<h5-red>Client<h5-red> Bharat Shah, Palak Shah I <h5-red>Area<h5-red> 4,000 Sqft I <h5-red>Status<h5-red> Completed In 2014 I <h5-red>Team<h5-red> Studio Lotus + Studio GreyMatter - Ankur Choksi, Asha Sairam, Apeksha Agrawal, Tanuj Biyani, Shivangi Chaturvedi I <h5-red>Photographer<h5-red> Ishita Sitwala
Building on the first Ekaya store we designed in 2012 and having done all their stores since, the client brief for their latest Ahmedabad store was to define a space that exemplifies its vision of promoting luxury handloom textiles to a new generation of buyers. The project is in collaboration with Studio GreyMatter.
Bringing together a 120-year-old legacy of traditional craftsmanship with contemporary design sensibilities, Ekaya Banaras celebrates the delicate artistry of Banarasi textile weaves. Working directly with generations of skilled crafts persons, weaving is central to Ekaya’s identity. The store’s design has been built around a central installation that strongly represents this idea. <rt-red>The design for Ekaya engages intimately with the notion of weaving— a modular collection of brass pipes visually intersects to create the sense of an immersive, 3-dimensional weave.<rt-red>
<rt-red>The interwoven rods create an ever-changing tapestry that lends the space a visual dynamism and allows for the experience zones beyond it to be layered and subtly revealed.<rt-red> Surrounding this central zone lie pockets of the traditional retail experience that one expects from Ekaya; the Thaan section with its reams of brightly-coloured fabric and the ready-to-wear sections.
Intimate pockets for bridal wear lie deeper in, towards the rear of the store. Designed for a highly personalized experience for bridal parties, they feature traditional takkhat-style seating where sarees can be opened out for viewing, as is traditionally done. <rt-red>Slit windows in these spaces provide slivers of natural daylight, lending a soft beauty to the silken weaves, while also serving as a backdrop for visual merchandising of the product.<rt-red>
The intervention deftly bridges the traditional and the modern, reflecting the evolving palettes of a new India, authentic to its roots, but distinctly contemporary.
