Kavya Kadakia

I’m Kavya Kadakia, an interior designer driven by a deep interest in hospitality design and its ability to create meaningful human connections through atmosphere, materiality, and shared experience. My approach to design is rooted in storytelling, where tradition and contemporary living coexist to create spaces that feel intentional, immersive, and emotionally engaging.

During my final year at the Glasgow School of Art, my project, Ishaara, became an opportunity to explore Indian cultural identity within a modern hospitality setting. Located at 196 Ingram Street, Glasgow, the project reimagines fine dining through the lens of traditional Indian eating rituals, challenging conventional dining norms by celebrating the tactile and communal experience of eating with hands and serving food on banana leaves as a sustainable alternative to formal plating.

The relationship between ritual, sustainability, and cultural reinterpretation became central to the project, shaping every aspect of the spatial experience. Drawing inspiration from Indian design elements and combining them with a contemporary aesthetic, Ishaara creates a dining environment that feels both culturally grounded and refined, encouraging a more intentional and connected experience of food and space.