Godrej almirah has got a makeover

“I got my first almirah after our wedding,” remembers Kalki Narayanswamy, a retired schoolteacher in Chennai. “Our collection grew with every child we had—three—and we have all the six almirahs collected over a span of roughly 35 years.”

Her daughter Saumya, who moved to the US several years ago after marriage and therefore gleefully skipped inheriting an almirah, now “feels a glow of comfort” when she visits India and hears the familiar loud, creaking sound of the almirah door open. She says, “It really is so ironical, isn’t it? The same sound used to make my skin crawl when we were kids. Now, it just reminds me that I am home.”

When The Doors Opened
Godrej Interio, a division of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Ltd. formed in 2006, has over the years added a variety of colours, shades and other design interventions—purple, marigold, deep blue, magenta, maroon and carmine red are just some of the shades that populate their online stores. They also ventured into the wooden wardrobe segment with the product range Kalista four years later, a series of cupboards that provides wall-to-wall solutions and personal customisation. You could have wooden wardrobes with a glossy steel-like finish or a steel unit with a wood-like look.

The 14-year-old Slimline range, an extension of the tried and tested Storwel, is the first range that diversified from the popular welded steel variety. Sleeker looking, it came in a knocked-down condition, becoming easier to transport—and making it compete directly with the Malaysia/China-made ready-to-use flimsy varieties. The modular metal range of Kreation gave the possibility of adding any number of units—it’s an extendable wardrobe that grows. The modularity of this range allows a user complete flexibility to choose the size of the wardrobe.

“From different designs, shelf arrangements, finishes and even safety features, we have constantly evolved with changes in consumer demands and expectations,” says Godrej Interio COO Mathur. “In India, gifting an almirah has been closely associated with a milestone in life—whether marriage, new home etc.”

The first model of Godrej’s almirah was called the “safe cabinet” and was usually available in grey enamel with five adjustable shelves. In 1923, Godrej launched steel cupboards and they soon became an integral part of young Indian couples’ new matrimonial home—and an almost mandatory dowry requirement.

The symbolism with weddings was best expressed in the television advertisements of the 1980s with the tagline “hum kuch aur jagah banayein” (let’s make some more space).

“Its doors opened with a reassuring clang,” adds Mathur. “In its safe disappeared the slim gold bangle or the little pearl-drop earrings not deposited in bank so that they could be accessed for the suddenly organised ‘fancy’ evening. The USP mentioned in the earliest catalogues: they were thief-resistant, vermin-proof, handsome and cheap. And so, as shown by their wide footprint, they continue to be.” The year 1999 was some sort of a landmark with 20,000 units sold—so far, the company has sold over 120 million units.

Although Narayanswamy has seen some of the newer models in other homes but has no intention of replacing her almirahs. “The ones I have, they work fine and,” she adds laughing, “they will probably outlive me.”