Kanso House: Celebrating Family and Simplicity

August 1, 2024

Kanso House: Celebrating Family and Simplicity

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Kanso House by Kumpal Vaid and team at Purple Backyard, is woven with a meditative thread that balances as it calms.

A subtle pause reigns in the Kanso House. Just what its inhabitants craved for. Wrapped in subtlety, eliminating the unnecessary, the Kanso House reverberates with charm in its purity. Kumpal Vaid the Founder and Principal Designer at Purple Backyard has interlined the right cords while weaving the tapestry of the Kanso Home, creating a benchmark of a minimalistic home that’s as pleasing to the eye as it is to the rest of the senses.

Tonal palette, soft curves underpinned by subtle geometry, lux-tactile finishes, a beholding sea view from the 21-foot-long deck, tactile materiality, and the elements that blend harmoniously with nature form this expansive sanctuary in the urban rush of Mumbai.

Kumpal has been shaping immersive and conscious homes since 2011 with a vision to craft bespoke spaces that serve a clear purpose while embracing our cultural heritage with contemporary interpretations.

In the Kanso House too, she has achieved what her firm is celebrated for, serving bespoke spaces that reflects the client’s discretion. This 4000 sq. ft home is for a family of three desiring quiet yet eloquent sophistication, a purity of design and minimal ornamentation. An approach that syncs perfectly with Kumpal’s values who transmutes the bare shell of this four-bedroom apartment into a masterpiece that envelopes a slow-living vibe.

“Simplicity and elimination of clutter are the basics to create a meditative impact on the space” says Kumpal Vaid Purple Backyard

Kumpal tells us that a Zen space is more about the vibration it exudes. “Less about the physical and more about the emotional impact of the design,” she says trying to put words to define Zen, that permeates this Kanso Home.

“Simplicity and elimination of clutter are the basics to create a meditative impact on the space, and every element serves a purpose that revolves around the members of the home, elevating the mood further. The designs may seem simple at a glance but you discover the depth once you explore further. The design is not just about the aesthetics but also about the tranquillity and peace it brings to the space, making it a genuinely calm home,” she says.

Kumpal tell us about the process involved in the crafting of this meditative space. She says, “We handled the theme of less is more mindfully in the apartment. We built a material board and then moved towards crafting a tactile material and colour flow. Interplaying the diverse materials, and layering them aesthetically we maintained a uniform tonality throughout the space.

“Beige marble and wooden flooring, along with Kota stone on the deck, Indian black limestone and Silverstone and Basalt in the bathroom, all align with each other and yet their juxtapositions delineate the space. Grained wood, metal elements, and textured jute on the walls harmoniously blend and add to the natural vibe. Granite on the kitchen walls along with a grey inlaid marble island crafts adds to the subtleness. The glass in the partition gives the apartment a fluidity and smooth flow while the soft cotton and linen furnishings blend in with the sophisticated muted artistic appeal,” says Kumpal.

Balance is the key, in the design, not overdoing but creating subtle nuances with different textures, colours and finishes. Drawing from nature, such as the totems that echo the rock gardens, and the plants all around imbue verdant freshness, as do the panoramic windows and the beautiful and long sea view deck.

Walk Through the Kanso House

Once inside the Kanso House, an idea of pause and reflection engulfs the tonal shades as the canvas, accentuated with wood and black elements and the silent red, pique interest.

A neutral, clean-lined sofa gives company to a curvilinear chair, while a black and white artistic coffee table by PB Home sits close to an eclectic lamp that enchantingly adds character to the space directly opening into the sea-facing deck. Curated small stone totems built out of material in situ, perched on small wooden poles, welcome all at the entrance console.

A softly curved wall leads to a dining area where a white marble monolith dining table sculptured in an organic shape holds centre stage. The fabric light by Stem, enriched with silver corners, floats above the table and is complemented with a silver wall light called Silver Sublime by PB Home, casting an engrossing vibe.

An intriguing take on the ‘Starry Nights,’ by House of Berserk, sits majestically on one of its walls. This powder bath plays the perfect yin to the yang, with an artistic vanity made of the monolith Basalt that gets dramatically served with the side of the LZF red light in red veneer.

A composed sanctum, the father’s bedroom with wooden panelling, cladded wardrobes, fluted walls, beige tones, and decadent adornments on the walls make for a space fitting to the occupant. The en-suite bathroom perpetuates the allure of the bedroom with a monolith vanity, vintage faucets and wood-finished ceilings. The creative uniqueness of the guest bedroom blurs the lines between art and functionality, sustained in the bathroom as well with totems and a sleek insert light that glows with a muted vibe.

A serendipitous moment, the sunset, led to crafting the master bedroom to make the most of the skylight golden hour pouring from the door that opens into the deck. A rust-coloured seat adds zest to the neutral ambience while the Champa tree casts a play of shadows. Reminiscent of the onsen, the en-suite bathroom embodies a soothing ambience that keeps the yin spirit in flow.

The room naturally flows into a den that morphs into a sitting room for casual conversations, a guest room, or a prayer room. Sheathed with jute wallpaper, the walls are graced with old black and white pictures in old frames scored from the antique shops and a statement light, crafting a beguiling allure. Granite walls, an inlay white-marbled grey island, beige cupboards, wood mimicking ceramic tiles and glass partitions make the spacious kitchen a dream space.

And the finale, the twenty-one-foot-long sea-facing deck with a magnificent panoramic view. Dotted with lush greenery, a water body, a bar, and an innovative swing that can face either way, it is a space where the family can converge in togetherness, hold soirees, or just gaze at the skyline—a Utilitarian home with sumptuous storage and sliders that de-mark the private and open spaces. The most endearing and rhetorical element is a framed stone that reads ‘Kanso’ in Japanese, etched by each worker, including Kumpal.

“We believe in creating spaces that reflect the people that reside in them and their needs. Hence, we have crafted the private spaces to resonate with each individual’s distinct personality while maintaining a singular visual flow that connects the whole space. Everything in this Kanso House is built around a purpose, and the calm sensibilities, a dignified layering of tactile materials, tonal consistency, and intuitively done ambient lighting make this apartment like its namesake/moniker,” says Kumpal.

All the Accessories that Make the Place

All the art and craft pieces in the Kanso House are sourced from within India and crafted by Indian artisans, big and small.

“The client’s collections and some old black-and-white pictures were used in the decor, along with fresh pieces that we designed or curated,” explains Kumpal.

The products from Stem, mostly have Indian nuances to them, intricate thread work or beaten metalwork or carvings. A rustic jute seat that mimics an old-fashioned cot was sourced from a local vendor in Bandra and the Totems by Laviosa are made by an Indian craftsperson.

“A Corbusier chair, a cane chair, and a seating with intricate cane work on it were added to go with the vibe of an old-world charm. The carpets are also sourced from local makers and blended with the client’s collection of carpets. The client had an old brass teapot, which we used as an accent. A beaten aluminium vase with black finishes, a ship clock, vintage Coke bottles and antique frames around the old pictures in the study were sourced from the flea market. A jute bag on the kitchen counter was specially sourced from Assam for its quaint appeal. The etching on the stone accents was crafted by our artisans, such as the beautiful pillar holding the Oly light in the master bedroom, standing like a sculpture piece in that room,” explains the designer.

‘The starry night’ in the dining room is a fresh perspective done by the House of Beserk of the original, in their signature style and adds an element of intrigue and colour to the room.

“The paper cutouts framed around the home were sourced from the flea market, where we sieved through many old newspapers and articles to find ones that would fit, such as The Humorist article in the powder bathroom. The most memorable piece is the two stone works above the living room sofa, on which Kanso was etched by the members of The Purple Boat team at the client’s request, depicting the thoughtfulness and mindfulness that went into making this home. The homeowners wanted the art pieces to blend with the theme with a personal touch, tell a story or add colour,” says Kumpal.

“Art for them was not just a piece on the wall but something that hits a chord and evokes emotion and an enveloping vibe. We went to great lengths to create the old-world vibe and blended it harmoniously with the contemporary. A bit of old, a bit of new, reflects the essence of the Kanso House,” she says.

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