The couture jeweler expands into his other passion, architecture, by creating a residential estate studded with villas that are dramatic, arty and theatres of extravagance.

The recent years have seen drastic transformation in the world of luxury real estate in India in general, and in Mumbai in particular.   Contemporary architecture has engendered the metamorphosis of the luxury real estate landscape for discerning buyers. Increasingly, as the world deals with the coronavirus pandemic and a long lockdown, home is the safe haven we retreat to with our family, even as we develop a strong appreciation for nature and understand the need for personal space. This has accelerated the demand for suburban or countryside homes.

Luxury real estate often benefits from dynamism and transforming urbanscape.

Pavan Anand had anticipated the existing gap in the luxury real estate landscape for nature-encased private homes even before the pandemic laid low our lives. He set out reinventing the residential typology and create a new real estate paradigm which is flawless and upmarket. An estate with an architectural and design purpose, resolutely grounded in concepts such as art, comfort, a high level of privacy, and a soothing outside-inside living. In 2012 when he first visited Alibagh, Anand, celebrated jeweller and couture designer, fell in love with the destination, its energy and vibe. Stepping in this beautiful coastal town a few hours from the fast-paced Mumbai, or a 20 min ferry ride away, is like stepping into a different world. You leave behind the hustle and bustle for the city. 

Once, Alibagh was an exclusive lifestyle destination for industrialists, film stars, High Networth Individuals. It has evolved rapidly in the last few years into the most sought-after weekend destination, or an emerging lifestyle destination for second homes. It is also abuzz with all kinds of real estate projects. Unsurprisingly, in 2014/15, he began dabbling his interest in the market and anticipated the various infrastructure projects to make connectivity to Alibagh easier.

To understand the project, one needs to go back in time.

In Rewind Mode

Anand remembers that from an early age (as young as the age of 6!), he had a strong affinity for diamonds and gemstones. As he grew older, this passion extended to all things related to design, architecture, art and luxury.

Since the inception of his jewellery brand a few decades ago, his brand is associated with phenomenal pieces of rare and bold jewelry, worn by prominent clients across the world such as Goldie Hawn, Nicole Kidman, Edward Norton, the Royal Family of Morocco, to mention just a few.

He has an inimitable talent and vision and has excelled by creating unique, exciting designs, always with that little bit of edge. His work is ahead of the curve, breaks stereotypes and pushes boundaries. He was among the first Indian designers who won international recognition. 

His maverick gene allows him to anticipate demand, and not just to respond to the demand. Anand brought his multidisciplinary approach to style and his keen interest in details to the new challenge, to his hitherto unexplored second passion, architecture and design. His Alibagh project epitomizes luxury and art in design and architecture. He envisoned the future of the retreat destination, and its ability to take India to global heights in the world of architecture and design. “The architectural art I create will entail a completely finished, designed, fitted-out, accessorized, landscaped estate. I would not ever repeat the design. Each villa will be unique and for one lucky owner who will treasure it!’ states Anand.

 

 

The Brass Tacks

For this real estate business, he has teamed up with Sushma Kilachand, his long-term designer friend. They are the careful curators of the design and art spread across the project. Also collaborating with the duo on the exclusive curatorial project is Singapore-based luxury estate curator, Anubhav Bhushan and Muse Lab, as interior architect and landscape designer.

The several wondrous art installations and stunning art pieces, conceptualized by Art, have been executed and refined by design atelier Muse lab. “These art elements engage and interact with the inhabitants, like living beings would,” says Anand.

A game-changer in the Indian luxury real estate segment, Anand’s a vision that focuses on the country’s artisanal skills, to show the world that super luxury can exist without necessarily importing international products. “There is so much talent and people are willing to work hard, to sample. They are willing to do something extraordinary but not everyone offers them an opportunity to support them,” he adds. To create an eclectic palette of true handcrafted luxury, they have carefully selected talented artisans and craftsmen to give life to his vision.

 

The Design

In March 2020, just few days before the lockdown, Anand unveiled his curatorial concept, an architectural art villa, the first in a series to come, each of them unique and “designed like an artist who produces art”.

This secluded villa is fringed by a lush tropical landscape. Interestingly, the villa, an example of dramatic architecture, is also a regeneration project. “Everywhere across the home, there is an installation of some sort,” says Anand. Each installation, with surprising detail, is commissioned for the villa.

Every element of the design spells high fashion and experiential drama, even as there is a story that unfolds. Nothing is incidental.

The project’s landscaped areas, much like the artful home, is geometrical in its architectural configuration. It serves to create distinct spaces that favour privacy and offers flexible spaces for social gatherings, each space with one distinctive eye-catching art installation at its core and with a specific lighting scheme.

The three natural elements—earth, water and fire—have found reflection in several statement art pieces. Statement colours are the unifying elements connecting the home to nature, and to overcome the tight boundaries of the city life. “The fire elements not only balance out the water features beautifully but add that air of drama and theatrical appeal to the narrative; the scale ensures it feels cohesive and not obscene’  expounds Anand.

For the earth element, they have curated nine exotic, rare marbles from Italy and Brazil and used it in a modern way in the special bar counter, for the flooring, as well as wall cladding and on the ceiling in the six bathrooms. Each bathroom sports a monolithic look as the same marble has been used across the space, with the large sink and vanity hewed out of the same stone.

The breathtaking avant-garde villa is a disruptive and innovative project focused on aesthetics developed for discerning, aspirational people. “It is a very complex design that unfolds in layers as you walk through it,” says Anand. “When we began the project, the vision was to design a home that is basically a series of glass blocks, on water, which you enter through fire” he explains.

 

 

The glass design of the home is the most complex part of the project; its three glass elements imbue the space with transparency and can be considered a spatial gem, offering a distinctive art experience, an incomparable scale of views on the outside, and an open-air lifestyle.

Among the various glass elements is a water sheet feature, an uninterrupted glass goliath that allows for complete transparency. It boats generous proportions and clean lines, houses three bedrooms, a powder bath, a spacious living room downstairs and a master bedroom with a wide attached terrace upstairs. 

The level one is an ensuite master bedroom, outfitted with a dramatic bed as a centerpiece of the room, a private bar created in fiery onyx brass and black onyx stone that extends up to the bathroom walls. It has its own terrace, a spatial area for a unique sense of inside-outside. 

From this gorgeous master bedroom, there is spectacular view of the lush landscape and three eye-catching installations. On the left is an open-to-sky patio, encased in onyx, representative of the smoldering fire element for a warm social gathering in the night. On the right, a second perfectly scaled fire element reflected in the beautifully tinted gold chrome entrance door. Each fire element adds an air of drama and theatrical appeal to the narrative and amidst it stood ‘The All-Seeing Eye’, an art installation by artist Nirvaiir Nath.

This multi-dimensional contemporary art block reveals itself as one walks across the Kadappa stone pathway, towards the living room. It is inspired by the influential avant-garde art movement in history, Cubism. This block of art is a beautiful juxtaposition of Zen and rest and is positioned in front of the grand living room.

A 60 knife-edged swimming pool on one side and the adjoining water elements on the two other sides essentially makes the living room look like it is floating on water. Anand and his team have managed to imbue a sense of luxury in this uniquely-designed living room with a thoughtful selection of lighting features and furniture that reveal his taste in art and design.

The sophisticated neutral undertones contrast with the wall art by Rachna Toshniwal, and with the luxurious continuous onyx flooring on the ground floor. “This wall art is a mirror textured wall that represents the light and the dark in each of us. It reflects whatever you wish to see it,” summarizes Anand.

An amazing corridor, the backbone of the home, connects the living room to the private spaces and is adorned by layered mirrors and two clusters of deep red vermillion acrylic boxes of varying heights. This remarkable visual achievement named ‘Maze of Rubies’ is crafted out of 34 cubes and took four months of work by glass artisan, Abdeali. There is an illusion of walking under an infinite cloud of rubies after dusk, almost akin to being submerged in a sea of red or walking into a very high fashion bar.

For the corridor, Anand also commissioned a contemporary piece to artist Rachna Toshniwal. Called ‘Boule de feu’ (fireball), Anand adds, “The idea was to carry forward the concept of fire, power and ignition of passion along the length of the almost 80 feet long corridor, with its high ceiling and all glass. Designer Nisha Mehta Bulchandani was instrumental in short listing this artist and planning her work around the home,” indicates Anand.

The second glass element is the geometrical transparent glass structure enveloping the green jade staircase that leads to the master bedroom. This striking architectural element is a transparent glass block, running around the periphery of the staircase and reflecting the grandeur of the house as you walk up to the level one. The third glass element is in the dining pavilion, a stand-alone cuboid glass structure standing independent of the main structure in a reflective pool of its own, much like a water island design. A long Kadappa stone pathway adds depth and raw vibe to the ambience, beginning from the entrance door that leads to this futurist and immaculate setting. Anand calls it as ‘The jewel box of the villa, the design heart of this estate”.

 

 

The pavilion is a 15 feet glass ‘box’, housing two spotlights: A rare teal-colored amazonite dining table, hued from one of the rarest kinds of interior stones in the world and studded with bronze elements. Hanging above it is a sculptural bespoke chrome coated steel multi-faceted deep red canopy, evoking the warmth of fire, but also reflecting “the layers and dimensions of ambition, power and glitter that represent the times we live in,” says Anand. The art installation, called Supersonic, was commissioned to a modern sculpting artist, called ‘Mutation Lab’.

At night, the mood of the space is transformed by a single source of light suspended from the canopy, which projects playful reflections around as it hits the reflective portion of the installation, making a remarkable visual statement. 

On one side of the pavilion, walking along the arching path, by the poolside, is a modern art at its best. ‘Dimension of You’ is an art installation commissioned to a local steel artisan. Fabricated out of thin steel sheets, it is almost camouflaged in its settings, as it reflects the structure, the lawn, the foliage around, and forms linear shadows onto the ground. The mirror-like geometrical shape defines the architecture of the home. ‘When you walk through, it essentially reflects your image in a plethora of multiple reflections. It is like walking through layers and layers of yourself,” says Anand. 

At night, this elegant property is transformed into a world of magic and offers an exceptional visual experience due to the careful lighting. When the lights come, the estate sports a dramatic atmosphere, a powerful and complex feeling of being transported to another world.