Where concept boutiques in India are concerned, Bungalow Eight (B8) is a hallowed reference point. Over a decade in existence, it has held an important place in the domestic retail landscape, representing a definitive vision, aesthetic and identity that few others have stood for with lasting impact.

Understanding this directional concept – global living rooted in heritage and a curiosity for the unexpected – begins with understanding founder Maithili Ahluwalia’s own references. Ask her and she cites Dagina, Mumbai’s first ever lifestyle store as inspiration. It was run by her grandmother Chandu Morarji in the 1960s, and illustrates patterns in familial connections and ideology that seem organic and pivotal to Maithili’s trajectory. However, it’s the presence of Isla Van Damme – fondly known as Loulou – who continues to play an integral role in the business today.

Admittedly, it’s the synergy of this relationship that translates into B8. Of which Maithili’s says, “Loulou is my harshest critic in my professional and private life, and everything in between. If I spoke about her as Visual Merchandiser, it would be very limiting. She’s the guiding soul, mentor… the Grand Dame of B8.”

Familial relationships brought Loulou and Maithili together, so much so that they shared a governess – albeit 40 years apart. When Loulou moved back to India in 1999, she started the restaurant Olive Ridley in Goa. During one visit with Morarji in Mumbai, both were introduced at dinner. As far as first meetings go, it was brief, Maithili rushing in and out. “As she still does,” adds Loulou.

In 2003, Maithili was back in India after years in New York and visited Loulou’s guesthouse Panchavati (her next venture after Olive Ridley). Between 2003 and 2005 Loulou, who was consulting on home interiors by this time, would bring clients to buy from B8.

Maithili phoned her ten years ago to tell her that she was expanding to a new 2500 sq. ft store at 1, Wankhede Stadium. She was having trouble with the architect and asked if Loulou would help with its design. It was meant to be a singular project but Loulou recounts Maithili’s words after it was completed: “She said to me, ‘I think I will need you till you die.’  I said, ‘You can have me. I love working with you.’ I’ve followed her ever since.” Below, edited excerpts from independent conversations with Maithili and Loulou:

THE BEGINNING

Maithili: Loulou’s role grew from Visual Merchandiser around the time that she closed Panchavati in Goa and moved to the Palani Hills in Tamil Nadu. Business for me was growing; we had moved to Colaba and I needed her even more. The timing was perfect. There were a couple of pretty profound, serendipitous moments. My Grandmother had a stroke in Goa, and was hospitalized for two years. I crashed at Loulou’s house when I visited her. We had already started to work together but we got even closer at this point.

Loulou is closer to my mother in age, but she and my grandmother were extremely fond of each other. Both were good gardeners and experimental chefs; they had a lot in common, a love for aesthetics as well.

 Above: image | B8, Colaba

Loulou: Maithili is very lucky to have a father who dotes on her completely. She has learnt slowly to take her independence and is growing up very nicely. I was lucky too, my father sponsored my shop at 19 but after that I was on my own financially. Mine was a privileged upbringing: I went to boarding school when I was eight, and had a sports car specially ordered for me at 18; white with blue leather. At 18 I met my future husband, and I said ‘I’m following this young man’. My father told me I would then have to be an independent woman. If I stayed, they would take care of me. I chose my husband, thank God! It was tough – I left with a super sports car and 100 pounds in my pocket but it was wonderful.

If you ask me who I am, I don’t quite know whether I am Belgian or Indian. I’m a total mix of both. I’m the happiest person living in India, I would not like to go back to Europe. Art and culture wise, there’s no limit to what you can do here. But my number one reason is the people who are extremely warm and friendly. It’s a big love affair that never left me: I left to travel when I was 16 and came back three years later to buy for my shop. I came to India to retire when I was 55. I’m 70 now and still working.

Above: image | Isla Van Damme

Maithili: She’s the ultimate sounding board, and increasingly over the last few years, as she’s had more time for the business. We speak twice a day, sharing ideas, discussing the clothes. She’s helping us to refine things. She’s bringing her experience, her wealth of knowledge and her understanding of India, and we’re helping each other stay young. She’s what a partner in life should be because she is able to take my thoughts and vision, and translate it into ways larger than I ever imagined. She gets me in very deep ways, we’ve fought once in nine years (although I don’t know if she’ll point to the same time!)

We’re kindred spirits aesthetically, and that’s huge. There’s no second guessing there.  When we source together, there’s very little argument or discussion. I’ve never seen her (former) shop Santosh, and I imagine it would have been quite different from B8, though there’s a similar ideology and spirit. Ultimately we share a passion for beautiful things that are not necessarily expensive. Cheap, antiques, sometimes expensive: we both love a good find.

Loulou: Our work is pure pleasure through ups and downs. In fact, it’s in the lows that we’re the strongest. We never have creative conflicts, when we argue it’s mainly about big decisions to be taken, or trying to get things done the right way. It’s not easy to get things done, especially in India, and we’re both extremely difficult people.

PHILOSOPHY

Maithili: We’re both on the same page: less is more. The store in Colaba was about ‘the grand dame living it up’ and Loulou and I both have elements of the grand dame in us. And now, she’s evolved and wants to be very curated and edited. The challenge lies in taking something niche and intimate with our spirit and energy, and allowing it to travel.

Over time Colaba stopped feeling like our own space, it felt expected because it’s not a unique address. Other stores were starting to look like us. At the heart of the brand we’re about doing things unconventionally and quietly. Our first store ever was in a maid’s quarter on Carmichael Road where no other retailers existed. People have said I’m crazy moving back to Wankhede. But Loulou and I are similar that way, the more someone says no the more we want to do it. When I told her in 2005 that my family had this property which had become an option, she said, ‘A cricket stadium? We’re doing it.’

Above: image | B8, Colaba

This new store is an attempt to figure out who we’re not, and the result is an edited representation of B8. It’s going to take at least six or eight months putting our soul into it because it isn’t about transferring product from one store to the next and just rejigging things – that’s why we had a relocation sale. It’s a time for pause and reflection, to examine core values. We’ve come to the conclusion that we’re about an undiscovered idea of India. It’s going to take us time to build, it won’t happen overnight. We’re pushing ourselves to flesh it out. We’ve tried to raise the bar for ourselves.

Loulou: We talk and think together. Sometimes, she asks me to put too much in the shop and I say, ‘No, it’s awful – it’s like a supermarket.’

She will listen to me, wait for me to calm down, till I say, ‘OK, you’ve won.’  I work for her but it’s become sort of my space too. Even though people want bling, I say if it’s not the right bling lets not sell it. It only has to be what we like, and what is beautiful to our mind. This is our only area of difficulty. Maithili says we’ll sell it but I couldn’t care less. We have to sell what we like.

Above: image | B8, Wankhede Stadium

Maithili: We’re both instinctive people at our core. There’s an intellectual side when it comes to design but we know how we feel. She knows my upbringing so it’s been very natural, organic and effortless. We’re both tough but able to take a back seat when necessary. We take time apart and converge which helps – I don’t want to jinx it I suppose. The bottom line is respect: I don’t always take her on when I disagree as I might do with someone my age. I say yes but quietly make up my mind and do things my way when necessary. For example, she tells me I’m being too commercial and that we shouldn’t compromise. And I say that the Indian market is such that you have to. She will respond, “I made the Queen of Brussels wear Indian clothes, why can’t we do the same here?”

Above: image | B8, Wankhede Stadium

We’re going through one of the toughest challenges now: how do we put ourselves more in and more out at the same time? More in, in terms of creativity and energy, more out in terms of systems and operations.

How do we run a business that is creatively pushing the envelope but professionally managed? Because when Loulou changes something at the store, it’s so instinctive to her. How do we train our team to do the same? A lot of my time and energy is spent trying to systematize aesthetics. It’s not easy but I don’t think it’s impossible.

The team did a fabulous job of visual merchandising the relocation sale. This is Loulou and my first effort to let go a bit, impart this way of life to people who haven’t grown up with it to the people who make B8 what it is. There’s a whole group of people who sustain us and our madness. Contain our madness too because it’s all very well for us and our grand ideas, but we need these people to help us see our vision through.

Loulou: There’s a lack of focus in India. People are hardworking but it’s difficult to have systems here. Maithili has a difficult job supervising everybody, including me. She used to shout a lot until I couldn’t stand it anymore. I said, ‘This isn’t getting you anywhere. If you’re inclined that way, go away take a deep breath and come back.’ That changed everything completely.

Above: image | Maithili Ahluwalia

SENSIBILITY

Maithili: We share references together, look at books, travel, she stays at my home all the time. People have said to me that they would like to work with Loulou, and I say they should.

There were moments when I was younger and it made me insecure but then I realized that it’s like any relationship: when you’re bonded, nobody will ever have the same relationship. She works with other people, but it will never be what we share and I’m comfortable with that now. I was insecure about Mathieu (former B8 designer) in the early days as well. But our bond goes beyond professional, and it shows in the work.

She has a colour palette that I’ve learned to love. I don’t enjoy colour much, it’s usually monochromatic for me. She loves sage greens – indigo blue we both enjoy – but she finds  unique combinations that don’t come naturally to me. We don’t dress the same way but I love how she puts herself together. And she will often say to me I love what you’ve done but I can’t imagine her wearing it. We’ve often tried to dress each other but it’s just not our personalities.

Above: image | Loulou with Jamini Ahluwalia

Loulou’s seen so much more that she’s not as open in some ways. I still want to see everything: I read every magazine, go to every museum. She has some of that but her hunger is less. She’s fortunate to be in that place where she savours her time in the hills alone. We’re different in that sense. I’m in the city, wired and manic for many more days than she is.

I’m also still much more indecisive. She’s very decisive and that can be a strength and weakness. There’s very little middle ground for her, she doesn’t look at things in shades of gray. I waffle and waver much more. When she doesn’t like a designer, she doesn’t want to see the clothing. She won’t touch it: “It’s so ugly I will not display it.” She couldn’t give a damn. I have to manage that. It doesn’t matter that she’s working for me; if she’s hates it, she’s sulking. The passion goes both ways: she never hesitates to wake up early to find the perfect flower for an event, and never says no because she wants the best for the brand. She puts the brand before herself and that’s priceless.

 Above: Maithili Ahluwalia image | Shovona Karmakar

Loulou: She’s a workaholic, I’m not. When I work, I work hard, but when I close my shop it doesn’t exist for me anymore. Maithili works all the time. Breakfast in the car at 7:30am with coffee splashing everywhere. I say, “Maithili, I’m doing it but this is not the way I like to live. I like to have a leisurely breakfast, look at the birds … I don’t mix my two lives. When I work it’s intense and tiring. When I travel to Mumbai, I wake up at 3am, board a plane at 5:30, arrive here at 7, and I’m working till 9 at night. During the day I will try to go away for 5 minutes and close my eyes and breathe a bit. I wish Maithili would do that more often, she’s always on the go. It’s her character, she has to work that out. I tell her that she’s doing herself harm but I think she will have to find out for herself. I don’t see my younger self in her, absolutely not. My mother taught me to live, she said life is short, and as you get older it gets shorter and shorter.

I used to put my car on a boat from Austen to Dover and drive up at 4am to arrive in London at 7am. Then I would go to a super hotel to have an enormous breakfast. After all that, I would start working. My parents taught me to balance. In a day you should always have a bit of relaxation; reading, listening to music…

Maithili: It’s rare because we’re both headstrong and I think it’s the age. I have a tremendous respect for her because she’s done this for so much longer and is much more skilled. We were both more fiery and explosive many years ago, but we’ve had discussions about spirituality, eating healthy, natural and being vegetarian. We share an understanding that while we are a part of the fashion world, we need to keep it in check.

Loulou: India’s given me so much. It’s crazy but I’m loving everything that’s happening. The T Magazine article was crazy, I get recognized on the street. Why are people interested in what I’m doing? I don’t understand. I wanted to live happily in Goa but that didn’t happen. I’m getting to meet very different people. It’s wonderful … and I will work till I die … in a wheelchair like Geoffrey Bawa who was 93 when he died. With his walking stick – I want it like this.

Above: Grazia India, April 2014  image | R Burman

Maithili: In Goa she was always Loulou, but with B8 she’s become somewhat of an icon. She was doing the same thing but not as publicly. She laughs about her mini celebrity and her “supermodel foray” with the Grazia India Age issue photo shoot. Bloggers are into her, everyone wants a piece of her. She reminds me of Iris Apfel. She shows us a lot about age, not trying to be defined, being fearless. The Palani Hills in Tamil Nadu are not an easy place to be. But what she proves is that if you’re passionate and follow your heart, everything is possible. With our team (we’re about 40 people) there’s a heartfelt connection: she’s “Loulou madam” down to the housekeepers. I think of her as a “mouse within a tiger’s body” because she seems fiery but when you scratch beneath that surface she’s gentle. What sets her off are emotional issues, if she is excited about something and you’re not, she takes it as a personal insult.

We essentially share a fire in the belly. We drive each other up the wall and exhaust each other. We are fairly upbeat people and get excited when the other is excited about something new, the energy is infectious. With her it’s not about money, prestige, or fame. It’s the excitement to get up everyday. What keeps her going is her ability to reinvent herself.