A Goa home that revels in art, textures, and the outdoors

The flooring is all natural kota and kadappa stone—grey on the ground floor and black on the upper level, so as to absorb the glare of the sun. The bathrooms are in white Indian marble. “We all know by now, natural materials age better,” Shah says. “They are more sustainable, they’re more pleasing to the eye. With stone, the more you walk on it, the smoother it gets. Just like with human beings—if you don’t intervene too much and don’t use any chemicals, ageing becomes a graceful process.”

Left: At the entrance of the house, a self portrait by Prachee Batra inspects visitors with a piercing gaze; a Burmese lacquer box for face-masks stands atop an Art Deco cabinet that was gifted to Shah by Jivi Sethi. Right: A terracotta sculpture of the ‘Sapta Kanyas’, goddesses of the indigenous pantheon, sits on a chest of drawers from Spin and is bedecked with fresh flowers from Mapusa market.

The art and décor is Shah’s primary source of colour in the visual palette, although the rich tones of Burma teak wood and the sprawling views outdoors also add a sense of warm, soothing energy to the home. “The Burma teak is finished in linseed oil, there are no chemicals,” he explains. “When the light falls, you can see the depth of the grain and perceive the naturalness of the wood, and when you walk barefoot on the staircase, or touch the doors, you sense the natural feel of the wood. It’s not just visual.”

Left: A wooden puppet from Kochi hangs delicately off a custom-designed bookshelf, accompanied by one of Dayanita Singh’s iconic boxes. Right: A series of black and white works by modernist Jeram Patel ornament the wall above the bed in the main bedroom.