It has been nearly five years since Simone Arora’s eponymous domestic decor store, SIMONE, opened its doors in Colaba’s Amerchand Mansion. During this span, other than showcasing the Mumbai-based dressmaker’s signature ‘nature-luxe’ aesthetic, it streamlined its authentic call and has now expanded its offering, each literally and metaphorically. “The ground above our existing ground- and primary-floor premises at Amerchand Mansion became available in April 2017,” says Simone. She became on the lookout for a larger area to the residence the developing variety of fabrics from D’Decor (in which she is an innovative director), and the timing couldn’t have been more serendipitous. She obtained the belongings soon after, and the recuperation began in March 2018.
Restoring a one hundred-Year-Old Heritage Property The building, placed on Madame Cama Road in Colaba, is heritage belonging—now greater than 100 years antique—and Arora decided that for the new floor, she would retain its historic allure.
As with the store launch, she got conservation architect Vikas Dilawari on board to restore the outside facade and supervise the internal structural paintings. “As the lower tiers were more modern-day in fashion, I decided to go along with an old-world look on the new floor,” she says. With trellised balconies at the outside of the Indo-Saracenic-fashion building and wood doorways and home windows, the high-ceilinged area now additionally has a floor that features a “Parisian modern” aesthetic, as Arora describes it.
The Artful Curator The new level provides 3,300 square toes to the shop’s original 8,000 and homes a specially curated variety of domestic furnishing fabric, displayed in unique sections delineated via coloration scheme. Arora’s enjoy at D’Décor (where she has worked for more than decades), and her understanding of the material is glaring here. Where it’d ordinarily be clean to be overwhelmed via the range and range of alternatives to be had—jacquards, published fabrics in chenille, linen, velvet, suede, and leatherite—right here, Arora has grouped merchandise into neat sections with considerate catalogs to help clients choose.
Glowing with Luxury Each phase brings together fabrics, bed and bath linen, carpets, ornamental artifacts, and furniture (designed with the aid of Arora’s sister Sussanne Khan of The Charcoal Project) that makes it appear much less like a shop, and extra like you have stepped into a nicely-curated domestic. The whole procedure—from refurbishing the interiors to planning the inventory—was completed in nine short months, and Arora is undoubtedly pleased with the result. “It has been a tedious, yet pleasing adventure,” she says, about the demanding situations that came with reading this area. The new ground, now a quietly steeply-priced area, softly lit by using crystal chandeliers, and equipped with length furnishings that offsets the vast range of fabric, stands testimony to that passion—and a touch bit of success.
