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- What does luxury mean to you in today’s homes, and how do you translate that into spaces that feel personal and timeless rather than trendy?
- Honestly, I think luxury has become a very misused word. People hear it and think of
gold fittings and Italian marble everywhere. For me it’s much simpler. It’s coming home
and feeling at ease. It’s a chair that’s exactly the right height for you, light that’s soft in
the evening, and a house that doesn’t feel like a showroom.
I try not to follow trends too closely. Every year there’s a new “it” colour or a new kind of fluted
panel, and two years later it looks dated. So we keep the base of the home quiet and well
proportioned, and the personality comes from the client: their books, their art, things they’ve
picked up on their travels. That part never goes out of style because it’s theirs.
- How do you approach custom detailing and bespoke elements to create interiors that feel unique to each client?
- A lot of it comes from just talking to people. In our first few meetings I ask very ordinary
questions. Where do you keep your keys? Who cooks? Do your parents stay over often?
You’d be surprised how much design comes out of those answers.
We get most of our furniture made by craftsmen we’ve worked with for years. Before anything
big goes into production, we usually make a sample or a small mock-up so the client can see it
and touch it. It saves a lot of heartache later.
- What are the biggest challenges in managing high-end residential projects, from the initial design concept to the final handover?
- Keeping the finish consistent. Anyone can get the big things right. It’s the small things
that slip, like a badly aligned grout line or a handle fixed slightly off centre. In a high-end
home people notice that.
Then there’s Mumbai itself. Society rules on work timings, no space to store material, lifts you
can’t use for loading, and the monsoon, which slows everything down. Imported material gets
stuck at customs sometimes too. We can’t control all of that, so we plan for it. We’re on site a
lot, and we try to sort out problems on paper before they turn into problems on the wall.
- How do you balance artistic expression with practical needs such as functionality, storage and everyday living?
- If a home looks stunning but you can’t find a place to put your shoes, I’ve failed. So the
practical stuff comes first, always.
Storage is the big one in Mumbai. Everyone needs more of it and nobody wants it to look like
storage. We hide a lot of it, under window seats, behind panelling, inside the bed. Families with
small kids get fabrics they can actually wipe clean. Once all of that is sorted, there’s plenty of
room to be creative with the lighting, the textures and the overall mood of the space.
- What role does material selection play in creating the refined and timeless aesthetic that Rudra Atelier is known for?
- A huge role. I’d say materials are half the design.
I like working with things that age well: solid wood, natural stone, brass, linen, lime plaster. A
brass handle that’s been touched every day for ten years looks better than a new one.
Laminates and shiny finishes just get worse with time.
Humidity is the other thing we always think about here. Some veneers lift, some fabrics get
musty. We’ve learnt that the hard way over the years, so we’re quite careful now. And we
usually stick to a few materials per home. Too many and the place starts to feel restless.
- How do you build strong client relationships and manage expectations throughout a long project journey?
- By being upfront, even when the news isn’t good. If something is going to be delayed or
cost more, I’d rather the client hear it from me early than find out on their own.
We send regular updates and photos from site, and we bring clients in for the important
decisions like stone selection or the first look at a sample. A project can run for a year or more,
so you get to know each other quite well. A lot of our work now comes from past clients and
their friends, which tells me we’re doing something right.
- Where do you see Rudra Atelier heading in the next few years, and what kinds of projects or collaborations are you most excited about?
- Homes will always be at the centre of what we do. I’d love to do more holiday homes and
villas outside the city, and maybe a small boutique hotel at some point.
What I’m really excited about is working more with craftspeople from different parts of India, like
weavers, stone carvers and metal workers. There’s so much skill out there that doesn’t get used
in modern interiors. We’re also thinking about designing a small range of our own furniture with
some of them.
And I want us to waste less. Restoring old pieces instead of throwing them out, choosing
materials that last. That matters to me more and more.
