Urban Ladder takes customers through a nostalgic journey home with the launch of ‘The Malabar Range’
Urban Ladder, a leading brand in the home furnishing space today announced the launch of an exclusive in-house furniture collection, ‘The Malabar Range’. The collection was launched through a unique storytelling session hosted by Urban Ladder. Shreya Biswas of Katharangam, narrated a childhood classic, evoking the emotion of ‘nostalgia’ among the audience.
Driven by an innate intuition, and backed by research, the Malabar collection straddles both the present and past, creating a range rooted in history and defined by modern day spaces. This is a collection where the table beckons you to write a letter instead of sending a text. A dining table that invites you to surround it with happy guests, seated at a homemade feast. Bringing back the colonial era and memories to life, in a modern context, is the Malabar range of 13 products in dining, study and seating.
The inspiration for the range dates back in history. When the first colonies of the British set foot in South West India, they brought along their own wares, furniture and lifestyle. Having settled in coastal regions, they soon realised none of those suited the Indian climate. They hired local craftsmen to make their furniture, who added their own detailing to the European designs which gave birth to two distinct styles, the colonial raj, which was a rich, ornate and intricate design style, and the plantation, which was simple combined with airy materials such as rattan, and slatted detailing.
Specific elements of the range were recreated using various methods to give each product the Urban Ladder advantage. Reinforcing the brands focus on quality and design, the team has paid attention to every intricate detail of the product. The groove detail for the legs of each piece is done by hand, and each leg takes up to an hour to complete. Because of how handles age, the handles are sand casted, specialised tools were designed to recreate specific elements and details for the products.
Anees Mehkri, Senior Furniture Designer at Urban Ladder said “The very furniture I grew up with inspired me to design this entire range. My childhood summers were spent often at my grandparent’s ancestral home with long corridors, large airy doorways, thick walls, tall pillars, high ceilings red oxide flooring and mammoth sized pieces of ornate furniture. This range brings life to a lot of my memories from yesteryears.”
The original furniture from this period is fairly large and not easy to move around. The team eliminated the bulk while keeping the traditional elements, the heart of the range, intact. Keeping in mind the sizes of contemporary homes, the furniture is crafted to sit comfortably in apartments, villas and also independent homes.
“In this range we wanted to preserve the fine craftsmanship in India but wanted to discard the ornamentation. We have kept the gentle curves, and impeccable finishing. This is a very special range for us at UL. It breaks away from the Urban Ladder design inclination, with o a new design style that veers more toward a cleaner, more minimalist sensibility. We are excited to see how this range will further our vision of making a million homes beautiful.” Said, Rushabh Sanghavi, Vice President – Product Strategy & Design, Urban Ladder.
