redefininG luxury
11 passionate women who are tapping into the growing luxury market
Asplendid, but inconspicuous structure in the compound of The Leela’s oldest outpost in Mumbai, which opened its ornate doors in 1986, is the Leela bungalow, with its well-manicured lawns and regal, yet understated interiors. Equally intriguing and filled with paradoxes, is its youngest resident, Samyukta Nair, 32, the daughter of Dinesh Nair. The latter currently serves as Co-chairman and Managing Director of Hotel Leelaventure, the listed holding company of the hospitality group, which generated revenues of over $100 million in 2016, as reported by
Forbes. But Samyukta is more than your average inheritor. “I wish I could feed into the stereotype of a hotel heiress but nothing could be farther from the truth,” she said. Her drive to at once embrace and trounce the “legatee” label is tangibly apparent from the multitude of enterprising ventures she set up and now successfully runs, besides her role as Head of Design and Operations at The Leela. In September 2014, she started her own range of sleepwear called Dandelion. A little over two years later, she co-founded the 15-yearold fine dining Leela restaurant Jamavar’s first international edition in London. This drive, she admits is something her mother, Madhu Nair instilled in her. “Of course, I am cognisant of my privilege—and grateful for it—but I have also been raised to treat this privilege as something to earn, and to continue to serve,” she says.
An art enthusiast from a young age when her family shuffled between New York and Mumbai, Nair’s discerning eye for aesthetics has sustained over the years. “My mother took me to museums and galleries, where I learned about composition, hanging art, and about the artists and their own beautiful and challenging lives,” she recalls. Today, a young art
“My mother raised me as a feminist”
collector, the collectible works she owns and treasures most are those by Nalini Malini and Dayanita Singh. This passion, teamed with an Executive MBA degree from École hôtelière de Lausanne, Switzerland, enabled her to start out as her mother’s understudy at The Leela. “She is Director, Design and Operations, and I can tell you from experience, not easy to please,” she says. Nair’s first project as an associate from start to finish, began with The Leela Udaipur in 2008, where she worked on the art and embellishment programme. “Shriji (Arvind Singh Mewar, Maharana of Udaipur), being dear friend of the family, permitted us to go into his archives and use his forefathers’ portraits as art within the hotel,” she says. Once she had worked her way to the top in her vertical over four years, Nair’s hankering to disrupt her preordained professional course, bolstered by prohibitive shipping charges on nightwear from abroad, led to Dandelion in 2014. “I noticed a distinct lack in this niche (in India)— cool, comfortable and chic loungewear or sleepwear was just not available,” she says. Today, all their prints are exclusive to the Dandelion design board. “Every year, we create editions worn by Sonam Kapoor in her downtime during her appearances at Cannes. These were created for Sonam, who is a close childhood friend (and might I add: a Dandelion loyalist),” she says.
But Nair wasn’t done. In December 2016, she co-founded fine dining restaurant Jamavar in London. With a seating capacity of 106 covers, a projected turnover of $7.9 million in the first year and 10 per cent year on year growth for the next three years, Nair says, “Jamavar’s holistic approach to Indian cuisine, showcasing the flavours of the royal kitchens of north India, and succulent options from the rivers and shores of the south, was a distinctive offering for London.”
Celebrated Chef Rohit Ghai is at its helm, and within a short (but eventful) eight months since its inception, the restaurant, which occupies prime real estate in Mayfair, has been awarded four stars by food critic Fay Maschler in the Evening Standard, declared the Top Newcomer Restaurant 2017 by
Harden’s Restaurant Guide and made it to number 39 in Time Out’s coveted top 100 list. “Ghai comes to the job with a wide range of experience, having also overseen the food at Trishna, the other Indian Michelin starred restaurant in the Gymkhana stable, with its emphasis on Indian south west coastal cuisine,” says food writer, Bruce Palling. “He embraces all regions of the subcontinent, with idli in a tamarind broth with beetroot, Malabar prawns and a seven course vegetarian tasting menu. Drink critics have also been positive both about the pricing and variety on offer, with the wine pairing considered good value at `4,200.”
Culinary brilliance isn’t all that’s on offer at Jamavar. Nair’s initiative married ideals and luxury, leading to the creation of the Jamavar Women’s Club in July, a series of interactions between accomplished women. An “antidote to the longstanding boy’s clubs of Mayfair”, guest speakers included chef and author Florence Knight and former England cricketer Isa Guha, and it has all the trappings of an exclusive club. Tickets cost £45 and include a welcome drink, canapés and a three course dinner. “My mother raised me as a feminist, and my work and the creation of the Women’s Club is an extension of this idea,” she says.
Nair’s indomitable ambition and intrepid manner, have her consistently hurling her passion and purpose onto newer ventures. So, just when you think there aren’t enough hours in the day or months in the year to take on any other endeavours, she is working on two more. “Dabbawala is our second restaurant that launches on
Maddox Street, Mayfair, this October. Named after the dabbawala’s of Mumbai, the restaurant pays homage to the culture and people of the city, it tips its hat to a spirit of resilience, originality, and industry,” she says. And then there’s Clove. “Nestled in the old art deco quarter of Colaba, my concept store Clove is akin to visiting a small, private, stylish home.” Clove will curate Nair’s top picks across the fields of fashion, design and craft from India, “housing a whimsical yet purposeful edit of homegrown designers.”
As she designs avant-garde luxury experiences for patrons across industries and borders, we believe Nair when she says her luxurious experience entails “sleeping safely in my own bed. With my family at close call.”