An old building in Mahalaxmi. Within it, an “extremely dated” 425-square-foot home in Mumbai. A leaky room and walls that weren’t finished well. This was the site handed over to Aakanksha Millan, principal designer of Studio 1mm. Rather than viewing the ‘ground reality’ as a limitation, the 31-year-old professional took it as a challenge to be resolved creatively. And more than that, she immediately noted the massive potential the tiny flat possessed, “to turn into something every millennial and Gen-Z would aspire to live in, regardless of its size!” The age-demographic she specifies is important—the homeowner, after all, is a 30-something founder of a real-time technology studio. “He desired a New York vibe, but with the right balance of natural materials and textures, plants and plenty of natural light,” the designer reveals. “Responsible for his productivity, inspiration and calm, this place had a lot riding on its little shoulders.” To make it easier for the small home to bear this responsibility properly, the first thing Aakanksha did was tackle the leaky room and rough wall surfaces. “We waterproofed and tiled the room for double protection and used texture paint on the old walls to camouflage undulations,” she discloses. On this rejuvenated canvas, she made greys, blacks and ecrus “dance in symmetry, only to politely mingle with pops of soothing greens.”
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Expanding space
Not surprisingly, the design intent stood on a foundation of liberating the space from its compact confines. This involved strategic design choices at functional and aesthetic levels, bolstered by a program underpinned by interconnectedness. For instance, to maintain the ceiling height and thus a sense of spaciousness, Aakanksha used conduits to conceal the wiring. Similarly, installing French windows flooded the space with natural light—which, working with the pale sisal white exposed walls, created an open, airy ambience. Sleek furniture and integrated storage strategies kept the visual language light and the space uncluttered, while a mirrored vanity wall created an illusion of a largeness in the tiny, 38-square-foot bathroom.
A Nuanced Home
The result of this exercise is a home that ticks several important boxes on a place-making checklist. Boxes, that also talk of Studio 1mm’s design ethos. Attention to detail. Personalised layering. Storytelling. Unexpectedness. In the client’s bedroom, for example, a cluster of 18 frames—CD covers of his favourite bands and artists collected from the time he was 15—on the wall behind the bed tells you about the young entrepreneur’s musical inclinations and serves as a conversation-starter. Then, by incorporating classic elements within the essentially modern narrative—note the louvered wardrobe shutters in the bedroom—the designer crafted a syncretic narrative with an endearingly casual air. Aakanksha’s favourites, however, are the touch of graphics on the kitchen dado tiles; the repurposing of industrial pipes into a bookshelf in the living room and tissue holder in the bathroom; and the incorporation of heavy-duty metal racks outside the window that not only house greenery but also add an industrial-chic element to the home.
“In the realm of design,” declares Aakanksha, “every detail tells a story,” And this thoughtfully detailed small home in Mumbai, high on storytelling, fills up your whole heart.
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