“I AM A STORYTELLER. IF I’M WORKING ON YOUR SPACE, MY DESIGN TELLS YOUR STORY”
Specialising in creating creative, alluring and functional spaces, interior designer Iram Sultan shares her design journey
She has often topped the lists of the country’s most influential designers, yet prefers to remain under the radar. She guards her privacy with the same passion she designs homes, restaurants and offices. A storehouse of information on all things design, decor and architecture, we guarantee an afternoon with this powerhouse will leave you doubling over with laughter. The enigma in question, interior designer Iram Sultan.
Her story starts with the first project she designed—Yellow Brick Road, Ambassador, New Delhi—in 1999. “This was the time every restaurant was brown and beige. I decided to move away from it and worked with the carpenter and painter to give the chairs a beautiful patina,” says the Gurgaon-based designer. She got a lot of appreciation for it and her eponymous firm (started the same year) became a
way for her to create innovative design.
But she prefers keeping her team small. “We are tiny and bespoke, a decision that we were always very clear about.I also realised early on that my strength does not lie in leading a large studio. I am personally involved in all aspects of the project—I choose, I design and I dream. So, we are a team of eight to ten people depending on where we are,” she says. A couple of years after starting her firm her partner, architect Mohit Kansal joined the practice and echoes the same design philosophy.
While Sultan has a strong style statement, it is tailored to suit each client and space. She is particular that no two projects look alike. “However, art is integral to my design sensibility and I feel art must be in every home, it gives it character and is the soul of a space,” says Sultan who works on high end and luxury projects across the country. “Design needs to reflect the people whose spaces we are creating. The client presents his/her vision and it’s my job is to make it aesthetic,” she adds.
After completing her first assignment she started doing hospitality projects. “Soon Priya Paul, who is an absolute dream to work with hired me to design two restaurants in Kolkata, then Priti Paul asked me to design the Oxford Bookstore in Kolkata,” she says. That said, however, in the last 10 years she has been doing more and more homes. “In fact, during the pandemic I have been extremely busy as there is a renewed focus on homes, people have realised its value and have a better understanding of what they want,” she says.
Sultan easily lends a unique character to the spaces she has designed. Take the 20,000 sq ft private floor for the MD and chairman of Indian pharmaceutical company Zydus Cadila for instance. She wanted the bespoke interiors to reflect the work the company did. So the corners are rounded, while receding arches and curved, vaulted ceilings together represent pills and tablets. For Sultan it’s all about creating that relationship with the client to bring out the best of any space be it a home, a hotel, a restaurant or an office.
“Good design is all about layering volumes, planes, textures, materials, tones, tints, light and shadow. For example, heights are determined by air conditioning, lighting is as crucial, and then it’s how you dress the structures and add materials, textures and finishes. How a hemp rug with a Persian carpet on top creates the perfect equilibrium or the way you add colour, artefacts or fabrics. These are layers upon layers, all resting on the symphony of balance,” explains Sultan.
It’s clear creative thinking comes naturally to Sultan, and it is this imaginative bent of mind that gives her projects a unique twist that we have come to love.