Fashion designers eschew the straight and narrow path by extending their brand into areas of design other than clothes. From Armani to Sabyasachi Mukherjee, extending into the home décor space is crucial to business growth.

Tilla

Very recently, Aartik Dev Varman, who owns a beautiful bespoke luxury brand in Chennai, decided to venture out of its core expertise area and ventured into designing home furnishings.

Their beautiful collection is inspired by designer Aratrik Dev’s love for trees – luscious or bare, green and intense. Titled Tilla, the furnishing label draws heavily from nature. When he launched his label in 2011, Dev Varman was quite clear that he wanted it to be more than a fashion was happy for it to start out as a fashion label, but determined to make it much more. “I wanted to extend our design sensibilities to other disciplines: interiors, spaces, decor products, photography,” he says.

Tilla has done some beautifully eye-catching projects that are foliage-inspired in subtle shades of black and white. Their first decor collection ‘7 Indian Trees’ had motifs used on both furniture and clothes. At Amethyst Chennai’s Wild Garden Cafe, Tilla has created a life-size rendition of wild plants on beautiful wallpapers.

Dev Varman is one among the several designers who have expanded their base to include home décor and design. As India’s leading designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla tells us, “For any artist, there are no boundaries. Creativity is free flowing; it will spill over onto new mediums until it finds new expression.” The duo has been designing special collections and beautiful celebrity homes for years, and their work is completely bespoke.

Taj London, Cinema Suite

Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s designs romance the rich and layered nuances of India. Sabyasachi’s stores across the country, perhaps, are as famous for its interiors as his collections showcased there. So, it’s not hard to imagine the designer extending into interior designing. Two years ago, he designed the Cinema Suite at London’s 51 Buckingham Gate, Taj Suites and Residences. He is also launching a home line in India, but, for now, you could give your living space a swanky face-lift with Sabyasachi for Nilaya (an exclusive new offering by Asian Paints)—an exquisite collection of wall coverings.  Divided into five separate categories—such India Baroque, Spice Route, Varanasi, Makhmal and Jodhpur—each of these cater to different tastes and styles. Indian Baroque consists fine wallpapers that are flamboyant, extravagant and unapologetically opulent—an ode to the Maharajas of yore. Spice Route draws inspiration from the fabled spices of India that have enticed explorers and traders around the globe for centuries. Varanasi line of wall coverings is inspired from peeli kothi where the most exotic, opulent and ethereal saris are traded every day. Makhmal is a decadent line paying homage to the fabric that symbolises wealth and aristocracy, whereas Jodhpur imbibes the understated elegance of the blue city.

The expansion into the home décor space is an international phenomenon.

Giorgio Armani’s Armani Casa offers furniture and furnishings with minimal lines in monochromatic shades. Armani Casa also picks up bespoke design hotels and luxury residential projects. Among other big ticket luxury brands that have diversified into the luxury décor space are the uber exclusive Hermès, with their chic, aristocratic designs, Missoni, known for their signature style of knitted and printed home furnishings, and the glamorous décor collection by Roberto Cavalli, which includes furniture, tableware, linen, luxury tiles, rugs, wallpapers and glassware.

Sabyasachi for Nilaya

The Voyage en Ikat collection from Hermès  is inspired by the age-old Asian art of weaving and dyeing. The dinnerware collection captures the beauty of ikat with its rich colours and motifs—creating a new symphony on porcelain. Hermès celebrates intermingled uses and an ongoing dialogue between East and West with this latest offering. More than 20 hues, centred on sapphire, ruby and emerald, evoke precious stones. The deep colours are enriched with a touch of 24-carat matte gold, which makes each piece a work of art in itself.

Voyage en Ikat, Hermès

Donna Karan, who also works on bespoke projects, says, “To me, the bedroom and the bath are our inner sanctums, the places where you get to truly be yourself. And just like your clothes, every piece should be multidimensional, expressive and a gift to give yourself.” In the spring of 2001, her eponymous brand launched Donna Karan Home and DKNY – two distinctive bedding and bath collections for the home. More recently, PureDKNY was launched: an eco-friendly home collection made from 100% organic cotton. The brand has also collaborated with Lenox – a U.S. market leader in quality table top, giftware and collectibles – to produce a collection of home décor and tableware’s.

Most designers will tell you that extending beyond fashion is good for the bottom-line. “Even those who don’t spend on fashion, spend on home accessories and design products,” as Abu Jani says.