Designing Wellness

Wellness business in India is growing impressively. According to the estimates of the Spa Association of India, spa industry in India is currently valued at around Rs. 11,000 crore and it will continue to grow at a fast pace. A report by KPmG had shown that the size of India’s beauty and wellness market was expected to reach Rs. 80,370 crore by 2017-2018 from Rs.41,224 crore during 2012-13.

- Swarnendu Biswas

The growth of India’s spa industry can be attributed to the significant increase in disposable incomes in select but sizeable pockets of urban India during the last decade-and-a-half, tension filled hectic lifestyles of many sections of people of post-modern urban India, and also due to the growing health and wellness consciousness in niches of Indian society.

Now, with the impressive growth and maturation of the wellness business in the country, the demand for innovative spa designs can also be expected to emerge as a trend, whose effects can of course, influence India’s evolving hospitality industry, as nowadays a lot many hotels and resorts in the country house spas in them.

I got the opportunity to discuss with two renowned wellness experts and one renowned interior designer to know the appropriate lighting requirements for spa; to get to have a feel of the trends pervading through spa designing in India’s spa industry; to know the elements which should be incorporated while designing a spa; to get an idea of the futuristic spa design trends in the context of India’s spa industry; the relevance of eco-friendly spas among other issues.

Lighting the Spa

The role of lighting and colours in spa design cannot be overstated. In fact, lighting can be construed as one of the most fundamental and crucial aspect of spa designing. “Lighting and colours are extremely important to create the right spa environment. As spa consultants we have to give a very detailed brief of our vision to the lighting designers. In general, in a single spa there are different types of lighting needed to create a perfect balance of aesthetics and functionality,” affirmed Lovina Gidwani Jha, the Founder and Creative Strategist of Spa Guide-n-Light, a spa consultancy services company, based in mumbai.