Name: Meera
City: Boulder
State: CO
Country: USA
Comment:
Hi Vicente,
I came across the NY Times article on the makeover of a room based on India. The article said that you designed the room based on “The sense of India should be something you don’t see but maybe perceive.” I was wondering if you could explain what it meant to you. I am an Indian and love design. So I am curious as to what India means to you as a designer. Is it color, patterns, people, the food, art, architecture, the religion etc.
How would you have designed it if you were designing it for an Indian living in Manhattan?
Thanks,
Meera
Vicente Responds:
Meera, I would say it’s a mixture of all of the above. But you certainly can’t shove every item into one little room, so I went for the emotion, which to me is a sense of richness, an all-engulfing sense of a lushness of color and a extravagant sense of expression. This I achieved by using fuschia and pinks with touches of apple green which sort of embraces the room.
#1 by Roberta DAvis on August 18, 2010 - 2:00 pm
Meera, I’m curious as to what you would do with the same assignment- to create a sense of India. What would that mean to you? As an American, I do agree with Vicente that the vivid, beautiful colors of Indian clothing are to me the most powerful impressions- along with the smell of Indian cooking, which I love!
#2 by Meera on August 18, 2010 - 10:15 pm
Thanks Vicente for your comment. I hope you will do more colorful interiors on a bigger scale in the future.
Roberta regarding your question as to what a sense of India means to me I would have to answer it in what part of India you are talking about. I would characterize what Vicente has done as more Rajasthan/Jaipur. I think he has nailed the colors perfectly. Those would be the colors I would have used along with accent pieces that evoke the marble/sandstone filigree work special to the area. I could use lacquered white pieces with accents of gold to evoke the richness for example. I could also use furniture made of rosewood or Indian teak depending on how ethnic I want it to look. I think Vicente has done a great job since he is working on a small room and on a limited budget.
To me India means color, spices, jewelery, metal work, handwoven silks and cottons, block print, the smell of jasmine (that I used to adorn my hair when I was a girl), lotus flowers, rosewood, teak, the stone carvings, terracotta etc.. Generally I would characterize it as evoking a great sense of joy and happiness. Sorry for a long winded reply.
#3 by Roberta DAvis on August 19, 2010 - 1:22 pm
Meera, thanks! As I was reading your description, I was wanting to head to India this morning!