Decorating

Inside a 1970s home in Ahmedabad beautifully restored by AD100 architect Kunal Shah

This modernist home in Ahmedabad, built in the 1970s and restored recently by AD100 architect Kunal Shah, is a reminder of a classic domestic architecture that an entire generation of Indians grew up in — a modernism that is timeless, that we adapted to suit our culture, climate, materials and our domestic rituals. This is Fouzdar, a grandfather's home.
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This living room on the first floor is decorated in moti bharat works, a unique craft form practised by women in regions of Gujarat and Rajasthan, of colourful beads intricately embroidered on fabric. Here, this traditional craft pieces are framed in a contemporary style and hung as a composition. The custom hand-woven durrie was made in Tamil Nadu, in colours inspired from the moti bharat. Bolsters were added to the original art deco sofas. Khadi curtains hang throughout the home; a kantha bedspread can be seen on the bed in the far room.Suryan and Dang

Fouzdar house, situated in Navrangpura, an older suburb of Ahmedabad, has seen better days. It stands in a neighbourhood that has over the years given way to high-rise buildings. Built in 1971 by the current owner’s grandfather with a local architect, it was meant as a safe haven for both of his sons. It’s for nostalgia, perhaps, and the memory of their grandfather, that the family decided not to redevelop the place but to renovate it, stay true to its essential character, and preserve its beauty for themselves, as well as family and friends.

The façade of the home in Ahmedabad as seen from the driveway, hidden behind a grove of Champa trees. In the front veranda are a pair of Nakashima grass chairs; the front door opens into the central living room.

Built in a modernist style with clean lines, spacious rooms, and adjoining bathrooms, this six-bedroom home in Ahmedabad, with verandas generously added on all sides to allow for cross-ventilation and light, has survived with its good bones for 50 years now. The owners were careful with their choice of architect—someone whose interventions would be minimal and sensitive. So Kunal Shah, a designer and a friend of the family, was invited. Shah’s journey, as he himself continues to discover over time, has been about the relationship between austerity and opulence.

A view of the dining room as seen from the living room—the Isamu Noguchi–inspired table lamp was designed by Anuj and Anand Ambalal in paper sourced from the Gandhi Ashram in Sabarmati. The original terrazzo flooring has been restored all over the home.

Another view of the dining room with an in-built original cabinet seen on the left, restored and used as it was, to display the homeowners’ trophies. The midcentury-modern dining set was restored, its laminate removed and replaced with a solid wood top; cotton slipcovers were added to the chair backs. The cabinet on the right is an old piece as well, more from a colonial tradition of cabinetry.

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As you enter the compound, you glimpse the home surrounded by Ashoka trees. The original terrazzo floors have been restored almost throughout, except in parts where it was too damaged—for instance, the veranda, where it was replaced with a complementary small cut kota stone that is locally available. “Ahmedabad is a very dusty city. In Gujarati we say, ‘dhuliyo gaam’, a dusty village, and Kota stone is forgiving,” says Shah. On the veranda, hangs an expertly crafted, Nakashima-inspired swing by Maneesh Jangid, a master carpenter. “Every Gujarati home has a hichko or swing, and Nakashima has a very strong relationship with Ahmedabad and the National Institute of Design,” adds Shah.

The front veranda, with a Champa grove outside, has a pair of Nakashima grass chairs and kota stone flooring.

Nakashima chairs naturally find spots all over the house. The original midcentury-modern furniture has been restored and reupholstered in khadi, locally sourced and locally dyed in natural pigments—a true carbon footprint reduction.

There is a Gandhian austerity to the space, particularly in what used to be the grandmother’s room. All over the home, there are handwoven carpets in natural materials like hemp, old-fashioned palangs or high daybeds, as well as floor gaddis. Shah believes in a refined minimalism, in a modernism that was about simplicity and being rooted in domestic rituals. Spaces in the house allow for informal postures, as opposed to sitting formally on a table and chair. “You can sit cross-legged, lie down, take a nap, read your paper. It’s keeping in mind a certain lifestyle, a Gujarati way of living, where you come home in the afternoon when it’s bright and hot, and you rest and recline, chat, play a card or board game. So the furniture also allows you to relive a gentle pace of life,” says Shah.

A study table in rosewood and teak by Kunal Shah Designs, along with a Nakashima chair; the lamp on the table is from Ikea.

In the music room, old textiles with applique work from Kutch have been composed and framed as a diptych.

Amidst this light-handed touch are hints of ornamentation. A sculptural art deco chandelier lights up the modest-size living room, a painting by Manjunath Kamath hangs on the wall, the owner’s collection of African Kuba cloth finds space—another nod to Gandhi’s African connection. “I think as Indians, we find it very hard to shun all ornament, in fact unornamented is even considered inauspicious. And because modernism did not fully fulfil our need for ornamentation, art deco is invoked. It brings in gentle curves, a little bit of fuss but not too much. A modernist house gives us austerity but we adorn it with objects, textiles, bronzes—like an apsara from Khajuraho placed against an exposed concrete wall. I find this kind of tension very beautiful,” he says.

Shah and the homeowner were excited for one of Ahmedabad’s most accomplished artists, Amit Ambalal, to create a site-specific artwork. So Shah requested Ambalal if he would consider it. “I think he sensed my enthusiasm,” says Shah. Ambalal drew playful monkeys that were then translated into cad drawings, cut from thick metal, coloured in a blue “that Ambalal himself picked” and hung on the stark white boundary wall.

A view of the balcony on the first floor. The windows were all restored.

A view of a Nakashima-inspired swing or hichko, seen from the dining room.

A restored colonial bed along With a vintage almirah with art deco details on the surface, repainted in white.

Suryan and Dang

There is also a tribute to Gujarat’s craft heritage in the home. Lotas, typical Indian water containers, find a spot in each room. “It’s the perfect form in terms of product design—also made famous by the Charles and Ray Eames report—the way you hold and pour from it or the way it takes the form of a woman’s waist when she holds a big lota,” adds Shah. The owner’s collection of moti bharat—a craft form in which Venetian beads are painstakingly put together to form motifs—also finds expression. “In the lounge upstairs, we framed old moti bharat pieces in glass and hung them up in an unexpected, contemporary way. Some of the lamps in the home are made locally by Anuj Ambalal, with paper sourced from the Kalamkhush Handmade Paper Centre at the Gandhi Ashram. And the most delightful expression is found in a mural of blue painted monkeys on one of the garden walls by Amit Ambalal, a famous artist from Ahmedabad. “Growing up, the homeowner always spotted monkeys that frequent these parts, so they form a kind of continuum between his childhood and the present—a sign that some things don’t change with the passage of time,” explains Shah.

Personal archives and memorabilia were curated for this salon wall.

A modernist style staircase with the original handrail restored—a framed Sholapur blanket can be seen on the landing.

The music room—which acts as a “baithak” and which the family fondly calls Jalsaghar—is seen from the adjoining bedroom. An old almirah is seen in the foreground with art deco details on its doors. The rug in the room is by Humminghaus with black modernist lines running through it, anchoring the stark white traditional gaddis with bolsters.

The primary bathroom is lined with classic graph paper grid tiles from Morbi in Gujarat.

A view of the side veranda or “verando” as it is called in Gujarati—a reversible-back swing, crafted by local master woodworker Maneesh Jangid, hangs over the cool kota stone flooring in a small cut grid.

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In his practice, Shah draws from art history, Jain philosophy, and Vaishnava traditions. Learning and unlearning, he has been finding his signature slowly, over years of riyaz or practice. Fouzdar House provided an elegant canvas for Shah’s edits. Many homes built in the 1970s in Ahmedabad had a distinct quality of being understated but beautiful. It takes a discerning eye to see that and carefully consider all interventions. In an age of consumption and over designing, “sometimes, a haiku can be more compelling than an epic”, Shah says with a wry smile.