VIEW PDF
Her light, bright bachelorette pad serves both old forested groves endowed with birdsong and the dash and bang of a mushrooming concrete jungle. Her walls and displays are rich in marshmallow pastels, radiating a sensibility inspired by young talent. HELLO, gets an exclusive tour.
She could have easily let her mentor — the renowned interiors exponent, Kavita Singh — create a space rich in Ahmedabadi antiques, jharokas, Tanjore paintings, and statues. This apartment, in the serene, off-Worli, Sir Pochkhanawala Road, would have featured multi-layered design languages, all talking to each other in rich hues that resonate with the Indian soul. Instead, Saloni Doshi leaned on the doyenne of design to help her plan the layout of' the apartment, break some walls, cast reflective surfaces over storage furniture, and choose whispering, subtle upholstery and lighting.
"You notice that the curtains, sofas, and cushions are so quiet in terms of colour and design that the art is most noticeable around the house. You won't even remember the upholstery!" she smiles, sagely. And she's absolutely right. Right from the time you exit the elevator and get into the lobby around her flat, you see hand-painted forest motifs all around. "Indoor plants can invite mosquitoes, so I painted gardens around the doors.
It took her seven years to finalise this flat, as her brief to the brokers was, "I want to be able to hear the birds sing." It may have been an otherworldly brief in a worldly city, but Saloni maintains, "Good vibes come from being in harmony with your environment. And I feel my home has great vibes!" This is in her DNA, having grown up in verdant neighbourhoods of Delhi and Kolkata, followed by a joint family experience in her early years in Mumbai, in a sprawling 21-bedroom Juhu bungalow. What gives power and purpose to Saloni and shapes the mood of her home is her love of artistic expression. She has, in fact, dedicated her journey to nurturing young artists with Space 118 Art Foundation, which she established in 2009. While she initially offered studios and residency programmes for visual artists, it has evolved into a grant-making organisation, offering financial support to artists. We were quite lucky to be speaking to her on a Sunday. On a weekday, Saloni would have been inundated with work for the opening of her annual fundraising showcase, titled
'The Edge of Space' for 2025.
Held last August at Space118, it featured her curation of artworks by 25 artists, their works spanning existential reflections, social critique, ecological consciousness, and urban transformation. Little wonder that a lot of the art around her at home has emerged from this annual curation that has, in the past, opened with the Saffron Art initiative, Art Mumbai, spanning genres like photography, sculpture, textiles and paintings.
Freshness means a lot to Saloni. She explains, "I change the 'hang' in the apartment every year. Since I've been here a decade, this might be the ninth or tenth hang."
There's a deliberate display of a kaleidoscopic universe of expressions on the sky-blue walls. "I was balancing the elements — earth motifs near the lifts and entrance doors, sky blue walls indoors... Whose energy and expression do we see as we walk around? A mix of seasoned and nouveau names. For instance, there's an impressive work by 56-year-old Mysore-based NS Harsha, "an ode to the five senses. He's the seniormost artist in my home collection," she shares.
We see how art has been woven into furniture, as Raghu Rai's daughter Purvai Rai's work features as part of her sliding wardrobe panels — a very clever positioning indeed. We also notice abstract work by Jaipur-based Ayushi Patni, an artist known for her iterations on energy, cyclical time and the universe, and Thamshangpha Maku's work from Nagaland, a fresh name who brings in a new narrative. Saloni's shelves are almost bare, but she does keep some antique Chinoiserie ceramics, a wooden two-sided sculpture by the New York-Miami-Mumbai-based Tark Currimbhoy, along with a truly unique light installation - bulbs mounted on wooden horseshoe-shaped sculptures by Anandita Shah of the Mumbai-based lighting studio 500BC. Back to her storied, art-filled walls, we see framed and mounted mechanical drawings by London's Amba Sayal-Bennett, an artist who celebrates the aesthetics of modernist forms, particularly in architecture. Then we spot some conceptually strong sculptures one, a Jedi-like sculpture, straight from some space-alien
odyssey, by Shaikh Azghar Ali.
One of the largest works in the heart of her living room, enjoying a pride of place above her couch, is by Goa-based Shailee Mehta, an artwork Saloni describes as
"six naked women having fun!" The piece reflects the artist and Salon's own preoccupations with female embodiments of agency. While the imagery resonates with mundane, everyday living, It also somewhere mythologises the sell. This curation is highly indicative of Saloni's strong individuality as a big-city girl. She treasures the peace that comes with being professionally fulfilled, financially independent, and free!
"Not many girls from Gujarati-Jain families have an apartment of their own that they can redecorate and realign ever so often." We remind her of how we grew up reading Virginia Woolf's treatise that creative women need a room of their own! Saloni's home has piped music that reflects her young-at-heart outlook, and resonates with her insistence on being surrounded by cutting-edge expressions. Even as we go into her bedroom, the same sky blue walls continue in consonance with the idea of freedom. The whispering bed covers, cushions and curtains tell the same story: notice the art first!
And who does she honour on the bedroom walls? Meghana Singh Patpatia. The artist clearly tries to resonate with nature, the moon... One of the memes she shared on Instagram says, "In art, climate change is sometimes a storm, sometimes rubble."
"This work is titled Lying Under the Sea," shares Saloni. The artist above her bed is Seher Shah, whose practice is inspired by architecture, temporality, history, poetry and abstraction. We leave Saloni and her pastel paradise, nestled between a smattering of wild nature and concrete. The art and music she cultivates at home will continue to be a balm from the drills and cranes claiming the Mumbai skyline. A lot of the mechanical drawings and skyscraper-inspired art blend in seamlessly with this setting, but one can't help but notice a paradox. A home in the new concrete "Golden Mile" of Mumbai, yearning for yesteryear's deep forests.
As a parting note she confesses, "South Mumbai does have a much older demographic. People living here are content with the predictability. But yes, sometimes that does feel boring. When I moved here in my 20s, 30s, I was fine with it. But now, one does feel that life can pass you by, and the mojo of Mumbai is shifting to this new concrete paradise."
What will be the "hang" next year? Watch this space...