Industrial-Luxe Meets Tropical in This Pune Villa
Mumbai-based designer Ravi Vazirani renovated the first floor of this Pune villa by combining antique and contemporary pieces from around the world with an abundance of greenery, and then setting it all against an industrial-luxe materials palette
Design Anthology: How did you first meet the client?
Ravi Vazirani: I was introduced to the clients through a friend. They were looking to get some furniture made for a recently renovated area of their home, but as we worked together on the project, they decided they wanted us to design another portion of the house that needed renovation.
Can you tell us about them and their lifestyle?
The clients are a couple in their early sixties who live in a villa that was once a family home, but their children have since married and moved out. The clients are well travelled and into wellness and art. They travel often and like to spend time at home when they’re in India, and their focus is now on slowing down and enjoying the next phase of their lives.
What was their brief to you for the project?
The brief was to design the first floor of their villa to adapt to their current needs and reflect their lifestyle. Designing one portion of a house is always challenging, because while you want it to look current and relevant, you don’t want it to feel disconnected from the rest of the home. We were on the same page when it came to aesthetics — neither of us wanted anything too ostentatious, and we wanted to focus on understated and elegant design and our shared love for all things rustic and old.
The first floor originally comprised three bedrooms and a family room with two verandas, all spread over approximately 500 square metres. We reworked the layout and turned one of the bedrooms into a study and enclosed one of the verandas to become a gym and sunroom.
What’s unique about the building and the location?
The villa is a beautiful family home in one of Pune’s leafy bylanes. The property itself has a gorgeous garden that is the essence of the house. One part of the property looks into the garden and the other opens into a central light well, which we were inspired by when realigning the layout of spaces for better flow.
How did you approach the project — what design references did you try to incorporate into the space?
The clients really believed in our vision for the project and were open to all ideas. Our main intent was to renovate the areas without making them feel disconnected from other parts of the house. Since the house is surrounded by trees on all sides, we opened up the layout to let the green spaces flow in everywhere and incorporated indoor plants, creating a dialogue between the interior and exterior.
Like most of our projects, the home is a combination of new and old — some furniture pieces were restored from the clients’ own collection, some were acquired from antique stores around the country, many others were imported from all over the world and a few of them were produced in our in-house workshop.
Please tell us a little about the material choices for the space.
The clients and I share an affinity for all things rustic and honed, which I wanted to emphasise in the materials palette. The entire space has terrazzo flooring, except the master bedroom, which has wooden floors. We were also able to incorporate stained oak veneers and metal panels in the interiors. The bathrooms are in a combination of Indian and Italian marble, complemented by limestone walls and cast-bronze handles.
Please tell us about some of the custom pieces for the space.
The idea was to indulge in understated but beautiful furniture pieces that could be passed down to future generations. We went for an international mix, with pieces like the dining table and bench set by George Nakashima, a custom terrazzo desk by Mumbai-based studio Case Design, antique Pierre Jeanneret chairs and large urns found around India. My favourite piece is an old industrial library unit; we found it in a now defunct factory and managed to restore it for the study.
Do you have a favourite element or design detail in the architecture or interiors?
The pantry in the den is clad entirely in metal that has been coated with an invisible sealant. I love the rustic feature of the pantry against the leather couch, the cement floors and the Nakashima-designed dining table. To me, it’s the perfect example of what industrial-luxe interiors should be. Other than that, the master bedroom’s private veranda is an oasis within an oasis. It’s full of plants and overlooks the manicured garden below — it’s the perfect morning spot for reading the newspaper after a yoga session.
Images / Pankaj Anand
