“The clients were proud owners of Raja Ravi Varma paintingsalong with some unique Indian artworks which were to be housed in this new space,” Prashant points to the living room, “so we concluded that the walls would be as neutral and free of any patterns and panels to emphasise them. We also left a lot of breathing room around each piece, and carefully selected a lot of neutral colours for upholstery to ensure they were not screaming for attention.” There is, however, an infusion of modern design elements, “purely brought in for comfort!” exclaims Prashant. There’s also a thread of simplicity in texture and use of materials binding every room together.
Original text by Ela Das, edited for context.
A Fashion Designer’s Vision Of Kerala Modern
Syam Sreesylam
Homes have a way of becoming rooms of requirement. A maximalist at work may want bare walls at home; a deeply social person may want a sanctuary where no one is invited. For Sreejith Jeevan and his photographer wife, Anoodha, both compulsive travellers, home has become a record of where they have been and ultimately how that travel brought them back. Roukaveedu, the two-storey home of Designer Sreejith Jeevanis a short drive from Fort Kochi. He calls it his version of Kerala Modern. Built by his grandfather in 1961, when arches, mosaic floors, curved balconies and open terraces defined the modern, educated Keralite home. Set on four cents of land, with roughly 1,000 square feet on each floor, it retains a familiar Kerala vocabulary of laterite walls, red oxide floors and wooden doors and windows as old parts of Kochi but a smorgasbord of references that make this home autobiographical with no linear timeframe.
Syam Sreesylam
Syam Sreesylam
The living room is where that history is most visible. Everything has been collected over time: photographs Anoodha has taken, Sreejith’s drawings from his years studying in Paris, and scribbles by their son, Spandan. Chairs sourced from a shop that supplied tribunal furniture to judges have been reupholstered in Rouka appliqué. Others have been given a Jamakalam makeover, using the colourfully striped carpet fabric traditionally made in Tamil Nadu. Much of the furniture is reclaimed wood, treated for Kerala’s humidity. A mirror-topped table began life as a bakery shelf and now holds fruit instead of croissants. It is an ordinary household hook carrying an extraordinary amount of geography. There is no insistence for matching, sets or sameness. Travel affects you profoundly, many complain once you have been on the road there is rarely anything else one is able to talk about. Sreejith converted his love for remaining on the road to one that leads inwards.
Original text by Vinita Makhija, edited for context.
Source: www.architecturaldigest.in
