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There lies an unmatched thrill in treasure hunting at a local flea market or picking up one-of-a-kind pieces at vintage furniture stores on a holiday abroad. In a home, they lend a sense of history and distinction, and make for great conversation fodder at dinner parties. From the AD archives, here are 7 exquisite homes where antiques shine.
Architect Samira Rathod's Mumbai Home
Architect Samira Rathod's home in Mumbai is a soulful archetype of her distilled aesthetic. It’s where her art and architectural styles coexist. It’s where the mundane and profound come together. Rathod is a fierce advocate of recycling; her home has an abundance of things that have gained new contours, textures, and consequent longevity through the many years that they have been in her possession—thanks to makeovers executed in her own design studio.
There are side tables made from cane baskets; Bhutanese shawls used as screens in her bedroom; and old dining tables turned into new work desks affixed with a fresh set of legs. “A lot of these objects were collected over a long period of time, so in a sense they are things that I have grown up with. I have never been able to part with the old when the new came in,” says Rathod. “The idea of discarding is contrary to the idea of collecting, and to me these objects are all about collecting memories. I can’t imagine being in a home without them.”
Too often, she finds herself staring at a piece of art kept lovingly on a wall or shelf of her home and wonders what must have driven its maker to make it. Rathod’s aesthetic is not scripted by pattern or commonality, except that everything comes together to create a space of warmth and intimacy. The dining table is made from a magnificent piece of Italian marble, some chairs are designer replicas from Chor Bazaar, and some others are flea-market finds from Paris. Besides old antique kilims, there are Persian carpets designed by her studio that were woven in Varanasi and Nepal.
Original text by Rajashree Balaram, edited for context.
An Artist's Charming Pune Home
For visual artist Gaurav Ogale, memories are material things. They take the form of glass bottles, Japanese porcelain dolls, and charcoal drawings in his Pune home studio. Point to any object in this 800-square-foot rental, and Ogale will have a story to tell. Nothing is mindlessly 'added-to-cart'; everything is considered and curated with utmost care. “My relationship with spaces has always been very tactile, especially because I have moved many homes and always lived out of boxes,” Ogale tells us. “By osmosis, art and memories have travelled with me to all my homes, making space for themselves and settling in with me until it was time to move again. I have no memory of 'designing' a home; objects, art, and textiles organically made space for themselves in my spaces, big and small.”
His home is an airy, sunlit one-bedroom layered with a timeless Kota stone floor; the perfect canvas for Ogale to breathe life onto. He wanted to lend his home a dream-like illustrative quality, placing himself among all the artists and their narratives that he has treasured over the years, the countries he's travelled to, and the stories he's collected. Decorative objects and whimsical curios dot the home, ranging from a cherub picked up from a Berlin flea market to an eclectic octopus lamp made by Advanced Nature from industrial waste.
Original text by Nuriyah Johar, edited for context.
A Nostalgic Home In Chennai
Architect Gowri Adappa and wedding designer Ambika Gupta have traveled to source vintage furniture and artefacts from Puducherry to Jaipur, weaving in nostalgic childhood home features like sunken pits and black oxide floors. Here is the combined vision of two creatively inspired women.
Like a magpie, Adappa sourced materials, art and artefacts to fold them into everyday life—all in a way that is unfussy and understated. Take the foyer, for instance. Located on the ground floor, this was the third apartment that Gupta acquired almost after the two floors above were nearing completion. “It allowed us to make space for a dramatic powder room, a guest bedroom and the gym that Ambika was keen on,” Adappa says. The wooden door at the entrance—sourced during a trip the women took to Puducherry to visit artisans and identify antiques—opens into a sanctuary of sorts. You can find a moment’s respite from the outside on the old Dutch bench from Colombo that Adappa sourced from Souk, a well-known antiques store in Chennai. From that spot, you peer into the sunken pit with cushioned seating, dotted with four glass table lamps from Taherally’s in Mumbai. “Every morning,” says Gupta, “when I walk out of my room with a cup of coffee in hand and step into the living room, I look around, breathe in and it’s a pinch-me moment. I can’t not be grateful for this home—my first.”
Original text by Akhila Krishnamurthy, edited for context.
A Maximalist Baroda Home
The city of Baroda — now called Vadodara — is intricately linked to the history of modern and contemporary art in India. Reflecting this journey is Malika and Chirayu Amin's ancestral home and their incredible collection of art. Since she bought her first painting—an NS Bendre—at the age of 21, Malika Amin, the well-known art patron, philanthropist and businesswoman, has acquired an incredible museum-worthy collection housed across her various homes, but pride of place goes to the family abode in Baroda (Vadodara), Gujarat. Built over 60 years ago by the visionary architect Anup Kothari, who passed away recently, and who built a number of significant buildings across India in the mid-to-late 20th century, the five-acre home feels more like a resort than a city residence.
“My in-laws built this house,” Malika reminisces. Despite its age, the home is compellingly contemporary. Various interventions undertaken over the years kept it up to date while retaining its historic antecedents. The furniture is mostly antique, the tabletops sporting silver but not overloaded with objets d’art. A mid-century teak sofa and two armchairs occupy an inviting corner. They were bought from interior store Kamdar, founded in 1934 in Mumbai. Another corner houses an opium bed, found in Beijing and brought to India for her son.
Original text by Gayatri Rangachari Shah, edited for context.
A Family Home In Goa
When a Singapore-based couple decided to build and design their dream home in Goa, they enlisted Tejas Yelve (principal architect), along with Krishnaa Gabhawala and Gautam Palav of Studio 415. “The plot was uniquely positioned, with houses lining three sides and a road running along the front, which limited privacy and outdoor space,” explains Yelve. “To overcome these constraints, we designed a house centred around a private courtyard. Incorporating a pool within the courtyard not only enhanced the aesthetic appeal but also provided a refreshing retreat within the privacy of the home.
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The design also bridges the old and the new—seventy percent of the doors and windows are antique, sourced from different parts of India, while the columns supporting the dining verandah are 100 years old, brought in from Chennai. Cement tiles from Bharat Flooring and outdoor spaces clad in basalt stone help create a cohesive, earthy aesthetic. “A divider screen crafted from oyster shells, inspired by the design of traditional Goan windows, adds a natural, coastal touch while offering privacy and visual interest,” says the architect. “Colonial-style furniture, with carved wood and elegant detailing, complements the overall aesthetic, evoking a timeless charm."
Original text by Aditi Sharma, edited for context.
Anamika Khanna's Timeless Kolkata Home
Anamika Khanna, one of the finest couturiers in the country, is also an avid collector. Her home in south Kolkata’s Alipore neighbourhood, designed by the Sri Lankan genius Channa Daswatte, becomes the canvas for her eclectic assemblage of art, textiles, ceramics, and everything her family loves.
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In planning for a home that evoked the Geoffrey Bawa aesthetic, Anamika found her partner in Channa Daswatte—the renowned Sri Lankan architect whom Bawa had mentored. “We related with each other and instantly became friends,” she says. “It was a very collaborative process. If I came up with an idea, he found ways to work it in.” In designing the house, Daswatte has stitched his aesthetic with hers. When Anamika bought dozens of intricately carved wooden panels from Chennai, Daswatte incorporated them along the length of the staircase railings. The tall doors and pivoting shuttered windows, which flood the entire house with sunlight, were designed to complement a set of old Burmese teak doors that she picked up from Kolkata’s Chor Bazaar.
Original text by Sohini Dey, edited for context.
A PR Maven's Home In Goa
The word serendipity takes on warm undertones in Srimoyi Bhattacharya’s Aldona villa overlooking the verdant backwaters of Mapusa river in Goa. Immediately intimate, yet vastly inclusive – a global approach, yet rooted in the local. That, possibly, sums up the personality of the luxury advisor, aesthete and founder of Peepul Advisory herself. Born and brought up in France, Bhattacharya has lived variously in New York, Bombay and Delhi, before collating her world experiences and bringing them to her home in a tiny Goan village – almost like the stories, memories, art, furniture and tchotchkes she has amassed and treasured over the years. Bhattacharya evocatively calls it “a medley of memories”. And quite serendipitously, when she first began to redesign the rental space as a forever home for husband Sourabh Chattopadhyay, daughter Dayani, their three dogs and herself, it was this melange of recollections that inspired her and project designer Bubun Mittra.
Provence, in particular, became a vital touchpoint. While the earthy tone of the walls in the living area is “reminiscent of Roussillon in Luberon, where the soil is red, much like Goa”, the popular Provencal hexagonal terracotta tiles find a local translation in honeycomb stone tiles sourced from Mapusa market. A transitional wall of collectibles traverses from south of France to south of India with pickle jars, rum containers, demijohns, and ginger jars – surprisingly common to both cultures -- sitting alongside church monstrances, Chettinad enamel-coated utensils, brass utensils and handcrafted masks.
Original text by Kimi Dangor, edited for context.
