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How Luxurious Can Luxury Be?
December 27, 2022
What does luxury mean in the Indian context? Can luxury be affordable at the same time? Does luxury have different connotations for different people? What role does technology play in the luxury kitchen? What is the way forward for luxury in the kitchen? The panellists discuss at length all these issues and examine how luxury has evolved over time.
A panel discussion on how luxurious an Indian kitchen can be was held as part of the Design Dialogues, Bengaluru with Sheital Shetty, Editor & Publisher, Kitchen Ideas as the moderator. The panellists in the discussion were Lipika Sud, Founder Director, Lipika Sud Interiors Pvt Ltd; Ponny Concessao, Principal Architect, Oscar & Ponni Architects; Behzad Kharas, Director, BNK Group and Smitha Zachariah, Founder, SZ Design.
The onus of selecting the technology that will work and suit the client’s requirements lies with the architects and interior designers. Therefore, doing a little bit of research is essential.
Sheital Shetty
Editor & Publisher
Kitchen Ideas
The variable connotation of luxury
Luxury has a lot of aspirational values attached to it and the definition of luxury varies from person to person. Luxury is about the experience, the touch and feel of the finishes, the different colours that come out of the shower and the overall ambience of the space.
Sheital Shetty, Editor & Publisher, Kitchen Ideas opined, “Technology is enabling such phenomenon and the selection of the right technology is important. Nowadays, people are very well read and thanks to the internet are well aware of the technologies, innovation and products that are available.”
Ponny Concessao, Principal Architect, Oscar & Ponni Architects opined, “Luxury is something of a statement! It is indeed very individualistic because the definition of luxury itself is different. It means a different scale, different specifications, and different experience in itself and there is a price tag of affordability attached to it.”
She further elaborated, “There are different levels of luxury. Today, even middle-class client is looking for some expression of luxury. So it varies on different levels and different budgets. I am firm believer that you can use inexpensive materials and still give an illusion of luxury.”
Indians are actually very luxurious in terms of their thoughts in their minds. Look at the lavish wedding in India. There is always an element of luxury in everybody in India. Be it in the lower class, be it at middle class or upper class, there is luxury at every stage.
Lipika Sud
Founder Director
Lipika Sud Interiors Pvt Ltd
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Lipika Sud, Founder Director, Lipika Sud Interiors Pvt Ltd opined, “Indians are actually very luxurious in terms of their thoughts in their minds. Look at the lavish wedding in India. There is always an element of luxury in everybody in India. Be it at the lower class, be it at middle class or the upper class, there is luxury at every stage.”
Talking about the evolving pattern of luxury, Sud added, “Speaking from my experience, the concept of luxury has completely changed today, compared to what was perceived as luxury say some 15 years back. For example, we did a project 15 years ago wherein the client wanted everything imported. The brief was that it must give the feel of being wealthy, everyone walking into the house must be impressed with the opulence and every piece must look wow. The budget was not a constraint. So, we used beautiful Victorian furniture, frames imported from around the world, chandeliers imported from Belgium, and imported sanitaryware. The client was also actively involved with the process and it turned out to be very beautiful.”
She continued, “A year back, his son, who is about 27-28 years old, wanted to renovate a part of the house – an area spanning about 10,000 sqft of the 20,000 sqft house. Unlike his father, his brief was “Take it all away! I want everything in white, white floors, white walls, very large windows, I want air to come in, I want to look at nature, I do not want chandeliers, I want large paintings and I want as less furniture as possible.” So, luxury is not the same as it was earlier, in the same Indian family. “So the meaning of luxury is different for different people even within the same family,” opined Sud.
Luxury is something of a statement! It is indeed very individualistic because the definition of luxury itself is different. It means a different scale, different specifications, and different experience in itself and there is a price tag of affordability attached to it.
Ponny Concessao
Principal Architect
Oscar & Ponni Architects