Showstopper

Even the music playing in Sabyasachi’s Kolkata store is chosen by the finicky designer

I was smiling because I knew it was my destiny,” says Sabyasachi Mukherjee about his reaction when he found out that Ogaan, Kolkata's first high-fashion store, was moving out of the 545 Lake Road address. The designer's parents’ house is across the street and growing up, playing para soccer, he would look at the store, wistfully.

An investment of Rs 1.5 crore and a year later, Sabyasachi opened at the same address this August. Of the 3,200 sq ft space, only 400 sq ft makes for commercial area. A by-appointment-only store, this is Sabyasachi’s third store in India. He has one each in Delhi and Mumbai.

His love of all things Indian and vintage reflects in the store with antique lamps, mirrors, big copper urns, books from all genres, antique chairs, benches and hundreds of photographs and paintings. The music is chosen by the designer himself and includes everything from background scores from Satyajit Ray’s movies to Mozart and Shubha Mudgal. The tea room has a mango tree climbing through the roof, which is made of glass and painted in vibrant colours. “I call it my feel-good store,” says Sabyasachi, who wants people to just walk in to catch up with friends or for a change of mood.

His next store? “One in Paris that showcases my clothes and serves tea with Bengali snacks like kumbhre phulo bhaja (fritters of pumpkin flowers).”