Resting easy since 1934

Quit India the freedom stalwarts said And Bhagwandas Morarji Kamdar quit his job The bright young civil engineers conscience stung aware that the plum government post he enjoyed was BritishcontrolledThe 1930s heaved in political ferment with Bombay the pulsing core of the independence struggle Bhagwandas got a personal jolt when his fathers second wife Ramaben patriot and close ally of Kasturba Gandhi was jailedFond of woodwork which hed chosen as an ancillary course at Punes College of Engineering Bhagwandas began moulding finefinished Montessori blocks waxed and handpainted to distribute in schools Until his Nepeansea Road neighbour Rameshwar Das Birla asked to make him a dining table Bhagwandas did sawing away in his garage That was his foray into furnitureWatercolour by Messerschmidt showing the Maharani of Morvirsquos dining room whose long banquet table was made by KamdarBhagwandas son 75yearold Vikram Kamdar unhurriedly shares ancestral anecdotes at the Churchgate showroom the family has occupied since 1940 Located at Industrial Assurance Building in the heart of a resplendent Art Deco haven the Kamdar repertoire rose as if responding to this vantage ambience Across the road from Eros Cinema the company hub is ringed by Decodressed residences Sleek clean confident this genre of architecture and furniture where striking geometrics and metallic finishes met dramatic accents and sweeping curves initially wowed the world at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs therefore Art Deco in 1925 ParisA Hamilton Studio shot of Bhagwandas Kamdar and his wife Pushpa with their furniture firms stellar design head Ernst Messerschmidt who arrived in India to furnish Indores Manik Bagh Palace in Art Moderne style around 1930 Art Moderne an American intense version of Art Deco which originated in France is described as Art Deco on steroids CoutesyVikram KamdarThough quick to embrace that modernist trend a decade after its global debut the Kamdars have rural roots In the Kutch village of Dumra of the 1800s Bhagwandas father Morarji Mathuradas Kamdar saw his father die early Mathuradas widow was compelled to work in wealthy homes Distantly related to a childless tycoon in Walkeshwar who wanted to adopt her son she came with 13yearold Morarji to the Banganga haveli Bhatia NiwasA Bharda High School pupil Morarji solely conversant in Kutchi till he reached the city topped his Matric class in English Excelling in the language for the BA degree year at Elphinstone College his prize was a threevolume leatherbound Shakespeare editionKamdar dressed up the Rendezvous the Tajs fashionable French restaurant CoutesyVikram KamdarA function in his Sethia benefactors home proved the tipping point Vikram recalls Morarji was determined to attend his exam instead of a puja marking the occasion Taunted by the foster father about his humble background he packed his bags to leave A friend sheltered him while he gave math and English tuitions completed law studies and set up a solicitor firmMorarji and his wife Mungibais third child 1903born Bhagwandas followed his fathers BhardatoElphinstone academic journey except that his was towards a science degree Morarji proudly gifted a Buick convertible in 1926 to his son who soon moved from promise to prosperity founding Kamdar Karyalaya in 1934 This workshop shifted to Kalachowki in six years At the Churchgate premises Bhagwandas and his team advised clients on colour lighting composition and accessories Im proud of the association Kamdars had with iconic Art Deco establishments like Markel lights way back in the 1930s says VikramIn the absence of interior design schools Kamdar recruits had an applied arts background Master craftsmen pooled their carpentry upholstery polishing and metalwork talents for furniture everyone aspired to They outfitted plush hotspots Rendezvous at the Taj the cafes Napoli and Volga the Swissair reception office the James Finlay showroom Bhagwandas Kamdar steadily won customers across India Europe and the Middle East With his easy chairs sofas nursery suite tapestries and carpets came innovations too One was the ragingly popular kamette a settee reclining flat at the touch of a light spring It was used as an additional bed in homes or in offices by top brass grabbing a siesta in private cabinsMy fathers forte was customisation says Vikram We had more bespoke orders than walkin buyers To meet the mounting business volume the artist Ernst Messerschmidt was invited to join the design department The assignment bringing him to India by 1930 had been the Holkars Manik Bagh Garden of Rubies Palace in IndoreMesser stayed in Bombay on losing his East Germany home Vikram says He upgraded and refined our entire studio culture My passion for design sparked by him I went to J J College of Architecture Watching Messer run the company with my father taught me manufacturing and production I learnt about factory machinery timber trade sawmill processes wood seasoning and storingThe post1947 abolition of princely states slapped on an inevitable slump in sales Kamdar engineered its revival with optimistic publicity The upbeat ad copy framed by SH Benson eventually onethird of Ogilvy Benson and Mather stretched from simple Our prices are wickedly low compared with the quality to deliciously detailed This lounge with deep cushions its modern lines and richly grained polished teak ends relieved by rosewood legs is for discriminating lovers of beautiful furniture May we send you sketches and quotations Such inviting suffixes to the text were their trademarkA saucy ad actually read What goes on behind the curtain We dont know we cant tell were not nosey for other folks affairs But aint that just a lovely curtain Another campaign line exulted Rampant materialists wehellip and proud of it This printed on an interesting date December 23 1940 With war news frontpaged daily here was Kamdar asserting We think design matters says Abigail McGowan Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Associate Professor of History at the University of Vermont Writing a book that explores the ideals of home in 20thcentury Bombay she explains Im focusing on people and institutions that tried to reshape spaces lived in how they filled and understood those spacesArchitect Shrikant Sathe says My father Laxman Vishnu Sathe of the prolific Art Deco trinity Master Sathe and Bhuta told me Kamdar was skilled at accommodating furniture in places architects envisioned Maximising any area provided their furniture was contemporary lasting and suited to a purpose I was introduced to Bhagwandas and Messerschmidt while extending the Mafatlal bungalow on Altamont Road in 1963 My father had drawn three existing storeys in the 1930s Rasesh Mafatlal commissioned Kamdar to furnish the new fourth floor They brought layout ideas but no changes to my main plan nor to windows doors or flooring Their perspectives matched mine perfectlyIt was the same with two levels added in 1965 to their Nariman Point building The sixth was an office floor like lower ones already executed by my fathers firm The seventh with terraces on three sides was a lunchroom retiring room and discussion room I introduced large glazed northside windows Here too their plan did not interfere with my designKamdars 25th anniversary brochure noted In the 1930s when we ventured into the fascinating world of Furnishing and Interior Decoration there was little consciousness or appreciation of the subject People today take a keener interest in their surroundings We at Kamdars have steadfastly worked for this awakeningTheirs was also a democratic ethic Never mind the Birlas the Mafatlals the royal houses of Baroda Gwalior Hyderabad and Jaipur not forgetting exclusive radio cabinets contoured for the Maharaja of Patiala all patrons with limitless budgets Bhagwandas especially loved couples starting out life together shyly confessing they came with small means but big dreams of possessing a Kamdar pieceTheatre personality Sabira Merchant remembers When Chhotu and I were marrying in 1959 I was barely 17 We sat with Vikrams dad For what we were able to afford he had Messerschmidt and the Russian designer Primakoff give us what I can only call indestructible furniture we never tired of a semicircular sofa with bold blackandwhite stripes the round dining table I believe best for mealtime communication and our bed which remains the same but for a headboard originally in brocade fabric from the Indian Textiles shop My Burma teak cupboard shone with chromium rods to drape saris It pleased me no end to create The Sabira Chair upholstered to its arm tips and with a slightly slanted backThe company once held sway amid reputed names including Interfurn Chippendale and Nuha We now face affordable competition plus the whole shift of living lies northward beyond Bandra says Nandini Kamdar Vikrams directorCEO wife Formerly Naqi Jehan acting in 1960s movies like Aakhri Khat with Rajesh Khanna Nandini clinched the 1967 Miss India title Twenty years before that her beautiful mother Esther Victoria Abraham was crowned the first Miss India in 1947 ndash aged 31 and pregnant with a fifth child ndash in days the rules were not yet setAs Pramila her screen sobriquet Esther was a stunt star mostly playing the Westernised vamp Importantly she went on to become a pioneer woman producer with 16 films credited to her Silver Productions bannerBefore knowing Vikram I grew up with four brothers whose rough ways my familys Kamdar range withstood for years laughs Nandini Those boys swung on chairs kicked footballs inside the house Hearing our parents boast that no iron could burn Messerschmidts imported upholstery in floral maroon they even decided to test that Luckily it wasnt a false claim I later discovered Kamdar always honoured its tagline A tradition of trustAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiagmailcomwwwmehermarfatiacomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates