It arguably had to be the design world’s best-kept secret so far. But when Nilaya Anthology was announced just over a month ago, the country’s architecture and interiors industries had no idea what the space would be like.
Designed by the genius Rooshad Shroff, and curated by the well-known graphic and interiors designer Pavitra Rajaram, Nilaya Anthology is a gobsmacking architectural marvel in the heart of Mumbai, in one of Lower Parel’s former mills. Its neighbours are some of the city’s most stylish restaurants and corporate offices. Presented by Asian Paints, Nilaya Anthology is 1,00,000 square foot design paradise that teams up some of the finest international decor labels with the best from India. It is a godsend as a single venue for designers and consumers who can browse through the finest furniture, kitchen ideas and wallpaper to art and antiques.
Amit Syngle, MD and CEO of Asian Paints, who hosted the opening party on March 1, calls the space “a cultural catalyst and a story-telling experience”.
Silken Passage by Vikram Goyal Studio at Nilaya Anthology
The opening party saw the biggest names in design and decor in India and abroad attend. Founders or representatives from Milan’s Nilufar gallery, as well as those from Lema, Azzura, Paola Lenti, Cassina, attended alongside Anita Lal of Good Earth, Yogesh Choudhry from Jaipur Rugs, Vikram Goyal from Vikram Goyal Design Studio, Jesmina Zeilang from Heirloom Rugs, Tarun Tahiliani, Vinita Chaitanya, Mahendra Doshi, Alan Abraham, Sarah Jerath, Ritu Shastri and Sabyasachi.
Fashion designer Sabyasachi’s The Sabyasachi Art Foundation finds a permanent home here. The foundation is a personal passion project of the designer where he discovers and incubates lesser known artists from Bengal and offers them a training residency. Started 15 years ago, Sabyasachi’s foundation has 15 artists in residency currently. The designer has brought with him Atish Mukherjee, an artist who speaks only Bengali and his large-size art works here. “Look at his work, I would most definitely call him the next big thing,” Sabyasachi says of his protegee rather proudly.
Atish Mukherjee
An hour or so into the opening, only two of the 15-16 pieces remained to be sold, giant red dots next to the frames affirmed the sale of the others. Rumouredly, in one day alone, the artist had sold artworks worth Rs 3 crore.
Upstairs, another large room is dedicated to Sabyasachi’s home interiors with decor items, Nilaya wallpapers designed by him, as well as furniture items are made available.
The sprawling two-storied red-brick structure is a symphony between inside and outside spaces designed by the award-winning architect Rooshad Shroff. The entrance is a large orangery, that leads to a warehouse-like edifice. The several large spaces inside have sunroofs too. A large ramp is at the heart of the building, taking us back to Le Corbusier’s Five Points of Architecture, where the ramp turns into a viewing gallery or a promenade. An elevator or staircase would have enclosed the visitor from the scale or the flow of the place.
“Asian Paints also called the two floors the heart and the mind of the space, where one section was just a creative high whereas the other was more commercial. The ramp also concealed all the services, you will not find any air conditioning machines in the building, not even on the ceiling,” Shroff explains.
Nilaya Anthology exterior
Shroff has also used modern variations of architectural follies from the 18th-19th century styles to allow for decorative changes in the hyper-styled different gallery spaces.
Additionally, the building will soon house two restaurants, both helmed by the Indian Accent teams.
The curation by Rajaram is extraordinary. “Anthology highlights traditional techniques for modern decor and curates craft and modern makers from India and around the world,” she says.
