Based on the idea of "zero-kilometer design," the Lakshman Sagar Resort in Raipur, India manages to encapsulate centuries of local Marwar tradition, and as a result, pops with color from every angle. New Dehli-based design studio Sahil & Sarthak joined up with the architects at Kamath Design Studio to turn a nineteenth-century hunting lodge into an unrelentingly hip vacation spot, redoing the interior and adding twelve mud-wall and thatched-roof guest houses. The venture is the brainchild of hotelier Inderpal Singh Kochhar, who described it to Elle Decor India as "all about not traveling in a bubble." Shortlisted for an IDF award in 2013 by Design Boom and the India Design Forum, the lodge is hung with neon pink fabric used by local villagers for festive occasions, and only turns up the color once you step inside.
↑Inside the zenana, a wing of the house traditionally reserved for women for many Muslims and Hindus of Southeast Asia, the fabric used in the tables and chairs—which like all the furnishings, were custom-made for the project—are based on women's clothing from a local community.
↑Neon blue highlights the outdoor dining area, which has faux-deer head trophies made from plough ends and grain strainers.
↑A living room in one of the cottages is enlivened by brightly-painted wall nooks holding traditional pots, dolls, and bangles.
↑A collection of black and white photos set off the mud wall in one bedroom. The bed is made from stone with an acacia headboard, and the wall indentations are filled with orange and yellow cushions based on Marwar designs.
↑Grey slate forms the walls of the bathrooms, set with mirrors framed in locally-sourced acacia wood and sinks carved from coarse granite. To the right is one of Sahil & Sarthak's Katran chairs, which are made from recycled fabric.
· Sahil + Sarthak Reinterprets Local Craftwork in Lakshman Sagar Resort [Design Boom]
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