Journal

A note on this list. We are Pochē Aesthetics, a residential practice in New Delhi, and we are on this list. We have said so at the top rather than at the bottom, because a roundup that hides who wrote it is not worth reading. The practices below are ones whose work we know or […]

There is a gap between a home being complete and a home feeling finished. Everything is built, the snagging is done, the furniture has arrived — and it still reads like a very good showflat. Clean, correct, and somehow not yours. Closing that gap is the least discussed part of residential design and, for many

Renovating an existing home is harder than fitting out a new one, and it is priced as though it were easier. The difference is that a new flat is a known quantity; an older house is a set of assumptions waiting to be tested. This is what actually happens when you renovate a home in

South Delhi homes are rarely blank canvases. Most are builder floors in colonies laid out fifty or sixty years ago — Greater Kailash, Defence Colony, Vasant Vihar, South Extension, Panchsheel, Safdarjung, Hauz Khas, Anand Niketan. They come with fixed structure, a stair you did not choose, plot-width constraints, and a set of rules about what

Most people hire an interior designer on the strength of a portfolio and a good conversation. Both matter. Neither tells you what the next nine months will actually be like. The questions below are the ones that surface how a practice really works. Ask them of every firm you shortlist, and compare the answers rather

Early in a home project almost everyone faces the same fork: hire an architect or interior designer, hire a contractor directly, or hand the whole thing to a turnkey company. The three cost different amounts, carry different risks, and suit different people. Here is an honest comparison — including where we are not the right

“What will it cost per square foot?” is the question every homeowner asks first, and the one the industry is most evasive about. The honest answer is that a per-square-foot figure is only meaningful once you have pinned down what is inside it — but it is still the fastest way to sanity-check a quote.

A double height living room is the one move that changes how a house feels the moment you walk in. It is also the move most often regretted. Get the proportion right and the room feels generous and calm. Get it wrong and you have an expensive space that echoes, costs a fortune to cool,

The mandir is usually the first thing a client mentions and the last thing that gets properly designed. It is squeezed into a corner of the kitchen, or given a niche in a passage, and then dressed with marble and lights in the hope that it will feel like something. Good pooja room design starts

A wardrobe is the piece of joinery you use more than any other in the house — twice a day, every day, for twenty years. It is also the one most often bought on price per square foot rather than designed. Good wardrobe design for bedroom is mostly about internal planning, not shutter finish. Here