This Delhi-based furniture brand offers products designed in Italy and made in India

The pandemic reasserted the long-held belief that one’s home is where one’s heart resides. This is why interior designing and beautifying personal spaces took on significant meaning during this time. Addressing this shift in mindset, Delhi-based furniture brand Sunday Design opened its doors in October this year. Described as a ‘global design brand made in India’, Sunday Design offers contemporary products manufactured in India but designed in Italy. 

“We were keen to offer select pieces customised for the Indian lifestyle and consumers at accessible price points without compromising on quality. Our designs are manufactured at one of the most advanced furniture factories in India, and we offer an unmatched delivery timeline of three weeks. Further, the durability of our upholstery and our timeless designs make our pieces cost-effective, when envisioned as long-term purchases. The brand is for those who know how to live life with joy,” says Gautam Baid, Founder and Managing Director of the firm in a chat with YSWeekender.  

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The inception

Gautam is a first-generation entrepreneur with over twenty years of experience. He co-founded the company Coast to Coast Designs with his friend Vinit Aggarwal, which is now considered the go-to brand for wood veneers in the interior industry.

Sunday Design’s art director, Iram Sultan, has over twenty years of experience and is widely respected in the field of Indian interior design. She is known for providing innovative solutions for luxury residential and boutique hospitality projects through a collaborative and client-driven design process. She draws on various aspects of art, craft, heritage, and design history to formulate her designs.

The designs were made in collaboration with an Italian furniture designer, Shannon Sadler. They have an experience centre in Sultanpur, Delhi but they ship products pan-India. The brand plans to launch an experiential website soon to allow clients to view their choice of design made with different materials and offer them an idea of how these products will look in their homes.

Once they have made a name for themselves in the domestic market, the team is keen to extend operations to other countries as well.

The designs

Sunday Design launched with five themed collections, each one offering something unique to cater to a variety of tastes and preferences. Iram says, “We have worked very hard to ensure that each piece from all five collections can be combined in multiple ways. Everyone can create their own personalised combinations.”

Their first collection named the ‘Fifties Collection’ pays homage to the design revolution that took place in Italy in the mid-20th century. It plays with texture by combining natural elements like leaf vein and rattan with glass and metal. Through the use of cheerful colours, foam padding, eco-leather and brass legs, these pieces highlight quintessential elements of the 1950s post-modernist boom. “These pieces are perfect for retro design nerds who appreciate a sense of fun!” smiles Iram.

Next in line is the ‘Bowie Collection’ which has been inspired by the natural curve of a bow. Consisting of sofas, beds and lounge chairs made with leather in soft colour palettes with pops of blue, the collection seeks to entice warmth while invoking a feeling of subtle luxury. “The combination of modern fluid contours and classic marble, wood and leather is what makes this collection timeless. This one is rooted in elegance, comfort and versatility,” she explains.

The ‘Nelson Collection’ captures Danish modernity with minimalist accents. The use of wood, glass and leather bring in a sense of comfort, while metal and marble accents add a touch of glamour. Iram calls it the ideal collection for anyone who appreciates an innovative take on “old-school cool”.

The ‘Harper Collection’ is an earth-toned set of pieces focused entirely on comfort. Merging terrace, natural walnut and light coloured fabric with metal accents, this collection brings forth a feeling of natural elegance. “The star of this collection is the bed which has been conceived as an independent space in itself. Its padded headboard comes with side flaps, to create a private sanctuary,” shares Iram.

The ‘Sparks Collection’ is described by the team as functional and elegantly designed. It combines wood, velvet, eco-leather and stone, and plays on organic curves and edges, resulting in a set of innovative pieces. These include the likes of elliptical dining tables with terrazzo turntables, beds with specially crafted curved headboards and fluted solid wood drawer faces.

Iram shares, “We are already working on our next collection. We plan to keep Sunday fresh! Our model currently does not allow for too much bespoke work because that entails re-engineering the furniture design, which makes it difficult to stick to our delivery timelines.”

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The growth

According to the India Furniture Market Report 2021 released by researchandmarkets.com, the market size of Indian furniture in 2020 was $17.77 billion and is projected to rise to $37.72 billion by the end of 2026, growing at a double-digit CAGR of 13.37 percent during 2020-2026. The report specifies that India is a place for unique and creative work when it comes to furniture, making Sunday Design’s market entry well-timed.

The brand’s initial funding of $1.25 million came from their founding investors including Gautam and his business partner Vinit Agarwal, along with Sanjay Kapoor, who is the Founder and President of Genesis Luxury; venture capitalist Abhishek Goyal; Gurjit Singh Bains and Apoorv Agarwal, who are the promoters of Sirca Paints India; and Manan Khetan, the promoter of I-Evo, a prominent furniture manufacturer in India.

Gautam says, “Since our grand opening in October, we have been received very well in terms of positive feedback across all media, concrete expressions of interest, and actual booked sales. We are very optimistic but are tempering our optimism with reasonable expectations for the near and mid-term future.”

He believes that the pandemic allowed them to change the narrative in furniture design. As most of their core team members were relatively free, it gave them room to get creative and think outside the box. Being able to work from home also helped them launch this brand in just nine months.

He signs off by asserting that they have no direct competitors, “Our model is unique in that we have approached the concept of furnishings from a different viewpoint - our target group expects good design, but also inspired design. They want ergonomic comfort based on legitimate Italian roots. It is a model that has immense potential for growth because it stems from a focus on fashionable yet attainable design. This is what Sunday defines as disruptive.”