A few days ago, I was returning from the airport after dropping my son as he resumes college. Preoccupied with thoughts on how quickly time flies by, I was reminded of my own college days.
One thing led to another and I found myself thinking about the concept of tradition and how these little notions find themselves in all the work we do every single day. As lifestyles change, so do designing practices. What is contemporary today, will be traditional tomorrow, but what remains intact, are the emotions revolving around these.
The word “tradition” technically means doing things a particular way over a span of time. Possibly it is this factor of time that binds a sense of nostalgia with tradition. To put it in the context of design, traditional interiors, specifically in an Indian household, would involve a fair amount of intricate work either through carvings in extensively used wooden furniture and panelling, warm colour palettes, and rich material finishes. Metals like brass and copper, or things with those finishes, are also commonly seen to contribute to that feeling.
While some could say that choosing to go traditional is, at least in today’s time, an extravagance, the fact is that in the earlier days, not only were these material more abundantly available, but the display of these was linked to socio-economic status, and other areas of life. Additionally, people seemed to have more time to indulge in these guilty pleasures and truly enjoy them.
With changing times though, today’s homes have seen a major shift for various reasons. Primarily the lifestyle, the more cluttered our minds have become, the less we want our spaces to be. So much of our lives revolve around devices, just like the one you are reading this on, today, that we’d rather take the more functional route externally. Apart from that, so many other factors like maintenance, time for maintenance, the need for sustainable or environment friendly practices, and the advancement of technology, have all played a role in this clean, sophisticated style of design that we see so often around us.
Typical signs of contemporary design are linearity, the heavy use of glass or transparent panels, and a minimalistic aesthetic.
But once again, I think, there is no “right” or “wrong” with choosing a style. Depending on your personality and taste, you can always choose one over the other, or even go for a fusion of sorts. Here are some pros and cons that I think may help:
Traditional homes create more room for expression with spaces that can freely use patterns and prints like florals, paislyes, plaids and stripes. Apart from the warm, cozy ambience that these emit, there is a lot of room for recycling or upcycling material in this approach. This is something we love to do, and have been able to pull off very well with some of our projects in the past like the Shaakuntal Saree Boutique.
Maintaining your traditional home could be a little bit of a task if not done regularly both in terms of time, and money. A signature trademark of traditional designs is intricacy. Embroidered fabric, veneers, and wooden furniture, all require refurbishing with time.
Modern households are very, very functional in nature. Clean, sleek, normally with a fair bit of technology infused in various aspects of the home, these spaces are extremely convenient to live in.
Although functional, contemporary interiors do sometimes tend to become monotonous due to the use of muted colour palettes and pastels if they are not naturally your personality. There are of course ways to counter this, but overall, there are a few things you will find difficult to change frequently. Apart from that, if there is too much reliance on equipment and gadgets, there is always the risk of being outdated very quickly.
Having read through all of the above, what do you think you’d choose if you were to design your home today – a sleek, functional look, or something with more of a timeless aesthetic value?