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Trained in chemistry, Pinakin Patel spent the first two years of his career working in his family business before, at 25, deciding to start over. It was an unusual move at the time. “To say that I had made a mistake and wanted to begin again was a bit of a shock,” he recalls. While there was no roadmap nor mentor to follow, he had instinct and a willingness to keep saying yes. One commission led to another: a chair became a table, a room became a home and, eventually, a house became architecture. “It was always people spotting potential and me taking up the challenge.”
In the mid-1980s, he went on to open Etcetera, one of India’s earliest design boutiques, at a time when the idea of curated retail barely existed. With a collection that was shaped by travel, discovery, and a personal eye, Patel explains how, “you didn’t go there with a need. You went there to surprise yourself, discover something you’d never seen before.” Much of what the store held was objects sourced from across India and beyond, often reworked by artisans to sit somewhere between craft and contemporary design. By 1999, Patel made another unique decision, and moved base to Alibag, “when it wasn’t anything like what you see today. My entire staff found it regressive and resigned en masse. I literally had to restart my atelier,” he shares. “Back then, it was a quiet, largely undeveloped stretch of land, but it offered something the city could not: time, space, and the ability to think differently. It was a move from existentialism to ideology.” The shift allowed him to build a practice guided by sustainability and a closer relationship with material and site. Regarding the future, he points to a shift underway— one where the lines between art and design continue to blur, and collectors are increasingly drawn to work that moves them beyond function or form.
Rajiv Saini’s work is often recognised for its restraint. His spaces feel calm and well thought through, where a strong material palette and precise details are given breathing room to reveal themselves over time. Over the years, his practice, Rajiv Saini and Associates, has built a strong presence across residential and hospitality design through projects with contemporary forms and a clear attention to quality. Saini did not begin his career in architecture. Initially trained in computer science engineering, he went on to establish his studio in 1995, where echoes of his former education began to shape how he works with a strong focus on detail.
Early projects such as the Raas Devigarh brought him international recognition, where he reimagined the interiors in a minimalist, contemporary way transforming the historic palace into an all-suite luxury hotel that is today considered among India’s best designed. Across his projects, there is a consistent emphasis on clarity, from hotels such as the Marriott in Goa in 2005 (where he brought in a relaxed, beach-inspired palette with coloured terrazzo and bold patterning) to art gallery Akara Contemporary in 2023 (where he restored the building’s original heritage features, stripped back later additions, and introduced a contemporary, open spatial language to draw attention to the art), alongside high-end residences in India and overseas. Walls, surfaces, and volumes often follow a restrained palette that relies on texture rather than excess, and his spaces rarely feel crowded. Instead, they are edited carefully, allowing light, proportion, and material to shape the experience. This attention to detail extends into his collectable design as well. Saini has produced limited-edition furniture and objects that have been exhibited internationally, including at Art Basel Miami and during Salone del Mobile in Milan. These pieces carry the same sensibility as his architecture—clean lines, rich materials, and a focus on how an object is experienced up close.
In Rooshad Shroff’s work, luxury begins long before an object is finished. “It begins with authenticity,” he explains, describing the time invested, the depth of process, and the narrative embedded within a crafted object. Within a practice that often sits at the intersection of art, design, and craft, this idea takes shape in pieces that reveal themselves slowly, resisting immediate comprehension.
An early experience working with marble craftsmen in Jaipur left a lasting impact on how he approaches collaboration today. While the artisans were highly skilled, there was an initial hesitation to move beyond familiar forms. “For centuries, these artisans have specialised in carving deities from stone, where contouring an errant line or smoothing a chipped silhouette is part of everyday practice. Geometric work, however, allows no margin for error; and beyond the technical difficulty, there was also a genuine fear of failure, which revealed a great deal about the artistic mindset. However, once they began experimenting with new possibilities, I witnessed a remarkable shift—they began pushing past those boundaries and discovered a new freedom in working beyond the conventional forms they had practised for generations.” That dialogue with craft has remained central to the architect’s practice, especially after returning to India to establish his own studio. Working closely with artisans, he doesn’t see design as a solitary act, but as something that evolves through exchange. “Many of the ideas we develop would simply not exist without the expertise of the artisans we work with,” he says.
What might appear intricate in his work is often deliberately restrained. “The best objects reveal their intelligence gradually—through use, touch, and closer observation.” In a market increasingly open to experimentation, he notes how collectors are also becoming more receptive to objects that blur the boundaries between art, design, and craft. Stripped of branding and exclusivity, what remains for him is simple. “The integrity of a design’s making—the care invested in materials, proportion, and craftsmanship. Those qualities are timeless.”
Since founding The Orange Lane in Mumbai in 2003, Shabnam Gupta’s work has resisted being placed in a single category. Over time, she has built a practice that spills across art, interiors, and spatial storytelling, with designs that feel layered, expressive, and personal. What sets her work apart is how her spaces come together, often drawing from unexpected references, handcrafted processes, and a willingness to experiment. Over the years, her portfolio has grown to include some of the country’s most recognised hospitality projects from restaurants such as Social and Tanjore Tiffin Room to boutique places and private residences, where each one carries a distinct identity shaped by visual storytelling. At Social, for instance, she moved away from a conventional café format to create a setting that felt part office, part hangout, part cultural hub— designed to evolve with how people used each corner rather than staying fixed in a single idea. That openness to experiment has stayed central to how she works. “To follow my own eclectic style and not succumb to trends or what everyone seems to be doing,” she says, is a decision that always guides her practice, which is also shaped by a strong emphasis on material and making.
There have been lessons along the way that have refined the way she works. Recalling an early experiment, she speaks about how she “took a [typography] design off the internet and reinterpreted it in a neon light. I realised even something as simple as a typo is someone’s original design whether reinterpreted or not. Never again do I try taking this path.” Today, what stands out for her is how younger creatives are approaching design without hesitation. “There is a growing curiosity,” she notes, “and a willingness to embrace identity and individuality in a way that feels more direct.” Strip away ornament and labels, and her idea of luxury returns to the essentials. “Having a strong personal design language will be imperative, and so will the handmade—the textures, the purity of materials and textiles.”
“I think true luxury in furniture and interiors will increasingly be defined by the rarity of materials,” Sarah Sham, principal designer at Essajees Atelier observes, predicting how several materials are already becoming harder to source for designing a home, “whether it’s specific grains of wood or particular types of stone. With so much overconsumption, certain materials are slowly drying up. As a result, there will be a stronger focus on extremely high levels of craftsmanship, combined with the finest quality materials.”
Her focus at her atelier remains on forming stronger relationships. “We consciously built our practice around being relationship-centric. I think this extends to the way we’ve approached social media, too,” she relates of her over-7,00,000-follower account, which has become a go-to for easy, yet informative design inspiration for everyone. What’s changed, she points out, is how people define luxury at home. “Growing up in the ’90s, I remember seeing homes with Fendi sofas or Versace rugs, with logos everywhere. That was how luxury was expressed,” she recalls. Today, that instinct has shifted. Clients are moving away from anything that feels overtly branded, choosing instead to focus on detail, material, and craftsmanship. With the internet, Pinterest, and now AI, access to global design is immediate. What once required travel is now available at the click of a button, shaping a far more informed and discerning client. For Sham, however, the measure of a piece is still time. “When something is passed down from one generation to the next, that’s the ultimate compliment,” she says. “Luxury lies in the details—in the textures, in the way light falls within a space, and even in how a space smells or feels.”
The future of luxury, for Shalini Misra, the founder of Shalini Misra Design, Shakti Design Residency, and Curio, lies in what a piece carries forward. Who made it, why they chose to make it, and with what understanding of the world. “I think authorship will become increasingly valued, particularly in the handcrafted luxury ecosystem. Heritage crafting techniques, when authentically embedded in contemporary design, have the potential to become heirlooms,” she says, pointing to a growing desire in collectors to look beyond the beauty of an object. Where something comes from, she notes, is no longer just a question of geography, but of the people that built it.
While her early work focused on getting the visual language right—the composition, palette, and finish— her attention gradually shifted to something less visible: what makes a space felt rather than just seen. “I began to look beyond aesthetics, and instead at how we feel in a space.” With Shakti Design Residency, she created a platform that extends this thinking beyond interiors, bringing makers, materials, and process into closer conversation—a space where craftspeople can step away from production cycles and engage more deeply with their practice. What may appear minimal in her work is deliberate. She often returns to the Japanese idea of ma. “It isn’t a movement in the Western sense, but it is a design philosophy that has profoundly influenced how I think about what to leave out. It’s the idea that a pause or an empty interval is a form of presence.” A room can be beautifully put together, she notes, but it is the presence of something handmade that alters its character. The sign of a space done well is quieter. “The quality of the silence when the door closes,” she describes. “The world outside recedes, and the space asserts its own atmosphere. It’s the body recognising that it can exhale.”
After studying interior design in California, Sussanne Khan began her practice in the late 1990s driven by a sense of experimentation. Over the years, she’s developed a style that blends contrasting elements into spaces that feel expressive and lived in. In 2011, she founded The Charcoal Project, one of India’s first concept-driven design stores, at a time when the idea of curated interiors was still taking shape in the country. What set it apart was its format: it wasn’t just a design store, but a space where furniture, art, objects, and design came together to form a thoughtful story. Spread across multiple levels, the space in Mumbai introduced a more immersive way for design enthusiasts to engage with interiors. Today, the store has expanded into a sixstorey, 35,000-square-foot space in Hyderabad, designed as a layered experience with design.
Her work spans private homes, villas, offices, and largescale conceptual projects, often in collaboration with leading real estate developers, such as Oberoi Realty, Panchshil Realty, and the Lodha Group, where she has designed show apartments, villas, and model residences. Her styles often echo a blend of industrial strength and softer, more decorative elements, creating interiors that are visually striking without feeling overly styled. In 2015, Khan was appointed as the creative director at YOO (the globally renowned design company founded by John Hitchcox and French industrial architect Philippe Starck) further placing her work within a global design network. What defines the heart of her work over the past decades is this sense of openness—a curiosity to build spaces that are shaped by instinct rather than a predetermined design formula.
“I don’t define luxury interiors with expensive objects necessarily,” says Vinita Chaitanya, adding, “I think it’s more to do with materiality and comfort, and embracing tradition as a part of your way of living. Also for me, true luxury is embracing nature and building your home with a massive respect for the surroundings.” For the maximalist interior designer who has designed some of India’s most luxurious private homes and spaces (including for actors Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone), the key to a beautiful home comes down to craftsmanship. “That will always be the first sign of luxury, whether it’s today or yesterday or even five years from now—and customisation.”
Her recent projects involved designing the interiors of a private jet and a yacht, which posed an intriguing challenge for Chaitanya “because there are so many finer details one has to get into”. Yet, unconventional decisions have often proved to be her defining move, as she points to an apartment she designed recently “with a very large open space meant for the living and dining room. Instead of leaving it open, I introduced dry walls to frame each space better. The client was initially hesitant, but once we walked through the reimagined layout, he could see what an impact each space made.”
With travel and more exposure shaping lifestyles, expectations have expanded, and Chaitanya explains how this has changed the way homeowners think about their spaces today. “It’s really about the experience now,” she says. “People want homes that not just look, but feel a certain way,” she adds. Technology, meanwhile, is changing how these spaces are experienced. Lighting, temperature, even sound are now programmed to shift through the day. “There’s so much tech now—lighting scenes, music, even your shower can be set to a certain mood,” she relates. “It’s constantly evolving, and it’s changing how people live.”