Minimalism is more

The Guptas of Greater Kailash are upset. Every time they ask their interior designer to take inspiration for their new kothi from Ekta Kapoor's Balaji-factory of serials, the designer insists on taking them to some newer, ultra hotel or restaurant where there's nothing for them to see.

Literally. No Corinthain columns or Grecian arches, no faux Thanjavur-meets-contemporary-mural; not even the fake ruins and streetside-inspired "Indian" interiors that had become the norm a decade back.

Instead, the spaces are more experienced than seen, and if current trends are anything to go by, India's famous palette of colours is being replaced by whites and pastels, and acres of seamless space unrelieved but for a piece of steel here, or a hint of light there.

Really, it's making this whole design thing so difficult to emulate in the farmhouse.

Minimalism, it seems, is here to stay "" at least where commercial spaces are concerned. There's greater scepticism where home interiors come into play, but it's only a matter of time before suede replaces chenille, and the stuffy sofa and art-deco sideboard are garaged and replaced by what is being touted as the "Italian" look.

It is, in fact, a contemporary European sensibility that designers are finding difficult to walk away from "" especially with young home owners wanting to replicate their office experience (steel and glass and minimal, but bold, use of colour) and the lounge bar or modern hotel lobby look for their personal spaces.

Nowhere is this more in evidence than in Gurgaon, where The Fox led with its all-white restaurant interiors (since repeated in most lounge and bed bars all the way to Casablanca at Nehru Place's International Trade Tower).

At Fortune Select Global, ITC's new hotel in Gurgaon, Singapore-based Integrated Design have used the stark look complete with dry bamboo as the centrepiece for what is a miniscule lobby, but the same feeling of sparseness runs throughout the hotel, achieved through a mix of wooden laminated floors in rooms, large (but few) artworks in public areas, steel details and wall inserts, and sparing use of colour.

The recent renovations at The Park in Delhi, undertaken by London's Terence Conran & Partners, play up the same feeling, though somewhat mischieviously.

The firewall at Fire, the Indian restaurant, has already become a talked about point (as has the backlit marble wall at Travertino, the Italian restaurant at The Oberoi), but the makeover of Mist, the 24/7 diner, is the more startling.

From the "pink" of the lobby (where the sculptures are by Indian artists but international collaborations have included armchairs from Italy (Palluco Italia), chairs from Brazil (Campana Brothers), lights from UK (Paul Cocksedge), and paintings from Spain (Luigi Anastassio), Mist, is "blue" by comparison "" the plate glass frontage is tinted a faint cyan, blue beaded curtains segregate areas, floor lamps, suspended lights and ceiling alcoves divert attention to the food counter and the buffet bar.

The blue upholstery and, again, the steel details highlight the minimal aspect of the restaurant's design.

At first rejected outright in India, the inroads being made by international minimalism that does not pay court to any culture (whether Italy, which claims it as its own, or Japan, where it was actually created in its zen-like simplicity) is now beginning to make itself seen and felt with greater aplomb.

But the great leap from the commercail space (office, shop, restaurant, hotel) has still to happen in any significant numbers. Meanwhile, the number of stores selling "Italian" or "minimal" furniture have been increasing.

With the next generation as likely to order the glass bowls used as bathroom fixtures in The Park's room, it won't be too long before the minimal look makes it to their homes.

How they personalise it as their own unique space will provide the direction that interior design will take in this decade in India.