By: Smita Sinha
Last updated : January 31, 2019 12:14 pm
Located in Hyderabad, Sri Sai Kanchi Shubham showcases traditionally woven Kancheepuram and Banaras sarees and the store design has been inspired from traditional South Indian culture. The store, built at a cost of Rs 2,500 per sq ft, is essentially a celebration of south Indian temple art and architecture.
Designed by Bangalore-based company, Four Dimensions Retail Design, the store has been built at a cost of Rs 2,500 per sq ft.
The South Indian ethos is manifested right at the store front with a strong visual cue of the saree weaving art interpreted in classy subtle forms but with a modern tech twist. The composite aluminium clad store front is made to resemble a festive saree sprinkled with saree ‘bhutta’ patterns and a temple motif embedded saree border pattern that is edge-lit with color changing kinetic lighting. The signage is made of brushed and edge-lit brass letters, which lends an elegant and luxurious look.
Adding the vintage edge
The saree display area is full of free-standing traditional wooden wardrobes, padded counters and service seating, conveying the tone of a richly vintage Indian home. Carvings and inlays in the furniture and specially woven upholstery fabric help narrate the story of the brand in a vibrant manner.
The visual merchandising in the store has played an important role in adding credibility to the brand story telling with installations, props and traditional textile art from South Indian temples. Black and white ‘vintage style’ imagery borrowed from the temple heritage is used to reiterate the product features and brand highlights.
The store lighting concept is designed to make the saree buying experience a very special one by ensuring a rich rendition of the product color palette with sharp 1500 Lux intensity. Ornate chandeliers, with flame impression lamps, enhance the overall ambience and store character.
Started a few months back, the Sri Sai Kanchi Shubham store is reportedly doing sales worth Rs 60 lakh per month, which is expected to get even better in the coming months. The retail brand is planning to open two more stores, one in Vijayawada and another one in Hyderabad.
Talking about the obstacles in the whole journey of building the store, Lalwani said, “Crafting the differential elements like extruded MS rods with copper powder coating inspired by temple elements, and installing them at the site was a challenge. As these elements have come on exposed ceiling and concrete textured walls, different fixing arrangements had to be worked keeping in mind the functional and aesthetics in mind.”
Explaining it further, he added, “Besides, if you take the flooring pink ‘sadarahalli’ kind of granite, which is again one of the materials used in South Indian temples with metal inlay, complementing it with traditional and decorative patterned ceramic and terracotta tiles was a challenge as it took time to source the same to add the required authenticity to the whole ambience,” he added.
Well, no exciting journey is without its challenges and it looks like the challenges were worth the effort in this case.
Furniture & site work: Srinivas interiors
Electrical works, Light fittings: Ajay Elctricals and Hibec
Texture paints: Asian paints
Metal grid installation: Source One interiors
Signages: Suraj Neons
Photographer: Santosh