Ever thought of using an old window as a table? It’s something Nivedithaa Ramaswami is very thrilled about. “I found the window frame in Ukkadam old market and thought it would make a great low table in an informal office. All I did was to put a plywood sheet behind to hold the doors shut and give it legs,” she laughs.
Ramaswami’s entry into interior design was happenstance. Since setting up her studio Utpura a year ago, she has worked on five projects and is in talks for a sixth. “My uncle was an architect, my mother had done a course in interior design and my dad was interested in various aspects of civil engineering. Growing up, I always thought I would do architecture rather than civil engineering but then I got interested in the mathematical aspect of buildings. Also dad would be giving me problems to solve. Say, there’s a crack on the wall. He would ask why it was growing diagonally instead of vertically.”
Nivedhithaa Ramaswami
Apart from home, the other big influence was school. “I studied at Vidhya Niketan’s Vilankurichi campus from std VI to XII. The architecture was beautiful. The entire school was on one floor with exposed brick work and no doors or windows. There were gardens between classrooms and animals and birds would be wandering in and out.”
While in college — she did civil engineering — Ramaswami interned with PTK architects, who had landed a project with Daimler Benz in Chennai. “I worked there for two and a half months and it was a very fruitful experience but I didn’t want to go into project management.”
So she joined an architecture start-up. “The best thing about a start-up,” she enthuses, “is that you have to do everything: printing, talking to the chief architect, fighting with vendors, placating the client and getting the work done.” After working there for just under a year, Ramaswami had to quit for personal reasons.
During this break, she learnt Spanish, Hindi and Malayalam but realised her first love lay with buildings. Fortuitously, around the same time, the family house was completed and was waiting to be done up. Her mother wanted to dispose off some old material like wooden boxes, cots and jadis and buy new stuff.
Blending the traditional with the contemporary A Jadi doubles up as a flower vase
But Ramaswami put her foot down. “All these things,” she waves her hand at the jadis filled with flowers in one corner and the boxes piled up to form a small table, “are more than 60-70 years old. Each of them has a story. We’ll never get them again.” She convinced her mother that they could keep the traditional stuff and still look contemporary.
Apart from compliments on the minimalistic look, she also got an offer from a neighbour to re-do a few rooms in her house. “Initially I was hesitant,” smiles Ramaswami. “I didn’t have any qualifications in interior design. But she was very particular. She insisted that she loved my taste; so I agreed.” That was her first project. What about her own house? “Well that too, but it was more a joint effort by the family,” she laughs.
The other factor that has helped with landing projects, she says, is networking. “I’ve always connected with people. This has helped me with getting projects.” Her best, so far, has been the Signature Moments Studio project, in which a group of friends set up a photography and videography studio.
The bamboo lights that were a DIY project
“They wanted me to do their office space and I thought of doing something that would be different, neat and cost effective.” She becomes animated as she describes the bamboo lighting she created for them. “We saw a beautiful piece that cost around ₹8000 and they were ready to buy it. I asked them to wait for two days; contacted bamboo vendors and electricians and finally did the piece as a DIY. It came to less than ₹1800.”
But, she also wryly points out, that DIY items depend on the client. “Some are not okay with it. Either they want all new items or they have some kind of belief against bringing in old items into a new house. I don’t force it. I do it only if the client is okay with it.”
A lot of her work depends on the client’s choices, she admits. “When we don’t agree, I try talking to them. If they still insist, I just do the design and let them handle the rest. Of course, it’s pretty upsetting but I have to let it go.”
While she sources much of her material in and around Coimbatore, she loves to pick up contacts when she travels and hopes to expand her work beyond this region. “I would love to go pan India and even international.” Her hope for the future is to be happy with what she’s done. “I’m never satisfied with my work, so if I think I’ve done a good job, it should be really good.”
As a final question, I ask about the name of her studio. “Utpura is the Tamil name for interiors,” she smiles. “Since I love Tamil, I wanted to use a name that would be close to my heart.”
Projects until now
My neighbour’s house was my first project
Jeswin Rebello, a light painting artist, is a friend of a friend. His family business is furniture and he asked me to design a few pieces
I did a small project for Vipin Photography Studio
In Pollachi, I did the landscaping for MMS School grounds
Personal design take
Space should be uncluttered, minimalistic
Home is a space where I can kick off my shoes and be comfortable
An office too should be welcoming, not a space people are happy to leave
