Ritu Kumar's Flagship store, Kala Ghoda

The design of the new Kala Ghoda flagship store for fashion designer Ritu Kumar celebrates Mrs. Kumar's unique perspective and position in India. The design and architecture of the store embraces a society that recognizes modern design while being immersed in traditional cultural rituals and aesthetics. These aspects of Kumar's own work were the inspiration for the flagship, which is both a shopping environment and a veritable gallery of India's rich textile heritage of printed chintz'. The architecture is a "place" for meandering and viewing, losing oneself in the imagery of 17th century palampores in a world of dance, music, and nuptials. The architectural environment is a spatial narrative, centered primarily on a reading of what constitutes 17th century Indian textile craft, while also being a contemporary Bombay experience situated on the colonial Rampart Row. The overall atmosphere of the space is shaped as much by the exuberant vivacity of Indian culture as it is by the precision of the precise industrial elements of the space, reflected in both the garments, and architectural elements. This contemporary setting of seemingly contrasting but compatible opposites, influences and sets the stage for the presentation of Kumar's ensemble, creating a compelling spatial and visual experience. The textiles of the Indian Subcontinent had captivated the world for more than 2000 years. No other region has been home to a greater variety of fibre, fabric, and patterning technique. Indian craftspeople created magnificent woven, embroidered, and resist-patterned textiles. Along with cloth, painted or printed with dyes and pigments for the regions temples and courts. Much of India’s surviving textiles are scattered in museums across the globe, it is rare to see a representative range of the genius of India’s printers under one roof. Mrs. Kumar endeavored to design and recreate these fabrics, to display India’s rich repertoire of textile design in this space. Studio pomegranate worked with Kumar's studio to prime the space for these superb fabrics. Studio Pomegranate's design for the Ritu Kumar Flagship store was decidedly conceived of as a bright open space utilizing a neutral palette of white and shades of pale green and grey, all serving to foreground Kumar's colorful garments. The plinth of the building is a solid green limestone, the interior space consists of polished seamless natural Kota stone. This stone was brought in a large 4' square format, special care was taken at the quarry to ensure minimal color variation so as to have a monolithic appearance; steps and other level changes are carved out of this monolith, then polished. All edges are rounded and polished. Solid teakwood merges into the floor in the bridal area, the line between the teak and stone is marked by a brass rod inserted in between the two materials. The walls are rounded at the edges, alluding to the ageless beauty of 1920s Bombay; they don a neutral textured finish. The walls conceal in them a fastening mechanism for brass rods that the garments are hung on. As one walks through the store, printed fabrics greet the eye, these are 17th century Indian Palampores that once were a highlight in bourgeois' homes. Most of these are "Tree of life" motifs, two are court scenes and dance scenes from the Deccan. The bridal area is again covered entirely in these fabrics, a large vanity separates the bridal salon from the rest of the store, fluted glass softens and adds translucency to the varied nature patterns. The ceiling was built with pre-independence steel girders, these were garnet-blasted to restore their original color, then clear coated to seal the surface. Cables hang down from the ceiling to hold in place slender tracks for lights. Two glass orbs were sourced and hung off brass rods to light the billing desk. Several more printed fabric panels are used in the bridal area, suspended in between the steel girders. These elements put together are the backdrop for the garments that adorn the racks of the flagship. They are also a fragment of a style of building with detail and precision that is being rapidly lost in modern Indian building construction. The studio appreciates the effort and energy put into this collaboration by Mrs. and Mr. Kumar who were supportive of our design strategy, and showed great faith in our skill as fellow designers and architects.