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Architectural Digest India •

[Print] The Plant Whisperers

Varna Shashidhar was always passionate about the natural environment, but it took an internship with leading Sri Lankan architect Chelvadurai Anjalendran to help her appreciate the richness of the built form in symbiosis with the landscape. Her experience led her to pursue a master’s degree in landscape architecture at Harvard University, with a resolve to set up her own practice, focusing on creating contextual environments that celebrate the natural beauty and nuances of India and South Asia. “Cultural landscapes in India have the power to touch the chitta [human consciousness], which transcends the sensorial. That is a quality I aspire to bring into my work,” says Shashidhar. Since founding VSLA in 2013, she hasn’t been afraid to get her hands dirty—literally. Among her notable achievements are a didactic ecosystem for Neev Academy in 2015, a garden sanctuary with native edibles and medicinals for Byg Brewski, then India’s largest microbrewery, in 2018, and a one-acre urban remediation landscape with over 75 species of local and adapted vegetation for Bangalore International Centre in 2019. She is currently working on creating a healing landscape at Kathiwada, Madhya Pradesh. And yet, she’s nowhere near done.
The Nod Magazine •

At home with the Barclays

Twenty years ago, Sam and Erica Barclay had a plan: graduate college, get married, make a career. The end. The childhood sweethearts, who ‘met’ at the age of five and grew up in the same rural Michigan town, hadn’t bargained on moving to India, much less permanently. “Ours is a story that will either make you go ‘awww’ or roll your eyes—you decide,” Erica had mused when I interviewed the couple several years ago. (For the record, I had awww-ed.) After attending undergraduate school in different...
The Nod Magazine •

Architect Vinu Daniel is building sustainable homes (and other things) out of waste

If Vinu Daniel had had his way, his life would have been very different. For one, the Dubai-raised, India-based architect would be spending his days on a stage, not a site, trilling Carnatic romanzas and still living tax-free somewhere in the Gulf. “I never thought I’d be an architect,” reflects the former aspiring musician and present-day principal of architecture practice Wallmakers. Indeed, had his Malayali parents not played doomsayers and coerced him into picking something more m...
Kinfolk •

Vinu Daniel: The architect creating homes out of waste.

Architect Vinu Daniel doesn’t work from an office. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s conviction that the ideal house should be made with material sourced within a five-mile radius, the founder of award-winning practice Wallmakers instead works wherever his next project happens to be. In the past, this has taken him to southern India, where he built a mountain-shaped home from local construction debris; Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, where he mad
Kinfolk •

Vinu Daniel: The architect creating homes out of waste.

Vinu Daniel isn’t your average architect. He doesn't own an office. He creates buildings out of earth and litter. And for anything he constructs, he sources materials within a 5-mile radius. Some might call the Dubai-raised, India-based architect a maverick, and if his recent projects are anything to go by, they wouldn't be wrong. The list includes a mountain-shaped abode fashioned from construction debris; a red brick house with shapeshifting walls; and a subterranean home, carved into a rock face, with a foundation comprising four thousand discarded plastic bottles. For a job that takes him all over India and the world, the award-winning architect, who runs Indian architecture practice Wallmakers, has learned to live out of a suitcase: “For now, my home is where my work is.”
Design Anthology •

[Print] Brass Tacks: Vikram Goyal

Vikram Goyal never meant to pursue design, much less make a career out of it. “In a way, design found me,” says the celebrated New Delhi-based product designer, who has, in the past two decades, emerged as an éminence grise in the Indian design firmament. His oeuvre of brass works has found particular resonance on the world stage, speaking to a global audience while echoing, even amplifying, India's rich artisanal legacy.
Kohler Magazine •

[Print] The Wonders of Waste: Up Close With Vinu Daniel

As a student of architecture at university in Kerala, Vinu Daniel had a penchant for going against the grain. “I never aspired to be an architect. I wanted to be a musician instead and I even plotted an escape in my third year [of architecture school],” says the founder of Kerala-based architecture practice, Wallmakers. He was equally disenchanted by the the pedagogy of the course. “It put architecture first and nature second, which was weird—aren’t we supposed to tread carefully?” he continues. A chance encounter with eminent British-Indian architect Laurie Baker in his fourth year of university served as his turning point, inspiring in him an epiphany and motivating him to develop his own architectural ethos.
Effect Magazine •

Venus Williams is serving aces with her interior design firm V Starr

The tennis titan’s successful South Florida-based interior design studio V Starr in many ways reflects her career on the court

When interior designer Sonya Haffey first met Venus Williams, she didn’t recognise her right away. “Maybe it was because she was sitting down, but I remember thinking she looked familiar,” says Haffey, now principal at the Williams-owned, South Florida-based interior design studio V Starr, who recalls the faux pas as being equal parts amusing and embarrassing. After all
Effect Magazine •

5 interior designers on why Modern Prairie is the next big thing

Chances are, you’ve never heard of the Modern Prairie aesthetic. After all, it is one of cowboy country’s best-kept secrets. A sophisticated take on traditional farmhouse, it’s a style that traces its roots to America’s Prairie movement of the late 1800s. Lately, we’ve seen a resurgence of the aesthetic, with interior designers across America reinterpreting the style in their own unique way. Here, five designers take us through what Modern Prairie means to them, how it has informed their work, and why they think it’s only going to get bigger.
Effect Magazine •

How HGTV star Ali Budd built a design studio spanning the globe

The Toronto-based interior designer has projects in Canada, the United States, Costa Rica and Antigua—with more countries in the pipeline

Even as a little girl, Ali Budd always knew she was destined for design. “I’d spend countless hours with my dad drawing, hunting for furniture to rebuild or refinish, and turning various rooms into elaborate forts,” recalls the Toronto-based interior designer and founder of her eponymous design studio. “My parents were entrepreneurs, and I grew up at their ad
Reside Magazine by Sotheby's International Realty •

[Print] Rooted in Africa: Designer Jomo Tariku on Reimagining African Furniture

Growing up in Ethiopia in the 1970s, Jomo Tariku was always surrounded by beautiful things. His father—a US-educated colonel in the Ethiopian army, designated the first military attaché to Kenya—was a consummate collector of glassware, furniture, rugs and objets d'art, acquired on his travels within Africa and beyond. “I believe that left a lasting impression on me and what I do now for a living,” says the Nairobi-born, Virginia-based industrial designer. At the behest of his father (who wanted to keep his two young sons out of trouble), a young Tariku did a summer apprenticeship programme at a local furniture builder in Addis Ababa before moving to the United States in 1987 to pursue a degree in industrial design at the University of Kansas. It was there, while he was completing his thesis on contemporary African furniture, that his design practice was born. And yet, it would take another thirty years for the world to truly sit up and take notice.
Livingetc •

[Print] Meet the Makers: Pavitra Rajaram and Bharat Floorings & Tiles

Seven years ago, on a boat ride to Alibaug, designer Pavitra Rajaram and Bharat Floorings & Tiles Vice Chairman Firdaus Variava pondered a collaboration in passing. By the time they disembarked, the idea became a thought. But for the next seven years, it had little room to grow. That changed in 2020. To mark the centenary celebrations of Bharat Floorings & Tiles, Firdaus was keen to launch a special centennial collection. And that long-ago conversation with Pavitra seemed like a wonderful thing to manifest. “We were looking for someone to do a spectacular collaboration with, someone whom we loved and respected enormously and who would give us timeless designs—and who better for this than Pavitra?” he says.
Livingetc •

[Print] Name to Know: Thierry Journo

When Thierry Journo named his lifestyle brand IDLI, he wasn't paying homage to the much-loved South Indian breakfast food. Instead, he was tipping his hat to the country in which it was born. "Not many people know that it's simply an acronym for 'I Do Love India'," says the Tunis-born designer. The son of French-Italian parents, he spent the first six years of his life in Tunisia, before moving with his family to Paris, where he completed his schooling. As he got older, it was clear to him that his interest lay in art, more specifically in art history. He thought: what better place to learn it than the Louvre?
Wallpaper* •

Vinu Daniel on the glory of garbage in architecture and Chuzhi House

Vinu Daniel never aspired to be an architect. Born in Dubai to parents of South Indian origin, he was always expected to pursue something mainstream, such as law or medicine or even chartered accountancy. ‘Certainly anything but Carnatic classical music,’ jests the founder of Wallmakers of his childhood proclivity for the arts. In a bid to reconcile his passions and his family’s hopes, Daniel moved to India for university, enrolling at the College of Engineering Trivandrum for a degree in archit
Architectural Digest •

[Print] Heartfelt Memories: Melissa Joseph

As a child growing up in rural Pennsylvania, Melissa Joseph was deeply influenced by her father's Malayali heritage. "From the lungis he wore everyday to the appams he taught me to make, and the Malayalam music and movies that were constantly blaring from speakers around the house, there were reminders of Kerala everywhere," recalls the Brooklyn-based artist of her bicultural upbringing (her mother, an American, hailed from Pittsburgh). And yet, for Joseph, the only tangible reference to her Malayali roots was photographs. "These images were my connection to family far away, whom we would visit every few years. I would see my aunts and uncles and cousins, my grandparents and my great grandmother, and hear stories about them at the same time I was learning about figures from the bible and reading fairytales. All of these characters took on an almost mythical existence."
Effect Magazine •

Julien Sebban of Uchronia on his love affair with colour | Effect

At the age of six, Julien Sebban was gifted a Kapla set for Christmas. “I started creating structures right away,” recalls the founder and principal of Paris-based design firm Uchronia, for whom the game—which involves constructing 3D objects—sparked a fascination for the built form. “I come from a family of doctors and lawyers who wanted me to follow a similar path, but after repainting my room dozens of times as a teen, I quickly recognised that I was destined for design.”
Livingetc •

[Print] Getting Candid With Smita Thomas

Of all her memories growing up, Smita Thomas's most significant are those of her mother. "Specifically, her fingers. She was always very creative, making intricate dolls, painting with oils and watercolours, doing needle art and conjuring up the most exquisite puppets," recalls the founder and principal designer of Bangaluru-based design firm Multitude of Sins (MOS). "I never appreciated her then, but as I reflect back, I realise she was so much more creative than I could ever be. I am a designer, but she was an artist." Today, MOS is a manifestation of her flair for the outré, where projects aren’t just projects; they are whimsical experiments with each having a story to tell.
Livingetc •

[Print] Meet the Makers: Khanoom

Priyamvada Golcha was raised with a deep respect for craftsmanship. After all, her family had been in the business of clay and particle technology for the better half of a century, and she had grown up around artisans and makers breathing life into the most beautiful ceramic objects. "And yet, it took the pandemic to prompt me to venture out on my own. Well, that and Simon," she laughs. This would be British-born, Jaipur-based designer Simon Marks (who has dedicated the last two decades to working with artisans in India and Indonesia), whom Priyamvada met through a mutual friend. "He was designing tiles for a commercial kitchen project at the time, and was looking for someone to make them. We kept brainstorming, experimenting, and the ideas kept flowing. At one point, we realised we were remarkably compatible, so why not set up a studio together?" says Priyamvada.
Effect Magazine •

Legeard Studio on their compelling yin-yang partnership

The designer and architect duo of New York-based Legeard Studio are known to create magic with their complementary design styles

She grew up in Kosovo and left the country as a war refugee. He hails from the Loire Valley in France where he grew up appreciating its architectural marvels. And yet, Valmira Gashi and Julien Legeard’s paths were destined to cross in a country that belonged to neither. “Growing up in Kosovo, architecture wasn’t exactly on my radar. I was always drawn to maths and art
Livingetc •

[Print] Meet the Makers: Vāhe Ensemble

It was during a summer trip to Delhi that Vaishnavi Walvekar first met a Naqaashi artisan from Srinagar. It was in Dilli Haat, she recalls, and his name was Riyaaz ji: "His stall had all these lightweight, ornate products—all made of recycled paper. I was pursuing my MFA in Industrial Design at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco at the time, and had flown back for the summer." That this particular summer would change the course of her career—and her life—was something she would only discover later.
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