Create fluid, cohesive, sustainable environments that serve the needs of today & stand the test of time, Rashi Bothra and Ruchi Gehani, Co-founders of Azure Interiors, with their contemporary design style and ideas are building dream projects for the clients. CW DesignBuild speaks to Rashi Bothra and Ruchi Gehani about their vision, design style and much more. What is your vision for Azure Interiors? At Azure Interiors, our vision is to help people discover the nuances of bespoke décor, as also to bring a personal experience to home designing and styling. Our tailor-made solutions are created to suit the client’s personal taste and lifestyle. For this reason, we have also started custom-designing furniture, which ensures a superlative quality and desired finishes. Technical expertise, custom furniture, luxe quality that fits the individual budget parameters is our forte. While creating workspaces, what are the key design elements that you take into account at the initial design stage? At the initial design stage for workspaces, we start with a smart space layout that ensures optimum utilisation of space, while also keeping the aesthetics in mind. We need to think ahead and pay attention to scope of extension of work space for future requirements. The design plan must take into consideration all the unique storage requirements of the office – space for printing machines, files, and all sundry paraphernalia. What are the key elements you incorporate in a space to turn it from basic to luxurious? What turns any space from basic to luxurious are the fine materials used, an elegant and rich colour palette, a thoughtful selection of furniture that is as comfortable and functional as it is stylish, and the use of curated accent pieces and art pieces. Above all, all elements need to be combined in an immaculate and harmonious manner. Take us through your process of designing spaces from concept to execution. We start by studying the space and its stucture to understand what kind of vibe it has and what kind of design style would suit it. We then understand the requirements and sensibilities of the client, and the budget they are comfortable with, and create a design concept for the project. We then create a mood board and work on the detailed drawings and material selections simultaneously. Once all the back-end work is done, then we start the work on site. What are the key challenges you face while designing hotels and other commercial spaces? Hotels and commercial spaces are high traffic areas so it is very important to use durable and low -maintenance materials. Also the design and the materials should be evergreen and timeless, rather than trendy as we don’t see the culture of redoing the interiors very frequently in commercial spaces. One more important factor to keep in mind is, everything should be commercially viable. How would you define your style of design? How do you ensure that your projects bear your signature? Muted luxury and elegance are the highpoints of our design style. We make sure that whatever material we’re using is of the highest quality and its execution is perfect too. We are able to convince our clients that by keeping everything elegant and muted, we can let luxury speak for itself. How do you approach design to accommodate aesthetic and functionality in commercial projects? We believe that the main role of any interior designer is to fulfill functional requirements of the space while keeping all the practical aspects in mind, and also ensure that the space looks aesthetically pleasing. Tell us about the projects you are working on currently. We are currently working on luxury villas, couple of hospitality projects and some unique corporate offices. As experienced professionals from the field of architecture, how would you advise youngsters to approach architecture as a profession? Our advice to young architects would be to try and get maximum exposure to field work and be open to learning whenever and wherever you can.