To help realize her vision, Kapoor asked her aunt, AD India AD100 Hall of Famer Kavita Singh, to collaborate. The pair threw themselves into transforming the blank canvas into, in Singh’s words, “the homage to Indian craftsmanship that my niece has been imagining for a long time.”
In her search for maximalist cocooning, Kapoor sought out an array of artisans and designers across the country. “My approach was twofold,” she says. “Firstly, I would like to be an ambassador for Indian decorative arts, and secondly, I wanted to emulate, with a fresh slant, the houses I grew up in.” Bringing in renowned Jaipur-based fresco artist Vikas Soni—an old family friend—to paint the walls in fanciful renditions of traditional motifs was the natural first step. “Long before he became famous, he worked with my aunt,” Kapoor says. “I was touched when he painted the nursery room as a gift—it is a whimsical Indian jungle, with some giant Steiff animals Anand and I brought back from Munich.”
Over the course of a year, aunt and niece took on the sizable space and began a process of layering to give the impression of a home lived in for generations. “I found these glorious gold-embroidered cushions from the Indian Textile Company,” says Kapoor. “They have patina but were a little too worn, so Maximiliano Modesti [of Les Ateliers 2M] had them restored in Lucknow. These, along with the Kashmiri jamawar shawls [made into cushions and draped over ottomans], are the sparks of my mother, with her knowledge of textiles.”
Other artisanal flourishes include a slew of striking dhurries by From Jaipur With Love. In the kitchen, fashioned by Mumbai kitchen designer Anjali Shah, a tile mural by artist Shibani Dhavalikar evokes the blue-and-white delftware popular in Amsterdam, a city Kapoor loves.
Though ensconced for just a little over a year, Kapoor and Ahuja have already hosted many memorable dinners and parties. Kapoor is proud to share the space with others. When asked to encapsulate what it means to her personally, she responds without hesitation: “I am the fourth generation of women in love with the crafts of India, and this home is as much a celebration of them as our personal space, and,” she pauses, “beyond them, beyond me, all those artisans who have worked on every single thread, tile, or brushstroke that makes this space so very beautiful—it is also a love song to them.”
