An Architect’s Take on the Colour of Year with an Earth-Toned Set Design

Beautiful Homes (BH): How would you define your design philosophy?

David Joe Thomas (DJT): I grew up in Kerala, so my architectural pursuits have been influenced by the unassuming physical presence of my childhood memories in a century-old ancestral home. I have always been fascinated by architecture that goes beyond serving functional needs and is able to evoke human, experiential and existential values. My practice draws from a careful consideration of place, traditional craft, local building cultures and materials and its sociocultural context.

BH: When did Asian Paints approach you for the set design and was this the first time you’ve worked with the brand? Is this something you’ve done before?

DJT: I have always been interested in different forms of space making, from objects to architecture. In fact, since returning to India, I’ve been working on exhibition and product design projects in Bengaluru. This is, however, the first time I’ve worked with Asian Paints and on a project of this kind.

BH: How did you envision the set and was there anything that particularly influenced you?

DJT: The set is a mise-en-scène of primary architectural elements juxtaposed with furniture and objects that render a familiar domestic interior. I was attempting to create a still life of archetypes of columns, walls and fenestrations with no physical roof, negating the ‘functional aspect’ of providing human shelter, not unlike a ruin or a construction site. It hints of a home as a stage for human rituals.

BH: Your thoughts about this colour and incorporating it into the set?

DJT: In developing this spatial concept for Terra, the use of these architectural archetypes is an effort to reflect on the primordial relationship between man and earth and how human civilisations from time immemorial have built with different forms of earth. The concept for Terra explores this very human inclination to dig, form, burn and wrap ourselves in soil. The colour is a recollection of these very elemental anchoring qualities.