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Beyond Blueprints With Sanjyt Syngh: On Pop Culture and Rewriting The Design Rulebook
Sanjyt Syngh, a prominent luxury interior designer based in New Delhi, boasts decades of expertise in his field. Distinguished as one of the few visionaries unafraid to exceed conventional boundaries, he consistently challenges traditional rules of interior design. Sanjyt Syngh, the founder of the design firm Sanjyt Syngh: Spaces + Objects, stands out for its innovative and daring approach to creating spaces. Described as eclectic and quirky, with Beyond Blueprints, we ask what fuels his passion for infusing pop culture elements into his design.
“I feel like every space should be a conversation starter.”
1. Can you take us through your design philosophy and approach to creating luxury spaces that are both visually delightful and functional?
If I had to answer this in one word, it would be “organic,” I build and design in layers, in phases. I don’t repeat concepts and details. Once a space has been designed, there isn’t another one which will have the same elements.
I don’t label myself a designer; I am more of an interpreter. We’ve heard a lot about androgyny in fashion but not as much in interiors. That’s one rule I follow while designing a space—A space shouldn’t be gender specific unless it needs to be. Another rule I swear by is that a space needs to be functional. One can argue that functional spaces can’t be pretty—This is where my role as a designer begins.
2. Are there specific elements or characteristics of pop that you intentionally incorporate into your designs?
I call myself weird; by that, I mean “good-weird.” This is just who I am as a person. I infuse myself and my personality into my work. The tagline of my firm is “This is not a barber shop”. I don’t like direct influences or obvious derivations. For example, if someone comes and tells me something like, “The inspiration for this room was the ocean”, and all I see is the colour blue, then I wouldn’t call that a concept. You can just call it a blue room instead. It is essential to balance every line of sight. I am also mindful of not overdoing unconventional elements; one or two are sufficient in a singular space.
Like any other design professional, I play on my strengths. Colour is one of my strongest suits, second only to sourcing. I’ve been visiting a lot of European design shows for over two decades now, and with the virtue of that, I know almost all the brands by heart. My ability to spot trends and colours helps me to stay ahead of the curve and incorporate them before they become overused.
3. What is one of the best responses you have received for your taste?
One of the biggest compliments I have received from a senior editor is, “You started designing quirky spaces when people didn’t even know what quirk is.” That is a huge compliment to me. However, I feel like now in current times, Quirk has become cheap and mass market. I prefer the term “edgy” better.
4. When it comes to pop, it is often associated with bold and vibrant colours. How do you select your colour palettes to create a visually striking and harmonious pop-inspired design language?
I play a lot with colour; it is important to balance colour. I keep the 60:30:10 rule as the primary ratio, which is using 60% primary colour, 30% secondary and 10% accent, and then I play around with it to create my compositions. Although, after my experiments with colour, it is now a 90:10 rule, because rules are meant to be broken.
5. You’ve mentioned being globally minded. In what ways does this influence your design aesthetic and the way you choose craftsmen and go about sourcing?
At the risk of sounding clichéd, I am inspired by travel. I collect things from my travels, so much so that sometimes it feels like I only travel to collect. I started creating things and objects when I was little and have been creating ever since. I call myself a mix of influences—I grew up in New Delhi, India but moved to New York for my undergraduate at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. I stayed there to gain professional experience and worked with some fantastic designers and architects. After spending almost a decade there, gaining professional experience and working with some amazing designers and architects, I decided it was time for a change and moved to London for my post-graduation. Overall, I spent about 12 years away from India before deciding to move back to India. That’s when Sanjyt Syngh, a design consultancy, was born. Although I work out of New Delhi, I create work that you can see anywhere in the world.
6. What are some key principles behind the evolution of your design language over the years?
I am not the kind of person who believes in a timeless aesthetic. I struggle to understand the dichotomy of coming from a country of rich colours and bold designs while running away from colour in our homes. I don’t know who made these rules about not using colours like red in your bedroom because only soothing colours are meant to be used in that space. I would like to challenge the notion that darker colours make the space look smaller. These are misconceptions, and I don’t believe in following these rules blindly.
“According to me, homes are not meant to be safe and boring. Just like our wardrobes go through a transition every few years, our homes need to do the same.”
7. You mentioned Tom Ford and Karl Lagerfeld as your favourite icons. Tell us more about their influence on you.
For me, I might or might not follow their design aesthetics, but the way they think or function is certainly inspiring. They don’t restrict themselves to clothes but also to art, fashion, films, photography, and even business. There’s so much to learn from them.
8. Does this constant design mindset influence your daily routine and lifestyle?
Truth be told, I have never been able to differentiate between ‘Sanjyt Syngh’ as a person and ‘Sanjyt Syngh’ as a designer. It’s not a job for me. It’s a way of life. I would say it’s the other way around: my lifestyle influences my design. I would be bored if I had a 9 to 5 routine because design for me is constant. Even when I go to bed, I have a sketchbook and laptop within one arm’s distance. The best ideas come to me at 3 am when I am curled up in bed, and it’s all dark.
9. Which of your projects has been meaningful to you or challenged you to date?
This is one of the toughest questions to answer. It is like being asked, “Who is your favourite child?” to a parent. I don’t want to be this evil parent who is biased towards only one child; I am proud of all my children. However, one thing I would like to say is that I love playing with large-scale spaces, mostly farmhouses and large villas. I get a thrill from being able to use a lot of colour and dramatic objects in large volume spaces and yet make the space cohesive.
10. How do you or your design practice engage with social media?
My motto is “You be You”; everything I do is essentially an extension of my personality. Design is genuinely design when it comes from the heart. Design should enhance your space; it should talk to you, and it should work for you. In this day and age of social media, it is quintessential to have a unique design voice and language. I am very me on my social media handles and like to make my content lively. I don’t want to bore my audience with marble slabs; all of us have seen enough of those– I just try to be my goofy self, and that is what makes my social media an extension of me.
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August 2023
GRASIM INDUSTRIES LIMITED, Birla Paints division
9th floor, Birla Centurion, Century Mills Compound, Pandurang Budhkar Marg, Worli, Mumbai– 400030, Maharashtra, India.
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Terms and Conditions for product warranty registration of Birla Opus products
The Warranty shall be effective from the date of purchase of the Product as per the tax invoice (“Warranty Start Date”), provided that painting work is fully complete, and the Consumer registers the Product for warranty.
The Product must be registered within 15 days from the date of purchase by calling customer care at 18001201234 or registering on www.birlaopus.com and furnishing purchase details as required during the Warranty registration.
The Warranty shall be valid for parameters and period as defined in the respective product warranty document (‘Warranty Period’) from the Warranty Start Date.
Upon settlement of any claim, Warranty of replaced Product will not start afresh, and will continue for the remainder of the Warranty Period from the Warranty Start Date.
If there is a break/ lag in completing the painting work, the registration of the Warranty and Warranty Start Date will be determined by the Company at its sole discretion.
The Company may appoint a person to examine and confirm the application of the Product as per the directions specified prior to registering the Warranty.
For registering of Warranty, where quantity of Product purchase is equal to or more than 200 litres, please call our Helpline on 1800 120 1234 with requisite details. The registration of Warranty in such cases is subject to a satisfactory pre‐inspection at site by Company’s representative.
- For the warranty to be applicable:
- Minimum volume of the product required to be purchased needs to be met
- Birla Opus recommended system needs to be used
- Product coverage and application guidelines need to be adhered
For more details, please refer to respective product specific warranty document and product information sheet.
Consumer may raise a claim within 30 days of discovering issue(s) noticed on the affected areas based on Warranty Parameters/ scope
The Consumer is required to notify the Company of the issue(s) noticed along with the invoice details, sample pictures and basis for Warranty invocation by contacting the customer care at 1800 120 1234. The Consumer shall provide such additional details as required by the Company and/or allow the Company to visit/inspect the painting site either in portion or entirety at the Company’s discretion.
In case where the Company decides that the Warranty is applicable on the issue(s) noticed on the affected areas, the Company shall bear the Replacements Costs as detailed in respective product warranty document to repair/ repaint the affected areas.
Replacement Costs shall mean the cost of material and labour required to correct the affected portions, as determined by the Company.
In case where the Company decides that Warranty is not applicable, the same shall be communicated to the Consumer.
Warranty is applicable only to the affected area where the Product is used in accordance with application guidelines and not to the rest of the areas.
In case the Consumer carries out repair works on the areas covered under the Warranty, the same shall be at their own risk and the Company’s Warranty on the Product shall not be valid on such repaired areas.
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