“One of the principal challenges with the space was rationalising the door and window locations and their heights so that we could create expansive openings,” they elaborate further. “With an emphasis on maximising natural light, the lintels were raised substantially. This opened up the entrance into the upper, renovated public area, through an oversized covered terrace with a lush view of blossoming bougainvillaeas and mature trees.”

The gut renovation also involved reworking the three-bedroom floor plan into an open layout for the offices and social zones, where the duo could entertain and host friends and clients alike.

The ceilings, deliberately left free of recessed lights, curved downwards to meet the wooden wall panelling with concealed doors into the offices that used to be bedrooms, creating a restrained enclosure with chevron-patterned oak flooring replaced from the original marble floors.

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Having spent some time residing in New York, Demuro and Das wanted the space to feature design aspects influenced by their time in the Big Apple and those deeply rooted in the context of India, where they currently live and work as designers.

“We imagine the apartment as a permanently unfinished project. A place for both refuge and exploration, it was conceived as an expression of our design aesthetic and a laboratory that would provide us with a place to experiment and develop new designs,” they say.

The residence is a testament to DeMuro Das’ commitment to innovative and sophisticated design while lending a historical link to India’s tradition of craft and ornamentation.

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The glass doors with sleek bronze frames, replacing the old wood-framed doors, feature a pair of bronze door handles based on the 19th-century Indian palanquin post handles. The intricate craftsmanship was 3D scanned, scaled down and 3D printed before casting in solid bronze.

A circular window with a bronze frame in the wood-clad foyer corresponds with the shining accent while echoing the curved shape of the terrace. Situated beneath the punctured window is a chalk-white console with prominent dark veins made from howlite—a precursor to the showcase of refined interior furniture designs, the bulk of which was crafted and produced by the designers.

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In the living area, furniture pieces and interior elements of vibrant rust fabric and oxblood lacquer were highlighted amidst the comfort of a warm neutral colour palette like biscuit, camel and cream. 

Integrated into the wall panelling was a large wall unit adorned with reeded howlite shelf supports, while the Carta-clad Corbu cabinet—named after the renowned Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier and inspired by the extraordinary architecture of Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex—added complementing depth to the space.

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Meanwhile, separating the living and dining areas are stone portals made of the claret dolomite unakite, a semi-precious healing stone typically used in Jaipur’s jewellery trade.

Lending a local context to the residence were artworks sourced from galleries in Mumbai, New Delhi and Kolkata, primarily from local contemporary artists, such as visual artist Julien Segard, sculptor Meera Mukherjee, and photographer Soumya Sankar Bose.

Notably, Nepalese-born artist Harendra Kushwaha’s intricate artwork decorated the dining room. The sculptural artwork of handmade paper cut into wafer-thin strips and weaved with cotton thread, evoke the contours of the Nepal countryside landscape.

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