When a dream acquires a physical address

A trial by fire (and deadlines)

Despite functioning as a digital-first brand for years, Shreya had a fair idea of what her customers needed. “On the website, our products are bound to little square silos that seldom interact with each other. We wanted the flagship to feel less like a store and more like a home to bring both context and clarity for the shopper,” she affirms. A typical retail format was never on the cards. It had to be something more intimate, perhaps even residential. And as luck would have it, the bungalow’s proportions and layout were perfect for facilitating the same.

What followed was a race against time, as the team scrambled to bring the flagship to life in only two months. It was, predictably, not smooth sailing. The bungalow came with its own quirks: oddly placed windows, awkwardly curved edges and a blue-gray facade complete with a dated metal sheet. While some elements were open to change, some demanded compromise. Upon learning that the exterior’s hue could not be altered, Shreya opted for a gypsum facade with wainscoting — reminiscent of the New York storefronts she adored during her years of living in the Big Apple. The cracked concrete floor outdoors was ripped out and replaced with slim herringbone pavers, whilst the interiors were fitted with faux wood flooring. The overhaul was absolute, even including a little TLC for the decades-old trees surrounding the property!

In pursuit of elsewhere

The word altrove translates to elsewhere in Italian — and that is precisely where the flagship whisks you off to. The store adds material weight to Shreya’s experiences and memories: shelf finishes and product pairings she had “mentally bookmarked” to try later during her years observing retail design in New York, the all-consuming universes that await within each store in Florence, and an in-store vignette inspired by her stay at a Portuguese Airbnb. “I wanted to bring together all of those influences while keeping it rooted in the way we live in India. We want to let people know their homes can be Pinterest-worthy but also sustainable and effortless to live in,” she affirms.

The reception is not a desk-bound affair, sprawling into a cosy, living-room like setup instead. Two bedroom-inspired spaces follow, styled to help you visualise how each furniture piece would look like in your home. Each room harbours shelves and cupboards full of ALTROVE’s bedding, cushion and upholstery collections. Every pocket of space is layered with objects and textiles. No cabinet or corner is left bare. The flagship is in flux, designed to “demonstrate how homes can evolve over time instead of being decorated all at once,” enthuses Shreya. Outdoors, the exterior space has been tamed into a garden shop complete with planters and a stone sink amid the foliage, egging even the most iron-willed amongst us to grab a planter or two on their way out.

Envisioned in neutrals, layered with textures and abounding in soul, the flagship places craftsmanship and the customer first, and trusts that everything else will fall in place. And as fate would have it, it indeed does.

Read more: In this sun-swept apartment by Studio ALTROVE, Bauhaus, Japandi and LA Mid-century merge with intention