An Ode To Bombay

Studio Pomegranate recreates the dramatic sparkle of sun-lit clouds on a typical evening at the Maximum City at Ritu Kumar’s Palladium store in Mumbai.

- Deepa Nair

The desire to impress with something unique and out of the ordinary is on every retailer’s POA when they decide to open a store. The task becomes more daunting when the venue for the new venture happens to be one of the busiest up-market malls in the city. Then, the challenge is manifold — you have to go the extra mile to tell your brand's story, create immersive experiences and put together head-turning window displays and a bold signage — here, the devil really is in the details.

Knowing the intensity of this business, when celebrated fashion designer Ritu Kumar zeroed in on a 2,100-square-foot space in Palladium Mall at Phoenix Mills, Mumbai, she decided to call on architects Shweta Shah and Pranav Naik of Studio Pomegranate. The fact that the duo had designed her flagship store at Kala Ghoda, Mumbai, in 2015 had a lot to do with the faith with which Ritu handed them the ropes of this project. The architects tell me that the brief for the Palladium outlet was a far cry from the one they received for the flagship. “At the Kala Ghoda store, we had to bring in a sense of direction and tell a story with the structuring of space, built elements and objects. But for this location, we were tasked with keeping the clients engrossed despite all the distractions the mall offers,” they inform. “As with any retail store, and malls in particular, it was the display capacity for garments which was a key requirement. Secondary to that was everything we could bring to the space as designers,” they explain.