What strikes you as a showstopper is the seemingly unending bar, lit up with mirrors, gleaming liquor bottles and suspended chandeliers at the buzzing hotspot in suburban Mumbai, Lord of the Drinks. Marked by high ceilings, the rather lofty restobar sets the vibe for a casual, stylish place to unwind in for Mumbai’s party crowd.
This is yet another design feather in Saheba Singh’s cap, as director of decor firm, This is It.
Lord of the Drinks is actually just one of her many projects spanning the country—Masala Library, Social and Smokehouse Deli in Delhi, Tamasha in Mumbai, Playboy in Pune and Farzi Cafe in Bengaluru—all of which are contemporary, slick spaces that ooze a defining character. In the wake of the resounding applause that her commercial projects have met with, Singh, who set up her firm in 2004, has also brachiated into home spaces.
“It is the concept of affordable aesthetics that I believe in. My constant challenge has been to make incredible interior design more accessible to everyone.” By her own admission, she has always been a Zaha Hadid fan, “…even though her scale of working was simply larger than life. Closer to what I do, I look up to Eric Kuster, a Europe-based designer known for his stylish standalone interiors,” she says, adding that her wide travels across the globe bring in a sizeable quantum of inspiration.
But what is more challenging—the contouring of commercial areas or the crafting of homes? Both are fulfilling in their own way, she avers. “Crafting commercial spaces teaches you to create designs that are flexible and adaptive.
Shilpi Madan for New Indian Express
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