The restoration, addition and refurbishment of Shiv Niwas Palace was designed and executed in phases over a period of 12 to 15 years. Each public area, each of 39 Guestrooms comprising of 19 Palace Rooms, 8 Terrace Suites, 6 Royal Suites and 3 Imperial Suites with different needs, themes and ambiences were refurbished individually after understanding from the owner, in context of their history. This was to ensure its continuity of authenticity, with minimum but appropriate interventions, while facilitating the complex and contemporary needs of the national and international guests.
75-year-old lotus painting on walls and ceilings, its forms and colour palette and silver sofa chairs, of the ‘Durbar Hall’ laid the foundation for the ambience and theme of the Imperial Lotus Suite, where every piece of furniture, fabric, fountain is custom was made in close collaboration with craftspersons, textile and product designers. Flooring is redone in white and pink Makrana marble of Rajasthan – an open lotus with 12 petals, representing the 12 months of a year – single stone fountain placed in its centre. Headboard of the Bed Pavilion with entwining lotuses and leaves was cast in white metal, in Ahmedabad. Ceiling of the poster bed, a trellis of lotuses, is a fine example of hand cut white metal sheet work, executed in Udaipur. Bed curtains were specially woven in Maheshwar in translucent pink Maheshwari silk fabric, strewn with small white lotuses. Rest of the bed surfaces and arches are made in wood, some carved and covered with pressed metal and some with embossed white metal, having specially designed lotus patterns for this room theme. Lotus creeper design is hand embroidered on the bed and the cushion covers which are screen printed manually, and tassels hand crafted to suit colour palette of the room.
The successful restoration has snow-balled into a good deal of conservation activity in the Walled City and the building is today used as a Conference Centre.
Using craftspersons’ and working directly with textile designers and their printers, embroiderers, and manufacturers of tassels brought down the cost to 1/3 of what would have been if vendors and retailers were involved. Our handcrafted products are far superior than machine made products even if customised
