Interview: Orange Tree’s Gaurav Jain on bringing world-class furniture design to India
- Featured Lifestyle
Schenelle Dsouza- 7 minutes read
Schenelle Dsouza
Nearly a decade old, Orange Tree has become synonymous with contemporary furniture and home décor in India. Branching out from the renowned furniture company Basant, Orange Tree has created some of the most sophisticated pieces over the years. The brand is known for its contemporary designs in conjunction with fine quality materials such as wood, metal, stone, marble and natural fibres. Apart from experimenting with ideas within the team, the brand also works in collaboration with international designers in the US, Germany and France to get fresh new perspectives from time to time.
Orange Tree is also a sustainability-led brand, having used only natural raw materials for production and employing sustainable practices like using solar energy to power the factory, recycling materials and rainwater harvesting.
Talking about the brand during a special visit to the factory, Orange Tree’s Founder and Creative Director, Gaurav Jain spoke to LuxeBook about the brand’s inception, its association with Basant and more.
Tell us how Orange Tree’s individual design ideology came about, along with its association with Basant?
Orange Tree is the retail venture of Basant that was founded by my father in 1998 for the global market. Basant has been designing and manufacturing the finest contemporary furniture and accessories to 17 countries worldwide, including renowned stores like West Elm, Pottery Barn, Zara Homes, and Crate & Barrel among others. While handling the family business during my study period in Germany, I realised the need for the Indian furniture industry to upskill and modernise its furniture technology. I realised the opportunity in the Indian market for contemporary, modern and minimalistic designs in an otherwise market space that was clouded with traditional and antique furniture. With the sole aim to bring modern and functional furniture to India, Orange Tree was born in 2014 as an e-commerce website. It was followed by our first brick-and-mortar store in Jodhpur. Now, this year in May, we opened our first flagship store in Hyderabad.
What was the idea behind the launch of Orange Tree?
When we started the retail arm Orange Tree in 2014, the lighting and furniture category in the domestic space was at a nascent stage. The home furniture and lighting segment was primarily dominated by local manufacturers. The product quality and design weren’t at par with the global level. Those who were well travelled and understood design in this category didn’t have the option to invest in modern and contemporary furniture with a global design ethos. We launched Orange Tree to offer high-quality products in sustainable materials and designs representing the global language. And, we are glad to have disrupted the category and become trendsetters in this category.
Can you tell me about Orange Tree’s RND process?
We are strictly against following any global trends. In fact, we have an intuitive design sensibility that seeks inspiration from fashion, museums, art, movies – everything that is visually stimulating. Internally, we have a more inward-looking approach to creating products. We self-analyse customer data to understand which products are selling well and which aren’t. Before designing a new collection, we closely analyse the database and understand which shapes/materials/forms are working for us and which aren’t. This along with inspiration from our travels is how we create products at Orange Tree. For instance, as Travertine stone is slowly gaining popularity in design in India, we don’t restrict ourselves to using only this stone. In fact, India is a minefield of various stones, Orange Tree’s strength lies in exploring India’s rich and vibrant pool of resources and including them into the fold of our designs.
What are the different safety standards employed at Orange Tree?
Our factory has over 70 ultra-modern machines and conveyor belt systems to reduce the labour-intensive work of manufacturing. We also have a dedicated section for metal works, in addition to the testing labs that are also on the site, having all these verticals under one roof opens new room for exploration and imagination. Having said that, all our on-the-ground teams undergo proper training before they start working on these systems. We also ensure our staff is wearing proper gear and masks, especially when they are working in sections like metal fabrication, they wear eye protection, gloves and masks to protect themselves from anything hazardous. Regular safety checks of machines and equipment are also ensured. Overall, the safety and security of all our employees are our primary responsibility and don’t compromise the quality in this segment at all.
