India Mahdavi Wants Her Dreamy New Line for H&M Home to “Spread Beauty”

ProductIndia Mahdavi Wants Her Dreamy New Line for H&M Home to “Spread Beauty”Made up of soft tones that melt into each other, the collection leans into the vogue for gradients

By Alia Akkam

April 20, 2022

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With her H&M Home collaboration, India Mahdavi wants to “spread beauty on a large scale.”Photography courtesy H&M Home

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Bold hues have always enraptured India Mahdavi—so much so that they have become a hallmark of the Paris-based architect and designer’s chic interiors. (Her recent golden revamp of Sketch’s gallery in London is poised to become as memorable as her all-pink iteration.) A new range of ceramics and textiles—a collaboration between Mahdavi and H&M Home that launches online and in select stores on April 28—is yet another exploration of her fascination with color’s mood-influencing power.

A follow-up to the Swedish brand’s 2021 partnership with Diane von Furstenberg, the India Mahdavi x H&M Home collection captures the designer’s desire to democratize her work and “make it accessible to everyone,” the designer tells AD PRO. Mahdavi, who has previously joined forces with retail behemoths like Monoprix, recognizes that many of the objects she has designed in the past were produced in small batches, inevitably translating to steeper prices. But it is important to Mahdavi that her vision transcends the luxury realm, and that her oeuvre is marked by flexibility and “abolishing borders.”

Gradient styles are woven throughout the collection, a theme Mahdavi says is inspired by the lack of clarity amid the global pandemic.

Photography courtesy H&M Home

The H&M Home debut, then, is a way for Mahdavi to “spread beauty on a large scale,” she says, with affordable and joy-inducing pieces in bright, mix-and-match shades like lilac, tangerine, lime, and royal blue. In planning the collection, Mahdavi hand-picked European manufacturers from H&M Home’s suppliers with a special reverence for craftsmanship.

There are plates, bowls, ripple-rimmed mugs, and pitchers as well as placemats, cushions, and even a blanket and a rug. All objects in the collection promise to imbue living spaces with an inviting cheerfulness and handmade sensibility. Some of these creations showcase an organic gradient palette, made up of soft pinks and yellows that “melt into each other,” Mahdavi points out. “Many people are scared of color, but this is an easy way to approach it.”

The collection’s punchy hues act as an antidote to neutral and minimalist interiors.

Photography courtesy H&M Home

Aside from tabletop, the collection includes a blanket, rug, and cushions.

Photography courtesy H&M Home

Along with such striking tonal combinations as chartreuse layered over peppermint, there is a feel-good floral pattern and a blurred checkerboard motif. Mahdavi drew her first sketches for the series during lockdown, and that era’s pervasive uncertainty manifested in her designs. “Everything was so foggy at the time, so the out-of-focus print is a reflection of that period and where we still are now, where we don’t see the future sharply,” she says.

The collection’s color pairings are a delight in and of themselves, from soft pink and yellow to chartreuse layered over peppermint.

Photography courtesy H&M Home

Conceptualizing in confinement also made Mahdavi eager to “convey optimism” through the collection, she says. These aren’t showpiece products that should be hidden away in a cabinet until a special occasion calls for them. Instead, Mahdavi encourages buyers to incorporate them into everyday life and “enjoy small moments of happiness,” she says. “They are meant to be generous, to bring a joie de vivre to your home landscape.”