Urban nouveau: Diipa Büller-Khosla’s new Mumbai home is a multicultural archive of the family’s Indian and Dutch influences

Social media, and by that virtue, the socially omnipresent trajectory of individuals can surmise plenty about them at one glance. But then, spaces such as our homes, off the immediate reach of others, stand juxtaposed as personal quarters of our most personal aspirations and experiences. While assembling her family’s novel home in South Mumbai, Diipa Büller-Khosla remained equipoised between a similar threshold – a space seeded with sentimental depths, while being an active playground of her social media dynamics.

When the entrepreneur-influencer and her husband Oleg Büller-Khosla, both co-founders of indē wild and Post For Change, along with daughter Dua, took a cross-continental leap from Europe to India, realising their new home perched in Lodha World Towers was about rewriting many chapters of their design decisions. It was also about sculpting thoughtful corners of recreation and repose. And sketching multi-cultural layers of everyday routines, borrowed from Diipa’s Indian and Oleg’s Dutch threads of heritage.

Inside the cove

As Diipa informs, principal architect Nyishi Parekh of Splendour Living Mumbai, realised this sedulous moodboard alongside her with an intentional approach to timeless sensibilities and the absence of transitory trends. “Been briefed about the couple’s house in Amsterdam, we wanted to infuse bicultural elements into their new Bombay residence and access the raw palette of Dutch design along with Indian notes and materials to create a marriage reminiscent of their native cultures,” explains Nyishi. Through the curvy turns of the home, a singular element of lime-plastered frames emerges rather palpably, a result of exploring sustainable and traditional construction materials synonymous with both Diipa and Oleg’s cultures.

An inundating visual camaraderie. Or perhaps an aesthetically-driven fabric of wits and instincts, this Mumbai home is barely like its counterpart high-rises that it is surrounded with. A soulful cocoon that witnesses the family’s realigned ways of dwelling, many distinct interior cues become the protagonists of their story, all at once. Take for instance the Pichwai resting quietly on the living room wall, an artwork that articulates not just its historic symbolism in the realm of traditional art but how intimately it informs the foundation of Diipa’s Indian roots. Beckoning a soft, rhythmic daze indoors is also an astute selection of natural furnishings in linen and cotton, lending an ageless character to the residence. Amidst this, the space cradles other compeers with a slightly more modern demeanour – from the minimal neutral-toned sofa and patterned centre table to the sleek cocktail tables, polished cabinets and accent armchairs.

Colours here practise a sober restrain, spelled through the entrancing palette of pared-back hues, elevated with frequent trickles of daylight. “To put it simply, it’s about weaving the traditional with the contemporary to achieve a new vocabulary that fits the current scenario. It is a masterful fusion of influences and old and new materials to arrive at something unique,” deliberates Diipa, also confessing her favourite features being the wallpaper in Dua’s room and the library in the master bedroom, and of course the Pichwai. 

Navigating the digital age of incessantly repeating vocabulary of design styles and ideas at every scroll, Diipa and her family’s abode is indeed a substantial reminder of their idiosyncratic choices, governed by a certain profoundness rooted in authenticity within the walls of the home, but not limited to. 

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