Indian Luxury Leather Label Nappa Dori Debuts First International Store in London
“When I launched my first store almost nine years ago, I chose not to work with an architect or interior designer, instead focusing on corralling in-house talent and relying on my aesthetics and design vision,” says Gautam Sinha, founder and CEO of luxury leather goods company Nappa Dori. Since then, Nappa Dori has expanded to include six flagship stores across India, a design studio in New Delhi that specifically caters to bespoke leather goods, and its first international store in London’s hip Covent Garden district—all designed by Sinha and his in-house design team.
For the London store, Sinha chose to stick to the brand’s design DNA that focusing on three major elements: wood, metal and lighting. Brass light fixtures were sourced from retired Scandinavian cruise liners that dock in Gujarat, India to get dismantled. The team salvaged the more elaborate light fixtures, transporting them to Delhi where they were restored, redesigned and repurposed into display lights that dot the store’s landscape.
The 1,500-square-foot store is divided into two distinct spaces – a ground level showcasing larger leather goods such as trunks, weekender bags, and a barista bar, while a stairway leads into a larger basement level. Walls are dotted with peg board flanking the brand’s premium leather accessories while naked, untreated Indian Rosewood shelves allow the leather goods to shine, juxtaposed with custom-built metal shelves taking the industrial feel further. “We want our store’s design to celebrate India,” stresses Sinha. “But rather than relying on motifs and tropes, we hope it comes through in the materials we use.”
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