Design by gild

Ashok Kochhar has worn a number of professional hats. He learnt the science of welding, moved to photography and later became a communication consultant.

In his quest for finding newer forms of creative expressions, Kochhar is all set to hold his first exhibition of specially-designed furniture in the capital next week. However he is loathe to call himself a furniture designer and prefers "total interiors solution provider".

Kochhar, who launched Fourth Dimension in April, 2002 to look after his furniture business, has the DS group, Siddhartha Birla, Ambience Island, Som Fragrance and a few NRIs as clients.

Besides furniture, he has designed floors and ceilings, lights and accessories. In the first year he did Rs 25-lakh worth of business. By March this year he hopes to touch Rs 1.5 crore.

The USP of his show will be a collection of classical English furniture with gold gildings and inlays of semi-precious stones such as rubies, sapphires and amethyst among others.

An added draw will be a line of "meditative" furniture. "By meditation we mean a harmony of the five senses. Our meditative line will include specially crafted furniture, lights, fragrances and music," he explains.

"We have invited a select crowd made up of diplomats and Delhi's elites," he says and adds that he doesn't believe in mass production but would prefer a niche market.

"There will be no second piece of my furniture in the market. It is going to be unique form wise. And I'm not going to overshoot the budget," he says.

For Kochhar the switch from photography to designing furniture was an extension of his creative self. "Photography is not a profession anymore. Furniture designing is much more exciting; one can deal with different kinds of forms. Everyday new challenges come up and there's more scope for experiment, both with material and ideas," he says.