Award-winning luxe wedding designer, and founder of The A-Cube Project, Ambika Gupta, spoke to NewsX in an exclusive interview about her endeavours. She’s been called the “Queen of the South” and for good reasons. Over the last 8 years, she 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, Ambika Gupta 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,” Gupta said.
Expounding how the Indian wedding scene has changed over the years, Gupta said, “Eight years ago, was a struggle to say that you are 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,” she said
The pandemic has affected the wedding industry, according to her, but it hasn’t stopped it. “It’s all about adapting”, says Gupta, “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”
Ambika Gupta is a firm 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,” she said.
We asked her about her plans, and how she hopes to expand her horizons, to which she replied, “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 for using such furniture and not having it available here in Chennai.
House Of 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 have a lot of clients, can resonate with our Instagram page and our designs. Our work is tailor-made to everyone’s personal stories,” she said.
Ambika plans to open and flower and bake shop, something she says is “fluid into her design domain.” She’s got a lot of international projects on the horizon, along with various other endeavors. Ultimately though, at the end of the day, the 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.”
