They say that a man’s home is his castle, and yet the shopping experience to fill said castle usually leaves you feeling bored, drained and frustrated. But furnishing your home doesn’t have to mean buying cookie-cutter furniture under unforgiving fluorescent lights. In fact, it can mean creating a unique and sacred space – especially if you do so under the tutelage of Jagatjoti Khalsa, the founder of furniture store Tara Home.
With locations in Venice and Hollywood, California, and a recently opened venue in Scottsdale, Arizona, Tara Home has created a rabid and loyal fan base thanks to its beautiful – and often one-of-a-kind – home furnishings imported from friends and partners in Tibet, India, Mongolia and China. Majestic bed frames, history-rich dining sets, sumptuous textiles and colorful, comfortable couches decorate each location, creating a sense of calm and beauty the moment you enter thanks to Khalsa’s attention to detail. Noticing how much people enjoyed hanging out in the stores to have tea, Khalsa and his partner realized there might be another way to deepen the home shopping experience for their clients. The solution? Taking shoppers with them when they bought for the store.
“My business partner had grown up in India, and he was asked by Tim Burton’s assistant to take Tim shopping in India to find furnishings and architectural features,” Khalsa recalls. “But that’s how it got started, which then started the process of our wholesale business and taking wholesale clients shopping to buy for themselves.”
As the store’s clientele grew, so did the requests to take assisted shopping trips to India. Khalsa has done shopping trips with regular Joes, designers and decorators, and even a-list actors like Adrien Brody. At first Khalsa limited the client trips to only a handful a year, but the experience has been so enriching – both for Khalsa and the clients – that he wants to expand. Although the trips thus far have been small because of the amount of work and preparation that go into them, Khalsa has also learned from each experience how to make the next one all the more beautiful, inspirational and transformative.
Khalsa is quick to point out that this isn’t about going to India to buy knick knacks that aunt Flo might like, but he also doesn’t want people to think they have to be interested in taking home 500 pieces of furniture in order to book an Indian home shopping excursion with him. So what’s the criteria?
“It’s about time and value, and what we’re interested in,” Khalsa states. “For my trip in October, I wouldn’t think twice about helping someone make a really spectacular place to grow their spirit. It’s not about what they’re going to spend, it’s about what their heart desires. So if someone wanted to create an incredible meditation room with flooring, altar pieces and rugs, I’d do that.”
How that happens is no small feat. Khalsa has access to the most incredible architectural pieces, columns, archways, doorways, stone features, flooring, gazebos and marble in India, not to mention custom furniture makers, silk production facilities and wood carvers. But these aren’t just business partners – they’re friends. Says Khalsa, “We’re so close that we sit with the owners in their home, have dinner and hang out – like a family relationship.” Those family relationships have led to the creation of memorable pieces, such as gazebos made of temple doors that were removed from a church that was being demolished.
So how does Khalsa determine which shopping clients he travels with? He takes the time to meet with them about their intentions – how they found Tara Home and came to the decision, what they’re seeking, how serious they are about the experience and recreating it in their living space. But even with a guide, shopping for your home in India can be a bit of a culture shock.
“India is incredible and hard to top. If you let go and let god, India is great,” Khalsa states. “But if you have neuroses, are attached to things like time and tend to be judgmental and very snobby about poor people and dirt, this probably isn’t for you. But the experience can be really uplifting.”
The experience starts in Dheli, where you spend your first day relaxing either at Khalsa’s home, or at a hotel depending on what you want your trip to be like. Before your arrival, Khalsa has already worked to locate the best options for what you’re looking for. By the next day, you’re shopping – visiting the partners Khalsa works with, choosing the items you want and deciding how you want them built (if that’s part of your process – everyone is individual), and also having the opportunity to see the sights, taste the local cuisine, and get a feel for India that you wouldn’t with just any old travel guide.
How expensive it is depends on a client’s individual needs and tastes. Tickets to India can cost anywhere from $1200 for economy to $10,000 for a full-fare first-class ticket. If you’re choosing to stay in a hotel – such as The Meridian or the Park Hotel – it can be up to $400 a night for a room (unless you want to go the economy route, in which case you can spend as little as $30.) You’ll also want to budget a little for food and train or plane fare, but most importantly, don’t forget customs and shipping charges for your purchases, which can add 50 to 60% on your shipping costs.
Although Khalsa has done the trip numerous times, he never tires of the culture, the excursions, and the opportunity to make a change in people’s lives. But the best part for him is the looks on their faces.
“Forget about the business and economics side of it – it’s about the long lasting effect that people have on these trips,” Khalsa says. ”You can’t help but have your spirit touched by the beauty, love and sprirtualness of the Indian people and culture. America is about looking at what’s on the outside. While some of that exists in India, overlapping all of that is a belief in the divine and divinity. The Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims… they all live together, and the vibration of India, prayerful and religious backgrounds leave an indelible mark on your soul.”
For more information on how you can shop with Tara Home, visit the shopping abroad information section of their website, or send an e-mail to info@tara-home.com.
