Rouka’s new store in Kochi makes retail, personal

Beautiful Homes (BH): Was it always the plan to make the store as personal and experiential as possible?

Sreejith Jeevan (SJ): I think retail is more about the experience today, rather than just an impersonal place to shop. When creating this space, it wasn’t really about the number of products I could fit in or the sales per square metre. It was about creating a space where visitors would feel like they belong and are comfortable while they shop. Ultimately, that’s what Rouka is. It is what drove the whole idea of creating the feeling of comfort and familiarity—that sense of a home.   

BH: What kind of building did you have to work with?

SJ: It was a bare shell; all it had were columns. We added some details to the architecture instead of keeping it simple, minimal, brutal. The idea was to make the space a little more ‘heartwarming’. So we included elements like arches and little windows that gave it a more personal touch. There are also sliding glass doors to ensure the space works with or without an AC (in case of power cuts). I also extended the store a little outwards. We redid the concrete staircase in front to create more parking space. Now, there’s a balcony-like structure at the entrance, giving the building a more vintage look. I find myself very connected to things that we see disappearing—maybe it’s a millennial thing.  

BH: How did the interior elements come together?

SJ: I went scouring for just the right kind of furniture pieces to have around the space. There are some basic desks and stands, and some that are very ‘statement’. I wanted furniture that would last. There’s something about old-world material; it’s so timeless, nothing happens to it. We wanted things that would endure, that had history. For instance, the cash desk is Art Deco and reclaimed from an old hotel. Another Art Deco cupboard is to display jewellery. The racks are all hand-carved by a local carpenter and made with reused wood. I also brought furniture from my house, like my kids’ toy shelf, which we are using as an open cupboard. As a metaphor of our ‘no wastage’ policy, we repurposed the toy shelf door as a display niche. 

BH: How did you bring the local element into the decor?

SJ: Well, the floors are red oxide, which is typical to the region. I’ve also used brass chains to hang my products. As a material, brass is rooted in Kerala—ubiquitous in different rituals and ceremonies. There are also the trial rooms. Around the time I was brainstorming on their design, we visited Mannar’s Parumala Church, an Orthodox Syrian Christian church. They are very dramatic spaces, with red altars and curtains. I wanted a similar, dramatic experience in my trial rooms, which have red curtains backed by red walls. We’ve also used carvings on the top. That idea came to me on a visit to the Durbar Hall Art Gallery, just a couple of minutes away. The space had some  elements on the ceiling. I found that very interesting and got these little round carvings made for the hooks to hang the clothes from.

BH: The brand aesthetic spills into the interior aesthetic, which also resonates with the former space. Would you agree that there is a kind of osmosis at work here?

SJ: I set up the previous space right after I started Rouka, created the logo and defined the brand. And as I was doing up the [previous] space, I realised that some of its aesthetic touches had seeped into the brand’s graphic vocabulary. Slowly, everything I started doing became red, black and white. We started using elements from [my grandfather’s] house—the mango tree and the plantain leaves—some consciously, some very subconsciously.