Muri | Slice 01
SETTING THE CONTEXT:
There is a fairly large foyer into an apartment with a staircase leading up to the terrace on one side and a door leading to the kitchen on the other. The client wants a shoe cabinet and a bench to sit on while people wear their shoes. They have a wooden cabinet with louvred doors they have inherited from an aunt, whose taste in everything from furniture to art to clothing has always been refined. It is slightly worn for wear, but still in a really good condition.
PROCESS:
We met with some serendipitous luck when we found that this said cabinet fit exactly within the nook created beyond the stairs. Now all it needed were a few tweaks here and there, to fit the bill perfectly. We added a few more shelves inside to maximize the capacity, a drawer below for some socks and added legs to increase the height. The next step was to add handles. Keeping in line with the overall theme of the space, we picked brass handles. They were sourced from a spectacular instagram find Studio Made. The sleek, long handles with the tiny knobs were certainly the crowning glory. It added a sense of extra height to the cabinet to counteract the effect of the horizontal louvres. It might be bit hard to pull when there’s a magnet behind, but it looks stunning and feels so good when you hold it.
STYLING:
When it comes to styling, one thing always leads to the next in a very organic way. The brass handle meant that brass accessories would work very well in this space. The client’s Malayali heritage worked in her favor here. Uruli has become a trending decor element these days. Paired with a brass vase and a bunch of tiny white flowers, it looked complete.
I love how the juxtaposition of a hand-me-down wardrobe refurbished into a shoe cabinet, with handmade handles with the brass uruli and kudam/vase has created a beautiful and warm foyer in this home. It is simultaneously a nod to the family's roots and a reminder of the person who used that wardrobe before them with love and care. And the combination of wood and brass is timeless.
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