“Classic colonial is at the heart of Indian sensibility. As a nation, we love to dress our spaces with warm colours, lyrical designs and good art to add depth. As an interior designer and architect, I find this realm of design as my inner calling. I cannot fathom either pale minimalism or over the top maximalism,” says Payal Kapoor about her body of work.
Payal Kapoor is a quiet player in the world of architecture and design. With three decades of experience and some iconic projects to back her illustrious journey, she likes to work her way stealthily through a landscape of luxury villas, VIP homes, heritage hotels, chairman offices and resorts — not to forget heritage locomotives, with the Palace on Wheels being her contribution to contemporary history. A graduate in design, she has been instrumental in working on many revivalist projects, including the very prestigious work of renovating parts of the Rashtrapati Bhavan and Umaid Bhavan Palace. In fact, she renovated 166 rooms in the palace, both in the zenana and the staff quarters. “I also converted the rooms resided in by Their Highnesses into luxury suites,” she said. Seeing her efficient work on parts of the Umaid Bhawan, Gaj Singhji, the Maharaja of Jodhpur, entrusted her to restore and recreate his quaint Bal Samand Lake Palace, a WelcomHeritage property flanked by a pristine blue lake. “Bal Samand needed lot of work, including structural changes. I worked on both restoring it to its past glory and then decorating it in sync with how it looked originally,” said the designer.
Payal was also on the team that turned the Imperial Hotel into the heritage trophy that it is today. However, she truly catapulted to fame when, as a young woman, she was awarded the contract to turn around Palace on Wheels, a train that was going from narrow to broad gauge and needed to be kindled and created from scratch in a record 90 days. From completing the civil work on the coaches, to adorning gold infused frescoes on the wall, to creating luxurious bedrooms, sitting rooms and an elaborate dining hall and bar, Payal slogged dawn to dusk and handed over the train to the authorities in record time.
She says about the project, “Palace on Wheels was possibly the most challenging project, not just for the time span given, but also the technical aspect of creating something that was able to keep it all calm even when the train was gushing through the countryside at breakneck speed.” Since then, in the past 20 odd years, Payal has worked closely on projects assigned by discerning clients with a taste for heritage and a hunger for history. “Heritage buildings speak to me. I find it exhilarating to turn around the large ramparts of royal palaces and forts, and erstwhile royal residences, into hotels equipped with all the amenities we take for granted.” To her credit also goes the restoration of the Hari Niwas Palace, the summer home of the Royal Family of Jammu & Kashmir. It is now run as a hotel by Dr Karan Singh’s younger son, Ajatshatru Singh, and is not only a suitable location for destination weddings, but also a lap of luxury to relax in after a trip to Vaishno Devi. On the list of heritage properties Payal has worked on also comes the ball room of the Savoy Hotel in Mussoorie, for which she not just designed the furniture, but also custom created the carpet, the cast iron balustrades and the voluptuously beautiful lights. “The ball room built in 1870 was dilapidated and down and out when I took it over. I took over the entire project which, I must admit, was Herculean,” she says. Payal also shares, “Redoing royal homes is not tough.
For one, the design vocabulary is already well defined. Plus, there are existing treasures that simply need to be made functional. I love pottering through their old furniture, chandeliers, statues and art d’objets. Just absorbing their intrinsic design inspires me to create what I call contemporary classic or contemporary colonial spaces.” Cut to her recent projects and Payal shares that she has created the Sambhar Express — not just the locomotive, but also a railway station. “Sambhar Lake is the largest saltwater lake in India that attracts a host of tourists all year round. The park itself is huge and the train helps visitors to see it at leisure,” she says. “I like doing turnkey projects that are large and allow you the space and creative freedom to add your touch to it,” says Payal. An example of this is the TDI complex, a mammoth 400 acres township, a large portion of which was handed to Payal to create. “I started my journey with the group, creating the penthouse for the owners inside Aman Hotel. They loved it so much that they asked me to take over their star project, the luxury villas, and create the look and feel of the show house. High-roofed, sprawling, and a home that lends itself to entertainment and comfort living, I tried to create a modern look with hints of colonial warmth,” she shares. However, it was also the TDI resort that she enjoyed creating. “I love challenges, and hence, also adapted the tennis court, football field, the pool, the gym, and the garden landscaping,” she says.
Another one of her favourite projects was the chairman’s office, which was made into something beautiful. Already in the post-lockdown stage and gushing through drawings, Payal informs, “I have a few projects that are ready to go off the ground. The name of the game for me is to go on working. I believe in Karma and results. For the rest, one should leave it to God.”
