What design lessons have we learnt from two years in lockdown?

New Paths

For architect and new mother Aparna Miten Patel, March 2020 marked the beginning of a new phase in her life. She’d welcomed a baby boy right at the onset of the pandemic, and needed to make certain changes to her room for the new member. “We added a crib, some new furniture, and a traditional Gujarati swing made of wood and cloth called ghodiyu in our room for the baby,” she reveals. Living in a joint family in Surat with four generations under one roof meant a lockdown filled with love and support that helped her a great deal with her newborn. “Having a baby during the pandemic was overwhelming but my family came to my rescue. I’ve certainly bonded more with them and my home during the last two years. Since we couldn’t step out, my favourite spot became my backyard where I would sit under a mango tree in the evenings to get some fresh air and some peace and solitude,” Patel adds.

Celebrity interior designer Rupin Suchak who has extensively worked on designing film sets, moved to decorating homes during the pandemic. He says, “The pandemic in a way opened a new discipline for our company and gave us an opportunity to venture and spread our wings in the field of interior designing for homes. The production design on the other hand, shut down completely as film shoots and the set design work was reduced dramatically. 

While most of us were stuck at home, there were few who had to step out for their job. Arati Nair, an HR professional, was one of them. Being in the healthcare sector in 2020, her workplace was a hospital in Gurgaon. In the past two years, she moved cities, changed jobs and redid the decor of her home. “At the beginning of the pandemic, my husband and I were based out of Gurgaon where we lived in a sprawling 3-BHK. We converted one of our bedrooms into a home gym to manage our daily exercise routines. Since I went to the hospital every day, we kept our guest bedroom ready for isolation in case there was a need. We also set up a home office for my husband, and filled our home with indoor plants. We spent a lot of time in the balcony since that was the only outdoor we could access. So from coffee dates to candlelight dinners, we had them all here.” But in August 2021, Nair moved to Mumbai into a cosy 2-BHK. She says, “The overall decor was not compromised even though the transition was from a 2000-sq-ft apartment to an 800-sq-ft one. It, however, demanded that we give the must-haves a priority over the ‘good to have’. Also, since I changed jobs, we needed to accommodate a WFH setup for me too. The dining table now doubles up as my workstation,” she says.

Painting murals and creating art installations that can transform interior spaces is at the heart of what ZA Works does. Reveals Zahabiya Gabajiwala, the founder and principal artist, “Our work primarily requires our team to work on-site physically, but due to the pandemic, this task became difficult.