My Den — Azeem Khan

If couturier Azeem Khan is not travelling to exotic places looking for enlightenment, he is at his Colaba studio, Azeem Khan Couture Salon, giving shape to the organzas, chiffons and laces of his inspiration. Behind his huge mahogony desk, his bespectaled frame looks like a doctor studying his patient’s report for a treatment. In fact, if Azeem had patiently pursued his mother’s dreams for three more years, he would have been a doctor now. "What’s the difference? Now I doctor my fabrics for your romantic, sexy and elegant dreams jackets, cocktails and separates," muses this Crystal King (for, if you want to identify Khan’s signature line, look out for crystals), working on his coming Summer-Spring collection.

Play of his favourite Savoroski crystals, sequins and fine silk threads on two-tier ghagras, two-tier coats and sarees in georgettes and laces, his much-awaited collection originated in Rajasthan at the Pushkar festival last November. "But then I came back to my studio to see what I could do to blendthe colourful vision with my imagination," says embroidery czar S U Zariwala’s scion, passionately glancing his place of work, his face alight with the hue from a red lamp on his table. After dabbling with architecture for a semester (complicated calculations weren’t his cuppa) and then Masters from Parsons School of Design and stint with the veteran Geoffrey Beans, when Azeem came back to gracefully step into his ancestors’ shoes, he wanted a cavern which went well with his personality and style.

This is where his architect friend Rahul Mehrotra came into the picture, and then Azeem Khan Couture Salon near Colaba post office took shape. With a distinct SOHO New York look, the atelier has a huge door at the entrance for a majestic look. Inside it are curved steel walls, a highly polished wooden floor and strategic innate lighting. The look is stark to highlight his intricately embroidered masterpieces. "It was because of these interiors that I decided to have all my shows in the salon itself," he admits. "Iwork here. I display them here. And rather than invite crowds at some five-star premises, I would have a private showing somewhere I am comfortable. And it’s here," he adds. An iron metal flat staircase leads you to the design office with its sophisticated interiors. This is where his coming Summer-Spring line, last year’s Not-So-Summer line and all his other lines came into being. Surrounded by books on the latest in vogue and swatches of the collection he is putting together, Azeem feels he still has miles to go. "A designer is as good as his last collection. So it has to become better." And that’s what he’s doing at his studio, trying to design better and better for happy occasions. "This is, in fact, my marriage," he says, forgetting his wife Sameena and two-year-old daughter Sara for a moment.