The Studio Range of Wardrobes - Frequently Asked Questions

I have been getting a number of questions from you on the Studio Range of Wardrobes post the launch & though that a FAQ was in order ... so here goes. Feel free to ping if you have something that is not already in the Q&A below.

Q1. What is The Studio range of Sliding Wardrobes

Ans: The Studio is a range of Hi End sliding wardrobes in international finishes and quality. Each Wardrobe is custom built for each individual customer based on his/ her individual taste, lifestyle & requirements

Q2: What do you mean by International Finishes & Quality

Ans: The Studio range comes in finishes and quality yet seen only in imported wardrobes available in India – this includes

1.       Door options in Hi Gloss, Glass & Mirror

2.       Metallic Edge Handles

3.       Soft Closing

4.       Use of the best sliding system hardware available globally

5.       Top running sliding systems

6.       Optimized door height, width & weight for trouble free sliding action

7.       Customized Shelving

8.       Dust proofing using specialized brushes and pelmets.

Q3: Is there anything “better” in these wardrobes compared to imported wardrobes.

Ans: Yes there is.

1.       The wood that the imported wardrobes use is HDF or MDF, all wardrobes under the Studio range are in BWR ply to ensure longevity and the ability to withstand Indian conditions.

2.       Price: The price of a  “Studio” wardrobe is more than 30% lower than the price of a comparable imported wardrobe (scroll down for more on the price)

3.       There is no lead time for procurement/ import – the only time needed is that required for understanding the needs, customized design construction & fitment.

Q4: What sizes are these Wardrobes available in?

Ans: The Studio range of wardrobes is 100% customizable and built to match the exact space available

Q5:  Will the Wardrobes be fixed or stand alone

Ans: They will be fixed as that enhances the look and leaves no spaces between the wall and the wardrobe. If however the customer wishes to have them stand alone then that is also possible.

Q6:  Are loft options available?

Ans: Yes loft options are available. Unlike in the West we folks in India do prefer to have lofts and the whole point of the Studio range is to cater to our blended needs around finish, material quality and utility

Q7: Will it need any work on the site?

Ans: About 90% of the work will be done at the factory however depending on the complexity of the door design chosen there will be some work to be executed onsite.  However the max assembly/ work time on-site per wardrobe will not be more than 2 days.

Q8: Most important question – what is the price??

Ans: The price depends on the design, finish chosen (Hi Gloss, Glass, Combination etc.), shelving and the size. The idea is to have a price point where even if the customer decides to make the wardrobe on his own using the same material, he ends up spending equal or more. In looking through the supply chain efficiencies and bulk discounts available to designers I do believe that this is possible.

Q9: How to order

Ans: Get in touch with me over e-mail (nanditamanwani@gmail.com)

Signing off

Nandita
PS; General best practices for Sliding Wardrobe design are available here

Update July 03 2014: The dedicated website for The Studio Wardrobes is now up. Please visit http://www.thestudiowardrobes.com

Sliding Wardrobes Bangalore - Launching "The Studio" Range of Hi End Designer Wardrobes

Dear readers…this is just a short announcement that I am launching my own range of Hi End Designer Wardrobes under the brand name “The Studio”. While more details will follow (hopefully on a separate site dedicated to the product…still struggling to find a good web designer, any takers :) ?) I did not want to miss the auspicious occasion of Diwali for this soft launch, so please wish me luck :) 

This endeavor encapsulates the experience and best practices in making sliding door wardrobes learnt over my 6 long years in home making. While each wardrobe under “The Studio” brand will be custom built, it will incorporate best practices such as

1.   Material – BWR Plywood, Hettich Hardware

2.   Finish – In UV Hi Gloss, Glass/ Mirrorred, Veeneers, Duco, Laminates or a combination with metallic edge handles

3.   Practicality & Ease of Use – Dust proofing with dust brushes, customized shelving based on individual lifestyle & needs, soft closing and no banging sliding system.

4.   Engineering – Top running sliding systems, framed shutters, optimized height, width & weight of shutters for smooth and trouble free running.

Also refer http://www.homedesignbangalore.com/2010/07/sliding-wardrobes-do-it-right-first.html  for things to keep in mind while making sliding door wardrobes

Feel free to reach me at nanditamanwani@gmail.com for any queries and feedback, signing off for now

Nandita
PS: I have recently posted a list of FAQ's around The Studio wardrobes - before you pop a question you might want to check the FAQ's available here

Update July 03 2014: The dedicated website for The Studio Wardrobes is now up. Please visit http://www.thestudiowardrobes.com

Natural Architecture

Who else thinks that architecture can be anywhere that one goes? It's everywhere! And sometimes, people relate the word "architecture" to huge edifices and nice residences, but they forget that details in our world, such as landscaping, might also fit into architecture. Two entries ago, I mentioned the term "organic architecture", now, let's present the extreme action of this last one with the following designs:

"Fallingwater" by Frank Lloyd Wright

"Organic Highway" by Mikael Hansen

"La Tonelle" by Gilles Bruni and Marc Babarit

Yes! Organic architecture is the friendly relationship that architecture followed by construction can have with nature, and is highly recommended for the preservation of natural locations and resources in our world. 

Spa Jardon and the importance of public places' environment

The design of an interior is, literally, the representation of the place. Interior Design is a useful area when talking about public places, because, believe it or not, it is important to the customer and/or the visitor to feel comfortable wherever he/she is at the moment, and a public place, like in this occasion we present the rendering of a spa, asks for that feeling of relaxation around a beautiful and adequate environment for its location and purpose. 

Spa Jardon, by Diego Serrano

The Serrano Residence and the contemporary style

When we talk about Frank Lloyd Wright's ways, the most probable feature that comes to our minds is, definitely, the contemporary style. The details that define the purity of the contemporary can get to be some of the characteristics that are also here to define modernism and organic architecture, which is best known from Wright's work. The truth is that a single building is able to demonstrate a modernist, contemporary and organic environment, since the three of them guide themselves to each other; in other words, there are cases that to present an organic structure, you have to fabricate the 'modernist' part of it first, for example: if you try to compare the three different styles, you will see that a common feature between them are the horizontal lines and movement, and that's probably the most important and distinguished characteristic in those three types of architecture, as well.

The Serrano Residence is found at Real Del Mar, in Tijuana, Mexico, and it is, indeed, the perfect example of both, contemporary and organic architecture, which at the end, it's related to a very modern kind of art that promotes all the needed harmony between the human habitation and the natural world. 

Serrano Residence, by Octavio Serrano

More Photographs - Home Interiors Bangalore

Living Room

Dining Area

Living Area Highlight Wall

Dining Area - Lighting & False Roofing

Bar Unit

Bar Unit

Bar Unit

Crockery Unit

Crockery Unit - Pebbles

A Car is not "Just" a Car - The element of "Design" in Interior Design

The thought and the topic of this post came up during a recent drive to Ooty with my sister's family. On a sharp turn the car felt as if it would not straighten up, kind of steering on its own & my husband (an automobile engineer by training) commented "Cars that are designed well do not over-steer & this one isn’t (…designed well)". Don’t expect me to explain what that means as my expertise in automobile engineering is limited to being able to telephone Zakir the mechanic whenever the tyres feel plumpy or the bonnet smoky.

Driving with two men who shared common interest on the subject of Cars, the discussion did move further to things that go into hi end automobile design. Here are a few that I learnt - In hi end cars all the 4 wheels turn when you turn the steering to optimize the car’s turning movement, in some the lights too turn with the steering, some have programmable seating that optimizes your driving position based on your body structure. “Some manufacturers spend considerable time, money and effort just to optimize the interiors of the vehicle and ensure right storage in the right places – ever noticed the space for sunglasses in a Honda, right under the rear view mirror … perfect” said my brother-in-law excitedly. “I do that too when I design my kitchens & my homes” I say…..and that was the moment when it dawned.

A well designed home is EXACTLY like a well designed car – you just know it when you drive/ walk into one, you may not be able to pin point specifically what the difference is but while the car feels great when you drive it, the home just feels "nice" when you enter. I remember this interesting episode of a customer who commented “you know whenever the neighbors come in they say that my home somehow feels different and more balanced” – in that project we had changed the position of the fans in the drawing room to go with the symmetry of the overall interiors of the room. And it does not stop there - things like aligning the tile lines (the lines made by the floor tiles) throughout the house as they enter from the living room to the bedroom, from the corridor back into the bedroom, like deciding whether the shutter flap will be a pull up or a pull down, the drawers will be to the right of the kitchen hob, the left or right under. All these things and more is what I believe to be the “Design” element in Interior Design and it is especially important when doing “Home”Interiors because a Home needs not just to look good but also be built SPECIFIC to your lifestyle & needs (Commercial interiors mostly need to look good & that’s it).

The other aspect to consider while thinking of the Design element in Home Design is around “Visualization & Designing to BUILD”. Some of you who have walked this path would have experienced this when you designed something, and when the carpenter delivered, it looked something entirely different

“Bhaiya, see there is this small gap in the shutters when they close” – Possibly because the thickness of the shutter that the carpenter kept was more than what the hinges he used could handle.

“This line I see in the front – where did this come from” – Because “Bhaiya” made the shutter Inlay while you designed it Overlay.

“When I look from the side, the shutter looks odd on top of the carcass” Because he made the shutters OVERlay while you designed it INlay

If you are a techie then picture this http://lore.ua.ac.be/Teaching/SE3BAC/SoftwareSpecCartoon.gif

Don’t worry – this happens even to the best designers in the field. The point I am trying to make, which you would have guessed, is that the Design needs to incorporate the limitations of both the hardware and the workman. While the limitations of the workman can be managed with over-communication or by getting a new workman, it is extremely important to know the material & HARDWARE that will bring your design to life. With the HUGE Hardware range that’s available in the market today -- Hinges – butt, piano, inlay, overlay, half overlay...  Sliding Systems - Top Line, Slide Line, Wing Line, Inset, Overlay etc.etc. & the Hettich Hardware Manual running into some 1560 pages, this is one research that one HAS TO do before embarking on a design journey.

Colours & Lighting add an interesting dimension to the "design element" as well which is perhaps the most under-rated & under thought. An extremely well designed home can look ordinary if the colour selection & lighting is not done properly and a fairly simple home can look extraordinary with the right colour selection & lighting. While choosing colours bear in mind how you want the room to look - warm, bright, spacious, ethnic or contemporary - once done, choose colours of the walls, textures, furniture, furnishings that complement that requirement - the colours themselves could actually contrast & this part in my view is more "art" than technique. There are some apps available nowadays that help you play around with different colour selections for interiors...look these up.

Lighting on the other hand is a unique design element. Did you know that the a simple spotlight with an LED will give a completely different effect compared to the same spotlight with a CFL? Same applies to yellow lighting versus white lighting. A painting or a highlighted wall lit from the top will give a different look compared to one lit from the bottom?. I recently purchased a basic LED rope from 2 different vendors/ brands & noticed that the effect of one was much warmer that the other...just goes in to prove that there is really no end to learning in this field. A good amount of time spent in a lighting showroom will hence stand one in good stead when planning your interiors.

Well I hope that I have not ended up confusing you than clarifying and will look forward to your comments and feedback...as always Happy Homemaking

Signing off

Nandita