Jaipur Bespoke: Exclusive Furniture From Hermosa Studio

Hermosa, a home-decor brand from the Pink City offers designer furniture at reasonable prices, finds Gargi Gupta Brand extensions are all the rage with many fashion designers lending their names to jewellery, crockery, bed linen and the like. But how does a designer make sure that the line of jewellery, or crockery, or bed linen or whatever, being sold under his name is recognizably his How does he maintain his signature design language across such diverse categoriesFashion designer Nikhil Thampi, who's recently joined this bandwagon with a range of bespoke furniture for Hermosa, a Jaipur-based home décor studio, accomplishes it quite effectively. The range, which comprises sofas, chests, nesting stools, a bar and console table, replicates the signature motif of his Quantum range - narrow strips of gilded metal or brass that are both decorative and functional.In the clothes, so much the rage with Bollywood fashionistas of late, the metal chips are not just an embellishment, they function also as 'staples' that seemingly hold together the garments. The furniture too is edged with narrow strips of metal in gilded colours, which add a hint of glamour and accentuate the bare, unfussy lines of the furniture. But also, points out Thampi, they serve to conceal a panel of lights - a neat space-saving device given that most urban homes, especially in Mumbai, where he lives, are small and cramped.Jaipur has, in recent years, become quite a hotspot for high-end lifestyle brands. Hermosa, the brainchild of young brother-sister duo, Pranjal Agrawal and Mugdha Bhagchandka, is only the latest in a long line of such designer stores - Anantaya, Teatro Dhora, Hot Pink, Idli, Jaipur Modern, etc - to have chosen Jaipur to set up shop.This is owing partly to the ready availability of highly skilled craftsmen in a variety of medium - wood, metal, textiles, terracotta, etc. And also, partly, to the many tourists, especially deep-pocketed foreigners, who throng the Rajasthan capital, and visitors from nearby Delhi and further afield ensure a ready market.Jaipur's rich architecture - the many forts, havelis, stepwells, etc all over - is also an added attraction. Many of the designer stores are located inside these picturesque, historically charged locales. Hermosa isn't - its three-storied store is a modern one, located on a busy road with mid-sized bungalows that must have come up in the middle decades of the last century - but the city connection is closely integrated into the store design.The receding arches, for instance, which are such a constant feature of the city's palaces, have been cleverly used in as have the motif on the outdoor wall. But the display area where the shelves replicate the zig-zag patterns of the famous Chand Baori stepwell is the most inspired use of Rajasthan's architectural motif.Equipped with a modern manufacturing facility near Kota, Agrawal has bigger plans for the fledgling brand to spread Hermosa throughout India with more stores and online retail presence, and offer furniture made of good quality materials at reasonable prices. The brand's modern, yet uniquely Indian aesthetic should find more takers.