WOMEN IN ARTS CRAFTS & DESIGN 2021
Shaunali Nanda, Founder, Sloane Luxury Interiors
GIVE US A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF SLOANE LUXURY INTERIORS. WHAT ARE THE MAJOR FACETS OF YOUR ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY AND YOUR EXPERTISE AS A DESIGNER THAT YOU WANT US TO HIGHLIGHT THROUGH THE ARTICLE?
Sloane Luxury Interiors is an Interior design firm that offers Interior designs that is everlasting and elegant, working in traditional, classic, modern, and even contemporary styles, adhering to the classic rules of design and giving an interior that is harmonious, balanced, and symmetrical. I had the good fortune working for very traditional classic and rather conservative firms and for people in the firm who were older, multifaceted in design, and extremely experienced who taught me a lot and nurtured my taste like David Warren, Jonathan Condrup, Late Alex Rhodes Daniella Masccceti, Late Joe Spellman, Tom Moloney, Juliette Simpson, Mark Coats, Randall Yaw, Colleen Caslin, and Robert Chavez.
Being in visual, I had the opportunity of working with various creators, artists, manufacturers, store design architects, multiple construction vendors, events-working with press and PR, creating beautiful environments with multiple mediums and multi-faceted creators. An amalgamation of all this together daily made my sense of taste and style grow with my awareness.
WALK US THROUGH YOUR EARLY EDUCATION AND PRIOR INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE. WHAT FACTORS LED YOU TO UNDERTAKE THE ENTREPRENEURIAL ROUTE AND ESTABLISH SLOANE LUXURY INTERIORS?
I went to Modern School Barakhamba Road then to Lady Shri Ram College (English Hons), I worked at Frazer and Haws in the early days -an environment that drew on history and had my first packaging and marketing experience than to Sotheby’s Institue for History Of Decorative Run by the University of Manchester. After which, I worked at Christie’s with David Warren where I was the lead researcher on the Mughal Jewels Sale, the largest Mughal jewels collection to go on auction, then I worked at Doyle in New York, started the Retail chain and furnishings store Villa D’ este with my mother Sita Nanda. Later, I went to the GIA in New York. After which I worked for Joe Spellman for design packaging in Fragrance and Cosmetics for Jemma Kidd and Mary Greenwell.
Joe Spellman introduced me to Juliette Simpson at Van Cleef Arpels, where I worked on the opening of the salon at Bergdorf Goodman along with store design and store-instore concepts, special event design, and window and visual design all over the country. The annual VIP dinner and press launch, new store openings, in Chicago, palm beach, and Beverly Hills, after which I worked for Cartier on the Love Launch at Saks Fifth Avenue. Then, I met Mark Coats the Visual Director at Hermes, and worked for him on the windows for the 25 stores with multiple visual artists, in-store event design, new store opening, learned a lot about retail and Merchandising from Robert Chavez. After this, I joined Tiffany and Co to work on store interiors for China and then visual for the USA.
Before returning to India, I started independent work on Visuals for Bulgari and Chanel simultaneously. 10 years of experience in Luxury along with exposure to Artists and creators, working on store design and visual representation of the most classic brands, enhanced my taste and sense of style. In India, my mom is in the business which I joined and realized that clients need direction and a complete concept that is price sensitive, a home that is tasteful, sophisticated, and internationally elegant and can represent a family. Sloane started with the intention of taking this further, educating the client towards elegance and style and delivering that in one package- complete.
TELL US ABOUT THE INCEPTION JOURNEY OF THE COMPANY. WHAT WERE THE INITIAL DAYS LIKE AND WHAT WERE SOME MAJOR CHALLENGES THAT YOU HAD TO OVERCOME IN THE EARLY DAYS OF RUNNING SLOANE LUXURY INTERIORS?
Internationally, I was just gaining momentum and with the developer program which specialized in doing luxurious show houses in great taste and style in a one-price complete package fully accessorized for a great customer living experience. I got a lot of responses on that from real estate agents and brokers who realized how much time and money they were saving. Trust was the biggest challenge I had to overcome because this was a new market and it was international. They did not know that I could really do what I was saying, but I did and it took one project and one good reference that could open more doors.
WHAT ARE THE VARIOUS INTERIOR AND DESIGN SERVICES THAT SLOANE LUXURY INTERIORS SPECIALIZE IN? WHAT IS THE FIRM’S USP THAT DIFFERENTIATES THE FIRM FROM ITS CONTEMPORARIES IN THE INDUSTRY?
We offer complete Interior Design, with our own four-story manufacturing unit where we make furniture and source from all over the world, a team of architects and draughtsmen, production managers, and logistical teams. We present a full concept for a house or room with a full furnishing color scheme and accessories, along with soft furnishing curtains and window design and source lighting, carpets, rugs, and art. We have the arm of SITA NANDA and Theodore Alexander with our showroom in MG Road and our furnishing Showroom villa D’ este. Symmetry, balance, harmony, and continuity combined with classic unsaid rules of design remain integral to our approach.
I also love using classic styles of furniture, fabrics, lighting, and accessories that have been used many times over the years, I really wish clients would also use them as they are classic and everlasting and give home the pageantry that classic sophisticated homes need. Sloane conceptualizes your decorating needs according to budget, style, and personal taste, giving your home a look that is elegant and timeless. The company works in classic, modern, and contemporary styles, giving interiors that connect one room to another like family is colours of walls and furnishings that harmonize with the furniture, never failing to put in the element of surprises and glamour.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERTISE AS A DESIGNER. WHAT ARE SOME DESIGN STYLES THAT ARE YOUR SIGNATURE? WHERE DO YOU DRAW INSPIRATION FROM AS A CREATIVE PERSON?
I am very intuitive and agile. I can put rooms together with furnishings, colours, lightings, and accessories quickly and harmoniously but I do adhere to subtlety, comfort, and warmth above all sophistication. I love the restrained elegance of Neo-Classical homes, I still like the colonial-style without the carving with a focus on wood, planning, and layout are key. I also love a term called Hollywood glamour where the interiors were modern and luxurious at the same time with a strong focus on art and lighting. Now, it would be Vintage that I prefer.
Of course, social media is great. But I always refer to history and great designers who I have admired for their sobriety and sense of complete balance like Billy Baldwin, Lorenzo Mongiardino, later Bunny Williams, Charlotte Moss and Alexa Hampton. I also loved the films of Cecil Beaton, a set designer and photographer he designed the Ascot scene in My Fair Lady, I loved the work of Vincent Minnelli, he made Gigi. I love the sense of style of the homes on Park Avenue and Palm Beach that have so much character and warmth.
WALK US THROUGH ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING DESIGN PROJECTS THAT YOU HAVE WORKED ON. WHAT REQUIREMENTS DID THE CLIENT COME TO YOU WITH AND HOW DID YOUR DESIGN SENSIBILITIES HELP YOU DELIVER THE FINAL OUTPUT?
My favourite client is always Mr. K P Singh. He is very clear about what he wants and my taste matches him. He has a great sense of proportion and colour. He is most inspirational and motivating and I always keep learning something from him.
I had the good fortune of working for Hermes, during the Year of India. All the windows of Hermes stores all over America were to be decorated with the theme of India, and I had the good fortune of interpreting India to an American team of 20 people who had never been to India and who were now going to Interpret India. I lead a conference for Hermes on India in Chicago with a tour of Indian Miniature painting at The Art Institute of Chicago. The Finale were the holiday windows in New York, Wall Street (New York), Beverly Hills and Chicago, and Bal Harbour. I had given a present to the mark of two paintings that I bought from a miniature artist in Jaipur of horses whose figures internally were painted with Mughal flowers and herbs and a full Mughal court scene.
Hermes loved them and themed the above store windows around these horses that were commissioned by Hermes and painted in large scale for these store windows. And today, they adorn the walls of the New York corporate office permanently. I decorated Sovereign Interiors in London. I painted the walls Hunter Green with white wainscoting, a working fireplace, classic English furniture and lighting and it all resembled The English Clubs of St James’s. I am currently working on an area of a home in Amrita Shergill Marg of a young couple that is getting married. The bride has excellent taste and like me is intuitive. I am doing classic/modern home for them with wainscoting and moulding, full TV unit with a library, shutters with mullions, with a focus on fabric and colours that are subtle but classic. I love doing this project because it is just the kind of interior I like working on that take you away to another world.
HOW DO YOU KEEP YOURSELF ALIGNED WITH THE VARIOUS TRENDS DEVELOPING IN THE INDUSTRY?
I love the great Hollywood old films and draw so much inspiration from them with their beautifully decorated homes and sets, costume and lyrics, like the last scene of Daddy Long Legs, the wedding gift room in high society, the beautiful English manor in the Grass is greener, Art Deco London in Indiscreet. I look at everything while I am driving silently whether here or abroad. I look at the building I like and then it is period and who the Architects were. Looking at these buildings teaches me proportion which is so important in this business.
I always look at restaurants, hotels and shop environments and how they make me feel, I listen to people when they talk as they have more knowledge than me and listen to the clues that they are giving. I like to see important interior design projects like the Lowell hotel in New York and sit and observe. I always go back to the work of tastemakers that have lived through different times as they always have the answers. I meet every vendor who comes to show me something that they are doing, it’s very important to know what people are making. Above all, I try and make everyone feel good and improve myself as a person every day, which gives you the most clarity. When this trait finds it in design-you are made.
IN YOUR OPINION WHAT ARE SOME FACETS OF YOUR PERSONALITY THAT HAVE HELPED YOU PROPEL THE COMPANY FURTHER IN ITS JOURNEY?
I work the best alone. Make your client believe in you. Money is not everything but your work is. Work honestly, own up to a mistake and rectify it. Always give a client what they love. I think I had many challenges that were sudden but long-lasting, I made many sacrifices and had to walk away from many things that I loved and had to learn to adjust to many situations and people suddenly, lots of these moments were alone. I had to wake up the next day carry on, and the best way to do this was to love what you do and do it well.
I got so engrossed in my work and had such great and nice people to work for Juliette Simpson and Mark Coats, whom I truly miss working for, who taught me so much. I saw so much and met so many people. God gave me this to heal and today, I have taken all this experience that I have put into Sloane Luxury Interiors to let me do what I love.
WHAT WOULD BE YOUR WORDS OF ADVICE BE TO ASPIRING DESIGNERS AND ENTREPRENEURS?
Be patient, money is not everything, look at the big picture not the small, look ahead not what’s near you. Less is more, when you look at an interior start looking in, don’t be afraid, design what you like, it is not permanent, you will learn more and grow more, it will get better, be yourself, design should be your identity, take elements from your roots, elements where you are living. Appreciate Indian weaving as much as Japanese pottery, find beauty in everything, promote your work rather than yourselves, make a room beautiful so they can make owners feel beautiful.
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