Amaya’s Minimalist Principles

As you wind your way through the time-worn paths of the Himalayan foothills on your approach to our mountain sanctuary, the hustle and bustle of city life is soon left behind. The roar of engines and the echoes of car horns die away until birdsong, sweet and melodic, fills the air.

Long before Amaya’s first brick was laid on the ground, Deepak Gupta envisioned a minimalist haven in the mountains where travellers could disconnect from the demands of urban life and rediscover themselves amid the timeless beauty and tranquility of the forest.

One thing was certain: standard methods of planning and construction would be unthinkable. Plateglass and concrete, vast cranes and heavy-duty excavators, ripping out the forest and flattening the land for sunbeds and swimming pools — this was obviously out of the question.

Instead, taking inspiration from Nordic minimalism and Japanese ryokan living, Gupta approached Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai, who understood and shared his dream and was determined to help transform it into a reality. The project was to be a gentle restoration not just of the ancient hills and terraces, but of the fragile ecosystem itself, a coming together of people and place in symbiosis.

The result is a unique synthesis between traditional Japanese and modern Scandinavian minimalist sensibilities, brought to life by local Himalayan artisans working in collaboration with international master architects to create gentle, unobtrusive structures out of sustainable, local materials.

Each villa and chalet is defined by clean, smooth lines, blending seamlessly into the hills and terraces in which they are embraced. Thin marble shutters, inspired by Japanese shoji screens, are used instead of glass windows. They provide warm passive light during the day, and at night glow amber against the hillside like paper lanterns.

Even the walls of the buildings themselves are designed to embody wabi-sabi, the Japanese minimalist aesthetic principle that values understated beauty and the passage of time: constructed with local stone, each brick is handmade and unique, and finished with a plaster comprising a mixture of lime and local soil which forms a patina whose colour deepens and richens as the years pass.

These principles are by no means limited to Amaya’s architecture. Within each room, every piece of furniture is carefully selected for simplicity, precision and comfort, all in aesthetic concordance with the space it occupies.

For instance, at the centre of Amaya’s restaurant dining hall is a table made from a single piece of tropical wood, rustic and earthy, surrounded by chairs made from oak and hand-woven cane, custom designed by Viewpoint Studio UK and made individually from scratch by a skilled woodworker in nearby Chandigarh.

Danish design philosophy bears a strong influence on our own approach to interior design. Rediscovering life away from the demands and distractions of the modern world requires a gentle living environment with light, elegant, timeless furniture that lets the space around it speak for itself.

Whether relaxing on cosy armchairs designed by Dennis Marquart or Sibast Furniture Copenhagen, or enjoying coffee at a table made to the highest standards of Danish craftsmanship by Theresa Rand or Norm Architects — each room is touched by the Scandinavian spirit and informed by its appreciation for the natural and the authentic.

Our mountain sanctuary is steeped in tradition yet utterly modern; minimalist yet opulent; practical and functional, yet elegant and beautiful. And ever since that very first handmade brick was laid on the ground, we have taken great pride in marrying all these contradictions together to create an experience truly unlike any other.