Trendy Vintage

A sumptuous wooden material palette and smart details come together to balance the classic and contemporary in a bare shell at the heart of Kolkatas Salt Lake City courtesy interior designer Ajay Arya. Presenting, the stylish all-day eatery Sly Fox Gastro Club that transforms into a buzzing lounge at night, and is poised to become the next swish new haunt of the neighbourhood.

- Sanjukta Nandy

The City of Joy may be known for its history and patronage of art and culture, but save for the famous locality of Park Street, it hardly is the first city to come to mind when one thinks of a buzzing nightlife. Entrepreneurs Karan Chhawcharia and Rahul Dalmiya decided to change this by giving the young and upwardly mobile professionals who worked in the IT hub of Kolkata's Salt Lake City area a place where they could hold meetings during the day and let their hair down post sundown. And that’s how Sly Fox Gastro Club came into being.

The man who was tasked with bringing this space to life was interior designer Ajay Arya, principal at Kolkata-based A Square Designs — who had previously designed Karan’s house. Karan and Rahul offered him a precise brief: to design an all-day dining restaurant that could double as a lounge come night. As the cuisine was an eclectic mix of Indian, Asian and Continental food, the ambience was to be smart, stylish and luxe. Ajay says “During our discussions, one directive that really stayed with me was to avoid the overused ‘industrial look’.” The designer was thrilled to discover the 22-foot high ceiling of the site during his first visit and this inspired visuals of a space that mixed contemporary flavour with simple classic details in a concept he thought of as, urban chic.