Is there a gender divide in interior design?

When photographer Udit Kulshrestha redid his home recently, he brought together his interests in travel and automobiles. “My side tables are rescued felled tree log slices from Arunachal Borders that were cut down when the government was making roads through forest geographies. These were then polished with matte gloss polish and made into side tables. Everything in my place is handmade or picked up from people who handmade them,” he says. “Some of the paraphernalia includes a vintage train engine lantern, wooden toys from Karnataka, Purulia, Bodoland. A rat trap from Bodoland and a bamboo tea holder from Arunachal, Tibetan masks from Darjeeling, an aluminium and brass decor adornments from Moradabad, Wooden boxes from Saharanpur…”

Kulshrestha lives alone in his space, while his parents live downstairs. Since he is a photographer, light was of primary importance for him and although he did not think of his decisions through the lens of gender, he is of the belief that women add a sense of warmth to spaces by placing small but significant objects. He does something similar with his collection of knick knacks. “Being a practising colour theorist and photographer, I also needed backgrounds and understood carving out spaces with the colour schemes. For example, my living room has three shades of grey and a distinct textured red feature wall. My studio space has softer but uplifting yellows combined with a pastel light green feature wall. Yellow as a colour brings liveliness and also invokes the vastu science of energy to ensure positivity and improves work productivity. Each of the rooms has a feature wall in a contrasting colour,” he says.

Harsha wanted leather furniture in the living room, but Anjana thought fabric will best bring their theme alive. “In retrospect, hers was the right decision. People who have visited the home have remarked upon it,” Harsha concedes. The third wheel in this project was the architect, (male, specifying considering the purpose of this discussion) who had a more monochromatic vision for the house. But Anjana made up for it by introducing elements of colour through the art and artefacts. She commissioned a local artist to create a beautiful wall piece. She also made a collage of paintings they had picked up from places they had travelled to. These influences helped make the space theirs. They also allowed each other their indulgences based on gender as well as interests.

Usually, if there is an additional room in the house it becomes the man’s—a study or a gaming room, or a “man cave” as it were. “It is a bit tragic that even now, no space in the house is truly designed exclusively for the woman other than the kitchen,” she says.

Like life, a home is what you make of it. It is a statement of who you are and what you love. Whether you call it gender preferences or an extension of your personality, what really matters is only that it’s a space you are always looking forward to coming back to. As for us, we dialed back on the dark tone of the room, retaining the brick effect on one wall and lightening the rest by going with a neutral white. The bookshelves wrap around the television and rise to the ceiling on both sides. We bought a new sofa but also placed our old, comfy armchair in the room. It is, without exaggeration, the best room in the house. A bit new, a bit old, a bit male, a bit female, a perfect embodiment of ourselves and our lives.

All images by Syam Sreesylaam