RAJIV SAINI

RAJIV SAINI, AN ARCHITECT KNOWN FOR HIS FINE CURATORIAL EYE, CRAFTS THIS HOME OF LEGACY ART COLLECTORS IN DELHI, FINDING THE PERFECT SPOT FOR A BHARTI KHER OR NILIMA SHEIKH, CHOREOGRAPHING CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN A MRINALINI MUKHERJEE AND MANJIT BAWA, AND MAKING DESIGN AN EVOLVED BACKDROP TO ART.

- GAURI KELKAR

"I knew what they wanted, and they knew that I knew what they wanted. We didn't really verbalize things over detailed conversations," says Rajiv Saini. There's no substitute for the absolute trust you get when you collaborate with close friends on designing their home, as Saini did for this Delhi house of collectors.

Add a common passion for art to the mix and this turned into a rare, natural collaboration. "We bonded over our love for art and design in the mid-1990s, visiting galleries and buying art together. Over the years, we had also discussed working together on their house," he recalls.

The opportunity to collaborate came when homeowners called Saini to design their three-storey Delhi residence. "The structure wasn't new but adapted to suit the occupants' requirements with the parents' domain on the ground floor. I worked on the interiors of the top two levels." No one doubted that art had to be the soul of this house, and the design, a suitably restrained backdrop to it. "I didn't want it to feel like a brand-new space where everything is new and untouched. It had to embody exactly what it was: the home of a family passionate about art and design. I wanted it to look like a home that had always been beautiful."