• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Sriram Srinivasan

Studio Infiniti, in Chennai, is a boutique with a difference. It retails products that constitute home interiors — tiles, electrical switching systems, bathroom fittings, kitchen accessories and paving blocks.

It calls itself "a boutique for the refined taste". There's evidence of this even before one enters the basement shop of the Chennai-based Studio Infiniti. Adorning the wall just above the entrance, is a 20 ft x 10 ft black and white mural, which shows a man looking at the face of a woman. The black and white colours lend realism to the image, and it's hard to imagine that the mural is made of 1.8 lakh glass mosaic tiles, each measuring a mere 10 mm x 10 mm in area. And to top it all, the tiles have been hand cut.

Inside, a 100-ft long pathway, made of a slab inlaid with semi-precious stones, leads visitors to the various segments of the boutique. Handy shelves and racks add to the elegance. The boutique's interiors, while adding to the aesthetic appeal, also make business sense.

Studio Infiniti, which came into being just recently in upmarket Nungambakkam, doesn't sell fashionable clothes or expensive antiques; it retails what can broadly be categorised as products that constitute home interiors. So, all those tiles, electrical switching systems, bathroom fittings, kitchen accessories and paving blocks — which you will find piled up in the overcrowded neighbourhood `hardware' shop — are present here. But the similarity ends there.

For, according to S. Muralidharan, promoter of Studio Infiniti, the showroom provides an environment "where visitors are able to see and understand the products at their own pace and use them to make exclusive interiors". In the aesthetically designed 2,000-sq ft showroom, products are so arranged that they can be seen and felt without much of a bother or effort. At the end of each product range, there is a library, providing more information on what the visitor has just finished viewing. And if the visitor still isn't satisfied, there are networked computers for an advanced search!

Muralidharan, who has over two decades of experience marketing ceramics and paints, says the design for the boutique was his own idea, though he admits that the showrooms in Italy inspired him. The focus on the aesthetics, however, is not too strong to beat the very purpose of the showroom: "The showroom shouldn't sell itself but its product."

The collection of products, a major chunk of which is imported, is claimed to provide value for money. Here's a sample from the product list: Glass mosaics, LPG detectors (which sense and hoot on detection of a leakage), three-tone bell (which has different chimes when activated), thermostatic taps (which eliminate the need for a geyser), a range of architectural hardware with minimalistic styling, tiles with a blend of natural stones, metal, ceramic and glass, laminated wooden floorings and ceramic/vitreous tiles.

In addition, the boutique makes murals, carpets, borders and portraits using natural stones. It also has expertise in installing concrete paving blocks.

The products have been sourced from companies in Italy, Germany, Spain and China. The boutique has also been able to bag exclusive rights for marketing the products of some such companies; Italy's Cottoveneto, for instance, has provided Studio Infiniti exclusive rights to market its blended tiles.

It is also gearing up to handle increased supplies by renting out a warehouse in the city.

For now, the studio, which Muralidharan hopes will be the benchmark for such projects in the future, has been able to draw in only 10-15 per cent of the architects in the city. An increase in this figure is vital for the showroom to add to its corporate clientele — its target. And that means, an increase in footfall. Now, that sounds more like a boutique!

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Touch wood

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line