Hidesign unveils flagship store in Pondicherry

Global brand Hidesign has opened a flagship store in Pondicherry. Located at Jawaharlal Nehru Street, the store covers an area of 4,000 sq.ft, making it one of India’s largest concept stores to be set up by a luxury brand.

The company said the new store “aims to curate some of the most significant milestones from Hidesign’s past through museum pieces strewn across the store”. These museum pieces include the first handbag ever designed by Hidesign.



The flagship store reveals the brand’s history through a timeline displayed in the travel section on Level 3 of the store and a collage of its advertisement campaigns showcased on Level 2. Also, aptly displayed on the pillars across the four levels of the store are pictures of the ‘People of Hidesign’ – individuals who have helped build the brand – and the ‘Stores of Hidesign’ across the world.

The store will soon have an in-house café, which will offer wine and cheese platters with local flavours, among other things, the company said.

Founded by Dilip Kapur in 1978, Hidesign is a lifestyle group. Recently, the group extended its concept of lifestyle by opening two luxury boutique hotels – Le Dupleix and Promenade – in Pondicherry.

Auroville an embodiment of spirit of unity: Sibal

Lauding the concept of Auroville, Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal said “it is larger than life and it is much more than India is.”

“We all live in an imperfect world and perfection is one we strive to achieve,” he said adding Auroville has shown the world the importance of spirit of unity and humanness. “It symbolises what we ought to have done across the world,” he said addressing the Aurovillians after launching Passage, an educational magazine.

Touching upon educational scenario in the country, Mr Sibal said “education as we understand over the years was a formal structure for a child to start his career. It has never taught to understand the self.” However, taking into account the present “imperfect world” dominated by market economy, the country cannot afford to do away with formal education.

The option before the government was to allow the child to choose what he or she could find joy in learning, Mr Sibal said.

Later in an informal talk with journalists at Auroville, the Union Minister said talks are on with insurance companies to provide health insurance coverage to teachers and group housing coverage. The aim was to attract more number of people to teaching profession, he added.

Union Minister of State for Planning, Parliamentary Affairs and Culture V. Narayanasamy also attended the function.

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