just nearby gives it this gentle connection to nature that really shaped how the clients wanted to live.”
The Local Project •

Wybalena by Ziegler

Conceived as a legacy project, the four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom home was envisioned as a place of permanence – one that could evolve with its owner over time. “The intention was to create something enduring,” says Todd Miller of Ziegler. “A home that responds to both the landscape and the rhythms of family life.” Set on a two-hectare site just two kilometres from Byron Bay, the design captures the full sweep of its surroundings, framing sunrise and sunset as daily rituals embedded wit...
Architectural Digest •

Built Around a Mango Tree, This Kerala Home Is a New Kind of Greenhouse

Architect Arjun Joshy, by his own admission, is a connoisseur of design and mangoes, in roughly equal measure. For this Kerala home in the Indian city of Thrissur, his first order of business was to save the mango tree at the center of the site.The homeowner, Sharan, is a software engineer who moved back to Kerala during the COVID-19 pandemic. The shift marked a quiet recalibration of pace and priorities. “My wife is a teacher, and we have two young boys. We are a family of six, living together...
Architectural Digest •

Inside a Bandra apartment designed for someone yet to arrive

An interior remodel, as any sage designer will tell you, can go one of two ways—“off-script or very off-script,” laughs interior designer Tejal Mathur, founder and principal of her eponymous Mumbai studio. Her latest project, a 2,000-square-foot apartment in Bandra, belongs firmly to the latter category. “After the first cut of the plan, the owners came back to us with a little surprise,” she continues. “They needed a full-fledged nursery…because, well, she was pregnant.” For Mathur and her team—designers Meha Jadeja, Gayatri Shinde, and Rizzanne Idnani—it meant going back to the drawing board. This time, with a crib in mind.
Architectural Digest •

In this multigenerational Mumbai home, everyday life finds its curve

Interior designer Dhvani Shah trusts her sixth sense—but over the years, she’s developed a seventh to ensure she always backs the sixth. “They called it the ‘sandwich strategy’,” laughs Shah, recalling her latest clients—a family of five, comprising a husband and wife, their five-year-old son, and the husband’s parents, who entrusted her with transforming their bare-shell, builder-grade apartment into a warm, multigenerational oasis.“Material selection was always a highlight because of Dhvani’s...
Livingetc •

[Print] Chennai: Quietly Does It

bove the dining table in
a Poes Garden, Chennai
home, floats a sculptural
light that looks like it’s
drifted in from a fairy tale.
Part chimney, part cloud
– entirely unfazed by the attention. Getting
it up there, though, required every bit of it.
As Amrita Thomas of Chennai-based Alara
Studio puts it, the piece by Arjun Rathi
arrived in bits, like an oversized jigsaw,
and had to be assembled on site with a fair
amount of coaxing – and, one imagines, a
few deep breaths. “When it finally came
together, there was a collective sigh of relief
– and the distinct sense that the room had
been waiting for it all along,” she says of the
installation.
The Local Project •

Maharam Showroom by Neil Logan

Historic buildings often carry a past that is as significant, if not more so, than their present. Maharam’s new Manhattan outpost at 257 Park Avenue South in Gramercy Park is a compelling example. The multi-brand showroom is a contemporary reimagining of the historic space by local architect Neil Logan, who is celebrated for his ability to revitalise buildings while preserving their defining character. True to Maharam’s signature approach, the aesthetic is immediately apparent: a soaring gallery offers a vantage point over a large library of textiles and leather, while warm, earthy display units in Douglas fir and marine plywood counterbalance the materials’ softness. One wall is transfor...
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Architectural Digest •

Inside a coastal Karnataka bungalow inspired by childhood memory

As sometimes happens when inspiration strikes, Salian found himself guided by flashes of memory, or as he puts it, “a faint, sensorial fragment from childhood. I remember stepping into a Mangalore tile factory, now long vanished, and being enveloped by its vastness. A double-height roof stretched overhead, its terracotta tiles resting on an exposed lattice of wooden trusses. The air was thick with the scent of sun-baked clay and ash. Light filtered in from high openings, casting long shadows acr...
Architectural Digest •

AD Visits: Diipa Büller-Khosla's canal house in Amsterdam is a postcard from 1614

Even from 6,000 kilometres away, Diipa Büller-Khosla’s energy is palpable through the screen. It’s morning where she is, and she and her husband and business partner, Dutch former diplomat, Oleg Büller-Khosla (the couple legally adopted each other's last names when they married in 2018) are perched in the kitchen of their Amsterdam home, in the company of their pet pooches, Kubii and Bimbo.

By their own admission, it’s a scene that just a few years ago, was a figment of their imagination. “We'd
Architectural Digest •

AD Visits: Ishaan Khatter’s Mumbai apartment is a sunset sanctuary

When he isn't busy filming or promoting or air-dashing off to exotic locales, Ishaan Khatter likes to appreciate the little things in life. “On Sunday mornings, when time permits, I slip off for a bike ride. In the evenings, I like to watch the sunset with some music and coffee,” says the actor, who was last seen in supernatural comedy Phone Bhoot, alongside Katrina Kaif and Siddhant Chaturvedi. So when he moved in a three-bedroom apartment along the Bandra sea face, naturally, his first priorit
Architectural Digest •

AD Visits: Actor Aahana Kumra’s Mumbai apartment is a pretty-in-pink princess pad

In a building full of identical brown doors, Aahana Kumra's entrance is the only non-brown curiosity. "I absolutely love pink. It's my all-time favourite colour—that's why it's right at the front," she laughs, holding open the candyfloss-coloured opuscule as she ushers me inside. For Kumra, the home is a manifestation twenty years in the making, and one that nods equally to her Lucknowi roots and her life in Mumbai. "There are whiffs of Kashmir, London and Delhi too. It's a collection of all my
Architectural Digest •

AD Visits: Actor Aparshakti Khurana’s Mumbai home displays drama in the details

Even before they had finalised their house, or decided who would design it, actor Aparshakti Khurana and his wife, events entrepreneur Aakriti Ahuja, had a chandelier picked out and stowed away in storage. "I had spotted it some years ago in Delhi and just knew I had to buy it," laughs Aakriti, and Aparshakti chimes in, "We had no idea what our future house would look like. Nothing was set in stone, except this big, blue bhaisahab." The bhaisahab in question now occupies a corner of their living
Architectural Digest •

AD Visits: Singer Armaan Malik’s Mumbai home is halfway between London and Los Angeles

At 10 AM on a Sunday, the last thing you'd expect is for Armaan Malik to be crisping the edges of a frittata. And yet, that's exactly the sight that greets me as I step into his kitchen, a California-cool bolthole with a London-esque edge. "I love making breakfast and treating myself to a good spread," he says, drizzling butter on bruschettas. Dressed in a casual button-up and chinos, he looks like a laid-back version of his on-screen alter ego, who, as fans of The Voice (on which Armaan appears
Architectural Digest •

AD Visits: Actors Aditya Seal and Anushka Ranjan’s newlywed nest is a storybook come to life

At the door of actors (and newlyweds) Aditya Seal and Anushka Ranjan Seal's new Mumbai duplex, the nameplate is conspicuous by its absence. What is not is the cheery (LED) baby seal that takes its place, animating the wall and nodding to its namesake owners. “It's fun to watch people guess," says Anushka. "Those who get it, get it. And it makes for a great conversation-starter." But the unlikely sea creature isn’t the only thing setting the entryway apart—because if the peach-toned front door (a