We had on hand a really long passage that held the heart of a long luxury hotel from one end to the other. Next to a high traffic all day diner, with an adjunct enclosure that lay bare and snaking its way through to the Indus Express restaurant that served the 5 river cuisine of Punjab. (another adventure and chapter for another time). This was a looooong address alright.
Housed inside this gigantic address, was the space in question. The centre of gravity. What we had on the long bare wall was a triptych painting. Nothing more nothing less.
We felt that a spanking brand new address like Taj Dwarka cannot not have a heart that thrums with its almost Origami inspired design. Made with a strong architectural sense as if hewn from stone blocks, it had cuts, facets, nooks and perspectives.
We convinced the leadership team that this ought to be one of the core experience junctions for the hotel as it was the centre of everything. This was a fantastic storytelling point with a large canvas. The floor above with a similar gargantuan proportion was the location of our other experience design venture - the Terra Forma Ceramic Gallery, an industry innovation and business model.
Hence the triptych had to go. The experience of this zone had to be amplified and tuned with the brand's promise. Where a normal day was everything but. We needed a perspective. Relevant to the times.
Thus was born the interpretive Kabir project – a contemporary narrative through art + design + technology + spatial narrative + music that rendered one of the most well known patron saints from North India, Sant Kabir and his 2 line couplets or “dohas”. Fusing his time-immemorial lines and philosophy with music & design.
Each of the elements of art used in this narrative was created ground up from scratch, each doha interpreted afresh, inspirations of art influenced by the legendary artist, Chugtai and then stitched as a composite on the lobby passage.
With QR codes allowing the viewer to scan and read related content on mobile devices, including Rabindranath Tagore's phenomenal work on Sant Kabir, technology helped to weave the story.
With light boxes that needed to be both light and yet hold circuitry, with the art lit from the back, a specially constructed frame to manage the weight, concealed power lines, this was a meticulous exercise with our team of artists, material specialists, fabricators, carpentry and electrical teams ably supported by the hotel's engineering point-man.
Art soon flowed into music. We conceived and designed the Kabir music lounge - an enclosed, adjunct bare space that was re-imagined. It became a sanctum clad in fabric, canvas and faceted copper reflective plates with the music pyramid holding centre stage.
An installation and music console with headphones that housed the best of Kabir’s music as rendered by legends like Kishori Amonkar, Abida Parveen and Shujaat Hussain. Music of the soul uninterrupted and undisturbed. But the project wasn't finished as yet.
In its subsequent phase, one of our core members reached out to Shabnam Virmani, well known artist, documentary film maker who has her life since 2003 to archiving the works of Sant Kabir. Shabnam an artist in residence at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore, visited the premises, and agreed to partner with us. We were very clear that our Kabir project and the honest philosophy of this project needed authentic renditions. Scores of meetings with large music labels left us seeking more. Finally we discovered Had Anhad and a collaboration with one of the largest web projects on Sant Kabir was initiated.
We got access to some of the most soulful tracks sung by followers of the saint. The media launch of the address saw the inventive duo of Maatibaani paying a glorious tribute to Sant Kabir. Good friends, Nirali and Kartik from Maatibaani performed with Mooralala Marwada, a Sufi folk singer from the Janana village of Kutch.
That evening, they literally made the project sing. Sant Kabir, we believe would have approved.
While the narrative might make it seem that it was all smooth, seamless and one cohesive synchronised script, this adventure had several layers, several drafts. We believe it was actually held together by several artists, performers, specialists and dreamers. Almost bound by a singular faith and the blessings of Kabir.