Design
Bonnie & Saks’ flagship store for premium bed linen in Mumbai puts the therapy in retail therapy
FEB 7, 2025 | By Team ELLE DECOR India
In Mumbai’s colonial district, there are art galleries aplenty. From fiercely avant-garde to ones that revel in powerful restraint. As you walk through the lanes of Ballard Estate, you’ll come across Bonnie & Saks’ flagship store. With its dark tones and pared-back spatiality, it will make you question what we consider art.
Refined simplicity. This philosophy defines their 1,000 sq ft outpost as well as their premium bed linen line. A far cry from ostentatious retail displays, Bonnie & Saks takes a path less travelled.
The store offers a quiet refuge amid the city’s relentless pace. Soft lighting, warm hues and rich textures imbue the atmosphere with deep, effortless comfort — where luxury bedlinen meets tranquillity.
More than just a showroom, it offers an immersive experience. The interiors are replete with crisp sheets, rich weaves and plush bedding. They invite you to pause, breathe and embrace the art of slow living. Here, luxury transcends design and manifests itself as a feeling of belonging, of knowing you are truly at home amongst fine linens crafted for those who cherish rest and refinement.
Dramatic design
Located on the ground floor of a historic colonial building, the structure of the space brims with stories. The design process was not without challenges. Irregular column grids, deep proportions and limited natural light plagued the ageing shell. But there was one saving grace — the expansive 13 ft ceiling. A crescendo of drama.
The roadblocks were transformed into opportunities, offering a panoply of possibilities for the designers. “The space, though constrained in many ways, offered the potential to transform the mundane into a contemplative environment — a challenge that the design embraced and redefined,” elaborate Advait Potnis and Amit Khanolkar, Principal Architects of DIG Architects.
Mapping movement
Architecture is as much about movement as it is about space. Advait and Amit orchestrated a circulation through the flagship store in order for the patron to discover the best of Bonnie & Saks’ products.
“As visitors enter, they are gently guided toward the rear gallery space, where the layout becomes a carefully considered diagram,” aver the designers. At two opposing ends of the gallery stand two austere cylindrical pods. One carrying a bed, the other a work desk. In a mystical dance, the curtains are unveiled through a motorised mechanism. An air of surprise and a sense of intimacy fills the room. As you make your way through the space, calm and quiet will prevail — almost monastical in its appeal.
Wabi-sabi materiality
In the absence of any loud displays, every detail of Bonnie & Saks’ flagship store is intentionally crafted. Pebble stone flooring scattered through the space slows down your pace. You are urged to be deliberate and traverse mindfully. Slow down.
The textural and tonal contrast of the stone against the tatami mats enlivens the space through a quiet harmony. Evoking an aura of ephemerality, the sheer curtains that drape over the displays imbue the store with an ethereal feel. Throughout the layout, theatricality is punctuated by a deft display of design orchestra. “At the entrance, a bare tree stands as a sculptural presence, a still sentinel that introduces an organic element into the otherwise austere environment. Its presence brings life and texture to the space, serving as a metaphor for the slow passage of time and the meditative nature of the store itself,” aver the designers.
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