We were approached by Jaipur Rugs, one of India’s leading rug brands to design their flagship South India store in Bengaluru.

An important part of the brief was to showcase the ethos of the brand in the visual language of the store. We referenced the ‘Pink City’ of Jaipur with a dynamic and sensual fluted wall that gently demarcates work areas from the display space. The wall references motifs from the forts, palaces and stepwells of the old walled city and playfully weaves itself across the orthogonal dimension of the store. Feature walls and ledges are hand crafted in local Banswara marble from Rajasthan, and the white stucco walls and ceilings form a muted backdrop to the hand knotted and tufted rugs on display.

At the entrance of the store, one is greeted by an imposing free-standing wall clad in local Banswara white marble. The wall welcomes the visitor with a rectilinear cutout and a projecting marble tray filled with rose petals. Marble relief work depicting a flourish of frangipani leaves was inspired by a rug from the collection and the intricate hand carving was executed by artisans in Jaipur.

We were keen to show the process of making and tell the story of a sustainable brand, conscious of social impact through their support of 40,000+ artisans across 600 villages in India. We therefore placed a Loom at the foyer of the store to show the process of weaving, as well as displayed hand tools used in the weaving and finishing of the rugs. Storyboards of the legacy of the brand and the processes of making were also highlighted on feature walls.

At the center of the store we created a traditional marble ‘Diwan’ seating for customers. For its backdrop we custom-made a 37 ft wide hand-knotted carpet designed by Matteo Cibic acting as a wall mural. The soft colours of this mural in Salmon, mint and grey echo the colour scheme in the rest of the shell. The flooring, a matt grey porcelain tile was deliberately chosen as the appropriate neutral surface to view the plethora of rugs on display.

The periphery of the store has plenty of natural light streaming in, ideal for tropical planting to thrive. We created handsome linear marble planters in which we housed rows of Calathea plants. The natural light is gently filtered by the plants as well as the sheer white linen curtains that envelope the entire space.

The layout of the store tucks away back of house areas like storage, pantry, toilets, workspaces for the staff and a working conference room from the customer interfacing display and interaction areas. This is achieved elegantly by the curvilinear pink fluted wall which acts as a unifying element, conceptually referencing the aesthetic of Jaipur.