Ambrish Arora is a busy man. Apart from doing what he doesbest, he delivers lectures at architecture and design schools and design eventsin India and abroad. A self-taught designer, Ambrish’s projects have wonnumerous awards and have been extensively published in various publications inIndia and abroad.
After dropping out of school at 16, Ambrish made forays intodesigning boats, teaching in schools, working in cinema and exhibition &museum design, before setting up Lotus, a firm focussing on Interior Design& Architecture. In this short span of time the firm has received nationaland global acclaim. Its more recent accomplishments include World HolidayBuilding of the Year at the World Architecture Festival 2011 and national IIIDDesign Practice of the year for 2009 and 2011. Its work has been extensivelyfeatured in prominent journals, books and magazines across India and globally.Some projects completed by him and his team include Khaaja Chowk, Magiquerestaurant in Delhi, Rohit Bal, Rajesh Pratap, and H2O Stores at Emporio inDelhi, the Hard Rock Café Delhi, a 40-room boutique hotel and adaptive reuseprojects at the Mehrangarh Fort and Ummaid Bhawan in Jodhpur, the new Shirooutlet, a studio for Sculptor Subodh Gupta, retail projects in Dubai andSingapore, etc.
According to Ambrish, he finds inspiration in ordinarythings, everyday events and chance encounters. He believes that a sustainableexperience is seldom about a first ‘wow’ and hence he does not believe in asingle ‘big idea’ approach. The practice explores ways to engage the customer,in the manner they move through space and interact with it. He likes the factthat designing a space offers the opportunity to build in layers" whichunfold differently for different people. He does not believe in getting into astyle but instead starts with trying to define the forces at play and thencreate the geometry that resolves it. The design team of Lotus likes takingdesign to an extreme at the conceptual stage. Ambrish explains the designprocess and the major principles behind the construction, “'We feel the worldis moving towards authenticity. It's not about packaging something, it's aboutexpressing what is relevant today, and how can we give back, to the people whatis theirs.”
