Home Is Where the Art Is, Says Samyukta Hornad

“Home is where the art is,” reads the logo of Samyukta Hornad’s newly opened art gallery ‘The ARTery’ in Bangalore. The logo is a heart doodled by Samyukta herself. “I look at it as a stairway that provides room for intimate conversations, workshops, and script reading sessions,” says Samyukta.

We visited her art gallery for an exclusive tête-à-tête where we talked about her home and her acting journey.

Here are the excerpts.

“Acting runs in my family”

Samyukta’s family has been associated with cinema and arts for a long time. But it wasn’t quite the family history that pushed her to acting. A traumatic experience in college motivated her to take up acting as a career.

“After being bullied for a long time in college, I decided not to attend classes. This left me with ample time to explore other things! I used to go around taking photographs with a camera that my father had gifted me. I also joined a theatre group, which helped me bring my emotions out.”

Later, Samyukta joined the National School of Drama to further strengthen her acting skills.
While studying CA, she started auditioning for advertisements and films. It is then that she got an offer from director Pawan Kumar for Lifeu Ishtene and the rest, as they say, is history!

“While it gave me the popularity I aspired for, it was not enough. To stay in this industry, it takes much more than just one hit. That is when I approached Prakash Raj and I landed Un Samayal Arayil in Tamil, Ulavacharu Biryani in Telugu, and Oggarane in Kannada.”

Samyukta also won a Filmfare award for her role in Oggarane.

Currently, her hands are full with some great films and Samyukta is excited about her upcoming movies. “These are films that will be remembered,” she gushes.

“My home is full of stories”

From broken dolls to draggers to knives – Samyukta has it all in her room. She says, “I am obsessed with stories. Everything I have has some or the other story. I have dream catchers that I have made, earrings that I made in Kodaikanal with a lady. In a nutshell, my room is full of junk.”

Junk or more what we like to call memories, perhaps.

She is also fond of pets, which is reflected in her wardrobe, which features her doodles of animals.

“I worship my place the way it is. I feel anyone who comes home should feel that vibe.”

“At present, ARTery is my most loved space”

“My art gallery is home for me right now. When it rains, I spend hours together with a cup of tea staring at the paintings, the sandstone on the wall, and my cherished temple tree. It is all so magical and beautiful.”

Nothing can beat the photos of Gunda!

When asked about her most-cherished possession, Samyukta quickly replied with a big smile, “All the photographs of my dog (Gunda) are very close to my heart. If there is a fire, I would just collect his pictures and run away.”

Art just flows!

A painter and writer herself, Samyukta says, “I realised that art just flows. From writing, you can move to dancing and acting. They are independent entities but connected in some way.”

“I admire all the art forms.”

“I don’t like when people fight in my space”

When asked about that one thing that she cannot tolerate, she says, “I don’t like when people come to my place and get into a fight or an argument.”

“I believe every place has some sanctity and that should be maintained.”

Finally, Samyukta has some recommendations for our readers:

• Always have fresh flowers in your home
• Have a good set of speakers to set the right mood
• Never bring outside baggage into your home

While Samyukta was modest in sharing some great tips for home décor, here are five interesting ideas that we stole from her home.

• Add houseplants in coloured pots to make a space look vibrant
• Do you often lose your earrings? Add a foam around your mirror and just hang everything there (just like in the picture)

• Ditch the boring rugs and buy bright-coloured rugs with some quirky prints. Samyukta suggests Uptown 18.
• For furniture, go for unusual colours like teal blue or sea-green.
• Convert glass bottles into beautiful art pieces by painting them.

We then did a rapid-fire Twenty20 style interview with her.

Define home in three words: Cosy, intimate, and comfortable

Wallpaper or wall paint: Wall paint, always!

Walk-in wardrobe or reach-in wardrobe: Walk-in

Rugs or Carpets: Rugs

DIY or store-bought: DIY

Hoarder or minimalistic: A big-time hoarder

Traditional or contemporary interiors: My house is a mix of vintage and contemporary styles

If you can invite one artist to your home, who would that be? Everyone who loves art is welcome to my home. I believe home is where the art is!

If you can only take three things from your home, what would it be? My dog’s pictures, my hamster, and anything else that I can grab

Favourite interior décor brand: I believe in DIY.

You can follow Samyukta on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

You can also visit ARTery (B 104, Vaishnavi Terrace, JP Nagar, Bangalore) and see if you would like to add some prints to your walls.