ON THE HAUTE SEAT
Rising temperatures making you spend more time indoors? We turn to Límon, the hue-heavy, bright and airy Delhi studio by Aradhana Anand, for inspiration.
This is a story of playful colours, a creative instinct, the splendour of chairs and the connection they share. Hang on. We’ll get there. First, let us take you back to 2006 when Aradhana Anand was busy climbing the corporate ladder as an oil freight trader living in Dubai and then in Singapore. Nine years later she came back home yearning to do something more. As life would have it, she was forced to fit all the furniture that she had in her flat overseas into a room in her parent’s home in Delhi’s Shanti Niketan. Though she did not know it at the time, the wheels were already in motion for Límon, a studio that celebrates colour, craft and chairs.
“While doing up my room I found everything but a good wing chair. So, I got hold of my carpenter to make it myself. Inspired by my mother, who draped her furniture with sarees (because of our six cats), I decided to use the nine yards as a upholstery material,” says 38-year-old Anand, who always wanted to do something creative. Her first piece was comfortable but looked awkward. So, Anand immersed herself in research and experimented till she got it just right. Meanwhile she got in touch with graphic designer Shweta Malhotra and came up with the name Límon, a word Anand and her sister often used instead of lemon while growing up. The logo therefore is a deconstructed lemon in shades that define her aesthetic. “I did not want the name to do anything with furniture,” says Anand.
Her first collection launched in 2016 comprised contemporary chairs (wing back, lounge, club, accent, button and slipper) dressed in handmade sarees. For sarees she visits the emporiums and chooses craft-driven pieces. Anand has also collborated with Malhotra and introduced a collection called Rasa. Made using cotton canvases with screen printing, the colourful range includes furniture, napkins and cushions.
Anand’s recently refurbished second floor studio in Shanti Niketan displays all these pieces against a purple backdrop. Large windows let light in, potted plants outside and inside make the space look fresh and artworks (pop and traditional) reflect her distinctive style of juxtaposing two genres with elan. PRICE `2,500 onwards
AT www. limon-design.com