SERENITY SEEKER SABA KAPOOR KHOSLA

SHE EMBRACES A SIMPLIFIED LIFE, DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM PROFOUND WISDOM IN BOOKS, DEDICATING HERSELF TO A SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE AND ADHERING TO AN UNWAVERING DESIGN MANTRA. HELLO! MEETS THE INTERIOR DESIGNER AT HER BEAUTIFUL SOUTH DELHI FARMHOUSE TO CHAT ABOUT HER MANY PASSIONS IN LIFE

- NOOR ANAND CHAWLA

Saba Kapoor Khosla recalls being moved to tears the first time she set eyes on the work of American painter Mark Rothko. “I was around 22 or 23 years old when, in the Netherlands, my friend took me to visit a modern art gallery for the first time. I had just seen [Dutch painter Johannes] Vermeer’s ‘The Lady with the Pearl Earring’, but it was Rothko’s work that blew me away! I couldn’t understand how a work of art could evoke such emotions in me,” she says.

It was a pivotal moment, one that set her on the course of her life’s journey: the creation of design that served a purpose and invoked emotion.

Some would say this path was preordained. She is, after all, the daughter of popular interior designer Rohit Kapoor, with whom she runs the New Delhi-based interiors, furniture, millwork and lighting firm, Nivasa. Her educational trajectory too indicated her creative leanings, with summer school at Central Saint Martins and Chelsea College, a master’s degree from Parsons School of Design and a stint at modern furniture brand BoConcept in New York before her return to India. However, she discovered her true passion along the way.

“What I really love doing is solving problems creatively,” she explains. “I eventually got into design because I wanted to simplify lives. My goal was to eliminate hassle while delivering precisely what people desired.” One can see this conviction play out in the interiors of her own home.

A SUCCESSFUL UNION OF AESTHETICS