The fantastical side of retail

Meet Papa Don’t Preach in New Delhi by Design Hex where art becomes an experience

25 Sep 2025

“We wanted to create something that had a life of its own,” says Shimona Bhansali, the creator behind the fantastical fashion store for Papa Don’t Preach in Dhanmill, the luxury retail hotground in New Delhi. The first welcome for the sights is the facade itself. A towering structure studded with animated creatures that Shimona, founder of Design Hex, describes as handcarved guardians of Papa Don’t Preach venue. The facade rises vertically like oceanic cliffs shaped out of two tons of handcarved natural wood panels, capturing light and shadow in timely intervals.

It starts with Antoni Gaudi

Inspired by the likes of Casa Batlló in Barcelona, an emblematic creation by the renowned Antoni Gaudi, this fashion destination in Delhi founded by Shubhika Sharma spans two floors and makes you wonder at its many illusory but equally realistic design elements every step of the way. Enter in and a consuming whiff of marshmallow pink hue surrounds you instantly. Teeming branches sprout out and dissolve into the ceiling — an identical feature seen on both floors. Organic geometry, if you must call it so.

“The space is a labyrinth of organic flows and curves, how nature would put it all together. The ceiling isn’t flat, it lives, textured, curved and subtly undulating. It mimics the inside of a conch shell or a canopy of an outworldly forest,” describes Shimona. Grounding yet lifting the store into an air of whimsy is also the shimmering chandelier made in collaboration with Glass Forest. Bowed high as the centrepiece, it appears to descend from a temple dome or even a cathedral. “From either angle it transforms the void into volume,” says Shimona.

Storytelling that exceeds the boundaries of retail, and interiors that become a natural extension of couture, the universe of Papa Don’t Preach bridges the experience of commerce with the magnificence of design.