Award winning wedding designer, and founder of The A-Cube project, Ambika Gupta, recently sat down with NewsX for an exclusive interview. She’s been called the Queen of the South, and for good reason, over the last 8 years, Ambika has made an immense contribution to the wedding planning industry, and has helped it evolve. Be it incorporating often ignored south Indian customs into her art, or being the first woman wedding designer to charge a design fee, she has consistently been a trailblazer. “I was different in the sense that I hadn’t worked with anyone previously, didn’t have any big backing, so to say. The fact that I’ve been able to take my designs pan-India and an international level, I think I’ve helped some budding young designers and planners to see that there’s hope for them as well, and that good work can come from anywhere.”
She explains how the Indian wedding scene has changed over the years. “Even just 8 years back, it was a struggle to say, I’m a wedding designer. Weddings, if you go back just 20 years ago, used to just be organized by family members, like the uncles and aunts.”
According to Ambika, wedding design has more complexity and depth, than usually given credit for. It contains three separate disciplines; wedding design, wedding planning, and wedding production. “We’ve got architects, interior designers, we need a lot of technical know-how, and we present everything on 3-D. Everything’s on 3-D, made to scale; we’re basically like an architecture firm.” According to her, a wedding designer “is someone who manages the look and feel of the venue, and how it resonates on the day. They make it all come together. It’s a rigorous process.”
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The pandemic has affected the wedding industry, according to her, but it hasn’t stopped it. “It’s all about adapting”, says Ambika, “We’ve got to implement all kinds of equipment now like UGC tents, and utilize a lot of technology to ensure the health and safety of our clients. I think sanitation is going to become a protocol during and after this pandemic”
She’s a firm a believer in universal energy, and feels blessed to have been able to work with many different types of people. “Some people want to go all-out on their wedding day now, since they’re not paying for hotels that much. I’ve worked with pan-india clients, NRI clients as well. We’re doing some really interesting weddings; one is inspired by Van Gogh, one by Monet.”
We asked her about her future plans, and how she hopes to expand her horizons. “You know, I don’t want to just be sucked into one thing, like last year, I started my brand House of A-Cube, for furniture rentals, which grew out of the need of using such furniture and not having it available here in Chennai. A-Cube is now serving all of south India.”
One of the most important factors in her success, she feels has been the “global language” that her designs speak. They’re not in any way limited to a certain group or community. “Anybody sitting in the U.S or London, where we actually have a lot of clients, can resonate with our Instagram page and our designs. Our work is tailor-made to everyone’s personal stories.”
Ambika plans to open and flower and bake shop, something she says is “fluid into her own design domain.” She’s got a lot of international projects on the horizon, along with various other endeavours. Ultimately though, at the end of the day, design is her primary goal and ambition. “I want to leave a legacy with design, and I hope that people remember us for the designs and the smiles we create.”
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