Imagine strolling right into a bridal couture retailer, gently led right into a sanctum imagined in terracotta and vermilion. The elegant ensembles stands out as the muse, however might the shop itself grow to be the expertise?
According to an SOIC report, 10%-11% of India’s $84 billion attire market is devoted to weddings, and marriage ceremony planning web site WedMeGood estimated 4.8 million weddings in India between October-December 2024. So, each trend home is making its greatest pitch to bridal events.
How then does a flagship retailer distinguish itself from the scores that concentrate on material and craftsmanship alone? New Delhi-based Renesa Architecture Design Interiors Studio was tasked with precisely this temporary and located its muse in the trademark bindi on the brand of The House of Masaba for its newest bridal retailer in the historic neighbourhood of Mehrauli in the capital.
The retailer is an invite to soak in the shaadi expertise.
Envisioned and executed over a sprawling 3,000 sq.ft., it’s an train in mimicking the gentle movement of material over house, with easy curves negotiating corners, hardwood conventional architectural detailing, enviable artefacts and a thoughtfully designed show association that places the bride and groom, entrance and centre. Designs meets a wholesome dose of drama.
Sanchit Arora, principal architect and idea design head at Renesa, says the undertaking took five-six months, with two months of ideation. “In the Masaba stores, you usually have crisp, white walls. But we wanted to think out of the box. We have choreographed different spaces, like a path leading up to a stage. Our objective was how to curate the experience of a bridal party and make a bride feel special?”
Material issues
Fashion designer Masaba Gupta, who blends up to date designs with nuance, goals to face out together with her largest bridal flagship retailer. With hues of crimson, maroon and burgundy subtly splashed on the partitions, the cave-like construction presents a one-of-a-kind expertise.
The retailer is a cave-like construction with terracotta-tinted partitions with splashes of crimson, maroon and burgundy.
The atelier homes trousseau collections and a crossover jewelry line with Amrapali. Winding partitions supply a conceal-and-reveal playfulness, as your eyes comply with the drama of monolithic varieties assembly tribal totems, brass urlis on clay pots, rosewood furnishings, assertion mirrors and carved hardwood transitions that invoke temple structure. “We worked with the brand to source these unique pieces,” says the lead architect. The house has deliberately gentle, dim lighting that creates shadows on surfaces, evoking a veil gently lifting. “We used Plaster of Paris (POP) in combination with Fibreglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) and textured paint, to offer a rich, sensorial journey to families who visit the store. The future is in the experience. That is how you ensure retention of shoppers beyond the first visit,” says Arora. Wooden flooring matches steps with delicate sq. tiles, lined in spots by luxurious crimson rugs. The ceiling, in earth tones, has giant scarlet spheres that maintain spot lighting, it “takes the terracotta-bindi motif forward”, provides Arora.
Spatial vignettes
There are areas inside the former crafts emporium-turned-bridal boutique demarcated for teams, hid becoming areas, and daring shows. At its entrance, the big semi-circular reception desk in deep crimson, with a hanging black sculpture, alludes to the gentle curves and objet d’artwork seen throughout the shop. Antiques sit on rosewood and teakwood tables, by the crimson and ivory upholstered furnishings, or in nooks carved into the terracotta-tinted partitions.
The retailer has alcoves with shimmering lehengas and tropical foliage for firm.
There are alcoves with shimmering lehengas and tropical foliage for firm, or ensembles holding on gold-tinted rods with crimson orbs, “echoing the bindi, and the language of the brand”, says Arora. Floating lehenga shows, layers of glistening embroidered material shifting in a fragile dance, imbue life to the pièce de résistance. These spatial vignettes borrow the visible vocabulary of the model, rooted in cultural nostalgia with broad brushstrokes of chutzpah.
Winding partitions supply a conceal-and-reveal playfulness.
The retailer’s structure is an extension of the bridal oeuvre created by the House of Masaba. It celebrates conventional craftsmanship — from the zardozi on the couture to the artefacts that mark distinct areas. The design enmeshes up to date geometry with heritage materials, carrying ahead the model’s narrative, which attracts from cultural iconography, poetry and common tradition. The ensuing house is directly an ode to heritage and modernity, the sartorial and the sensorial.
Storytelling and trendy femininity meets immersive design.
The retailer is an invite to linger, and soak in the complete shaadi expertise — the thrill of selecting simply the best shade that brings out the glint in a bride’s eyes or being surrounded by household ready to see you tiptoe out of the becoming room. “It is storytelling and modern femininity meets immersive design. By crafting a seamless blend of Masaba’s expressive identity and Renesa’s sculptural modernism, the project sets the tone for a new generation of Indian retail spaces — where fashion, architecture, and experience co-exist as one,” says Arora. “Masaba wanted a moody store, almost like home — it is after all called the House of Masaba. We envisioned transforming the retail experience into an architectural pilgrimage — one that captures the spirit of the modern Indian bride: contemporary yet rooted.”
The freelance author is predicated in Chennai.
