The Studio by Nandita Manwani

A Car is not “Just” a Car – The element of “Design” in Interior Design

Designing hi end homes, Interior Designers in Bangalore
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 Designand it is especially important when doing “Home”Interiors because a Home needs not just to look good but also be built SPECIFICto 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 the image on the top

 

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 home 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

1 thought on “A Car is not “Just” a Car – The element of “Design” in Interior Design”

  1. Hi Nandita,

    Yes, great analogy using the auto interior as an example since it's something where it's a bit easier to discern poor design. Sadly rather than being built around the driver/passengers, autos are designed from the outside in, so the designers specifically tasked with interior are left to work amid many constraints.

    Similarly, as you can attest, home design follows the most efficient building method so we're left with homes that aren't quite right, but outside of intensively used rooms such as the kitchen, most people are unable to pinpoint what is off. I'm glad you mentioned lighting…I think it's one of the most important design features, yet it's almost always overlooked. I think that's for two reasons, people tend to only think of lighting as a functional element so they're unaware of both it's design and atmospheric aesthetics.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

Interior design

Customers Don’t Trust Interior Designers. While the Industry is Booming it Struggles With A Credibility Crisis That No One Talks About

Doing up a home is a deeply emotional journey for a family, one that represents years of savings, aspirations, and
Interior Designers in Bangalore, Light Fittings Bangalore

Shopping at Chickpet & City Market Bangalore for Lighting for Home Interiors

Found my way to Chikpet/ City Market today after many many years. All this while I have been doing my

Interior design, Interior Design Theme

Residential Interior Design Themes – Simplified

Designing a home based on a theme aligns the space to what the theme fundamentally represents – things such as

Acrylic, Duco Paint, Hi Gloss Finish, Hi Gloss Laminate, Modular Kitchens

Acrylic Versus Hi Gloss Laminate Versus Duco– Which one to use for that perfect Hi Gloss finish for your Modular Kitchen, Wardrobe and other Furniture

I have been getting a number of questions around Acrylic versus Laminate finish, where to buy Acrylic Laminates in Bangalore

Home Interior Photographs, Home Interior Photographs Bangalore, Interior Design Photographs, Interior Designers in JP Nagar, Modular Kitchen Photographs

More Photographs – Elita JP Nagar & Brigade Gateway Malleswaram

Some project photos of our Interior Design work way back in 2010
rattan shutter partition

The Return of Rattan: Why Your Wardrobe (and Your Home) Wants Cane Back

Rattan shutters aren’t just a style statement—they’re a cultural return. A small rebellion against flat-pack, modular fatigue. A reminder that
Work Schedule for Home Interiors

Doing end to end Interiors for your Home? – Here is a work schedule you should follow

A number of readers of this blog have asked questions around what work sequence one needs to follow while doing

Interior Designer

Radio City Recognises The Studio by Nandita Manwani as Bangalore’s Leading Interior Designer

The Studio by Nandita Manwani recognised by Radio City as Bangalore's Business Icon and the Leading Interior Designer in Bangalore.
Island Kitchen, Modular Kitchens

Island Kitchen at my latest home interior project in Bangalore

Modular kitchen at a project that I handed over earlier this week. Clicked this on my mobile phone and it

Getting the maximum value from your interior designer, Interior Designers in Bangalore

The “missing“ REAL value of an interior designer.

Sometime back on this blog I wrote on a couple of topics, one around whether you really need an interior

Modular Kitchen, Modular Kitchens

Deccan Herald features our article on Modular Kitchens today

You may read the full article at https://www.deccanherald.com/content/646811/a-guide-modular-kitchens/   Happy reading   Cheers Nandita

Indiawood Exhibition

Feedback from IndiaWood 2012 Exhibition Bangalore

Folks ….some quick notes from the IndiaWood Exhibition (http://indiawood.com/) that concluded in Bangalore last month. Some interesting findings that you

furniture build or buy, Furniture in Bangalore, Interior Designers in Bangalore, role of interior designer

Organised furniture retail and the changing role of the Interior Designer

My article on whether to build furniture or to buy it from the market and how organised furniture retail will

A couple of my home interior design projects featured in Homify Magazine

A couple of my Home interior projects were recently featured by Homify magazine. Do please see them in the links

Need an interior designer

Do You “Really” Need an Interior Designer

Odd topic you would say, right? You will say “everyone needs a designer provided one can afford it”. You may

Interior designer bangalore

The Interior Designer – it’s not just the person stupid – it’s the team.

If you have not seen the “matka painting” pictures on our facebook page then do click here to check them

Acetech Bangalore, Home Automation, Interior Designers in Bangalore, LED Lighting, Murals, Partitions, Sky Light

Feedback from The ET Acetech 2015 Bangalore

If you have been on Bangalore roads in the last couple of weeks you would not have missed the huge

Home Interior Work Project Pictures

Some pictures of Interior work done at Salarpuria Greenage

Some pictures that my client sent me last week of an interior project I did at Salarpuria Greenage nearly 3

An interior Designers perspective, Home Interior Designers, Home Painting

The Home Makers Guide to Painting your Home in Bangalore – An Interior Designers Perspective

This has been a topic that a number of readers of this blog have been requesting for since quite a

Art for Home Interior Design, Art for the home, Home Interior Designers

Planning to decorate your walls with Art – Here are some best practices

This article comes to us from our partner Artburt. Artburt has been passionately promoting the cause of Digital Photography as

Home Interiors Costing Calculator

Home Interiors – Thumbrules for costing based on market rates in Bangalore

While I have a similar post on “Costing your Woodwork” done earlier on this blog I got your feedback that

Related Articles

Scroll to Top
Thank you icon

Thanks for your Interest

We will get back to you on this shortly