Creating A La La Land
Ideating, conceptualising, creating and delivering on client briefs that are adventurous and exciting is what brings out the best in Shimona Bhansali, Founder, Design Hex. Her latest project, the Papa Don’t Preach Flagship Store in Kala Ghoda, Mumbai, exemplifies the stellar work of the interior designer and space stylist.
Walk into the Papa Don’t Preach Flagship Store nestled nestled at Kala Ghoda in Mumbai, and you feel like you are stepping into a fairytale world. From outside, it seems like a Hobbiton-inspired world. Views of lavender walls embellished with motifs of Papa Don’t Preach embroideries and round green doors and windows beckon you, and after the welcoming colourful, sparkly lure, the enticement continues with a marshmallow land inside with pink lime plastered walls. The mind behind this exclusive and playful design and conceptualisation of a Hobbit Home is none other than Shimona Bhansali, interior designer, space stylist and Founder of Design Hex.
Interior designers come aplenty, but few are endowed with an innate sense of design that churns ceaselessly within seeking conduits of expression. Bhansali, who has meandered past her management degree and the family business to pursue her passion for design, belongs to this genre. The first stirrings of her passion showed up when she was only 17. Since then, this untrained designer hasn’t looked back and is thriving in the world of interiors. Her artistic journey has taken her through the art of paper sculpting, building a packaging and gifting firm, Smartwork Design Co, designing homes, offices, showrooms and flats, until she realised that she enjoyed the larger canvas of interior spaces much more as an expression of her art. That led to the foundation of her interior design company, Design Hex, at the age of 30.
Designing a fantasy world
Papa Don’t Preach, a luxury and designer label by designer Shubhika, called for magical elements to come together in its flagship store. “We took the brief of Tolkien’s Hobbit Home-inspired fairy-tale land so seriously that we even created a separate miniature elf door for all the elves of Papa Don’t Preach that come at night to create all the magical collections at the store,” Shimona explains how she conceptualised the idea and put it into action.
The driving point was to create a one-of-akind place that allowed visitors and passers-by to interact with the brand’s ethos on a multisensory level. “Shubhika’s way of looking at this world is about all the magic it holds and all that it can be, rather than what it is. We created her world built on whatever a ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ land could be,” adds the space stylist. The store is a ground-plus-mezzanine structure that offers visual treats—be it the arched trial rooms with candy-like details or the starry ceiling of an enchanted world.
As you venture further into the store, images that transport you to a storybook world emerge and your attention is drawn to a large pink tree and an equally large chandelier inspired by all things ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ and designed in collaboration with Jade Design House. The mannequins are sassy animal heads on human bodies peeking through the Antoni Gaudi-inspired screens and partitions.
Visual aesthetics
Bhansali’s forte is a strong sense of forms, proportions and colour balance which she has developed trying to harmonise everything with her mind’s eye and then making each frame perfect from every angle. Yet another strong point is setting layouts and planning spaces and its services, and also taking into account the ceiling heights so as to utilise every square inch of space available.
She attributes most of her learnings to on-site sittings with carpenters and contractors. “I have always been deeply involved in the technical aspect of how things are made, and this curiosity, coupled with my determination to create practical designs that are both aesthetically unique and technically sound, helped me learn the nitty-gritty of this industry,” quips the design expert.
Drawing inspiration from clients
This interior designer has been profoundly acclaimed in the interior and design circuit for the stellar work created by her design company for leading celebrities and industrialists across the country. Her clients are her muse and inspiration, given their subtle traits, personalities, hobbies and family dynamics. Hence, starting with the very first meeting with her client on the design brief, she begins to weave the story into her very own dreamy translation of the idea and then brings in her own additions.
Bhansali operates from Mumbai with her 16-people team. Her outstanding talent for design has earned her prestigious awards like the India Design Honours Award by Ogaan Media Initiative 2020 for Top 20 Interiors; and Good Homes Awards 2019 for Best Smart Planning.
Her oeuvre is vast, with 100 completed projects and 20 upcoming ones. Besides Papa Don’t Preach; a home in Ajman, UAE; a 6,000 sq. ft preschool; a show flat at the World One Towers in Mumbai; actor-supermodel Milind Soman’s office; and Locco Eatery & Bar are some of the gems from the perfect showcase of the designer and space stylist.
