The designer animal kingdom

Gigantic gorillas and an aerie of metallic eagles occupy pride of place at Sussanne Roshan's chic interior design store. Step in with caution though, because even buying a candle will leave your pocket considerably lighter

Presumptions, we confess, often precede people, especially those who are in the media glare. As we headed to Sussanne Roshan's new interior design store -- The Charcoal Project -- that opened its doors yesterday, we expected to see a line of furniture that would resemble Sussanne herself -- pretty, dainty, even fragile.

The industrial design of a massive gorilla welcomes you to the lower
level of The Charcoal Project. PICS/ Anuja Gupta

So, we were surprised and pleased to see objects that broke our pre-conceived notion -- two massive industrial design gorillas made from spare car parts stationed to welcome you on the lower level ("that's Hrithik and me", Sussanne smiled) to larger-than-life divers frozen in motion and gorgeousu00a0 16th century hand-painted wallpapers from France.

The Charcoal Project is like a Bollywood set, perhaps inspired by its mastermind's other half and superstar Hrithik Roshan. Everything spells magnanimous and grand, making you feel overwhelmed and even diminutive at times. The massive 14,000 sq ft store has two levels bound together by an aerie of handcrafted metal eagles suspended from the ceiling, spilling over to the lower level through a hole-in-the-floor and dispersing in flight. With animal and nature motifs all over the place, the store has signature Sussanne designs as well as lines from the Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla duo (read: Maharaja decadence) and Andrew Martin, an award-winning UK-based fabric and furniture design house (read: offbeat and tr ufffds interesting).

The upper level primarily has chairs, dining tables and crockery -- a lot of it metallic or with a metallic finish. The lower level gets more intimate and cosy, with beds, grandfather clocks, doors and even gargoyles, though lovers of bright colours might not find a match here. A massive wall is dedicated to a mindless, fun game -- you press a green button and the travelling light stops on one of the many options, such as Whip Me, Kiss Me Quick, Grumpy, etc. We got Super Star, and the light is never wrong we are told.

Stationed next to the gargoyles is Sussanne's top pick -- a metal eagle-man that keeps a keen eye over the goings-on, which resembled the mythical bird Garuda. We would've added everything to our shopping cart, had it not been for the outlandish price range, starting at Rs 2,400 for a mere scented candle and going up to Rs 15 lakhs for the Gorillas. Ouch!

As we stepped out into the blinding sunshine, a couple of schoolgirls passed by pointing at the massive installations at the display window. "Yeh museum lagta hai," they giggled. When a store manages to pique a child's curiosity, you know it's worth a dekko.

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My projection of this space is industrial New York meets romantic France. That's my concoction of a store that is larger-than-life and makes for an experience. So you will find antique industrial furniture and neo-classical French pieces all under one roof. The inspiration for the store came from a stroll through the deep, dark woods, which can be metaphorical for my life journey as well -- mysterious and dark at times, beautiful and bright at others. The name for the store comes from a piece of charcoal that might be looked upon as grimy and dark,
but needs an ignition, a spark to make it glow.

At The Charcoal Project, D-Mall, next to Skoda showroom, off Veera Desai Road, Andheri (W). Call 61936198