Kaveri Villa

Salt air destroys most upholstery within three seasons. The previous interiors of this house had been specified from a Mumbai showroom, and by the time we saw it almost everything soft had been replaced once already.

So the constraint became the concept. Kaveri Villa is furnished entirely in cane, handloom cotton and oiled teak — materials a workshop forty minutes down the coast can repair rather than ones that must be replaced from a city. Nothing in the house needs a specialist to look after it.

That decision shaped the detailing more than any aesthetic preference. Seat frames come apart with a single joint. Cane panels are set in removable beads. The teak is oiled each monsoon rather than sealed, because sealed timber traps damp on this coast and lifts within two years.