Nico-Caara cafe, Chanakyapuri

The Chanakya, New Delhi
Year
Nicobar + Caara
1290 sq. ft.

Client: Nicobar + Caara · The Chanakya, New Delhi · Café + lifestyle retail hybrid

 A café among collections—food and design in seamless dialogue.

At The Chanakya in New Delhi, Nicobar’s flagship store expands into hospitality with Nico-Caara. LAB conceived the café not as an add-on but as part of the store’s experiential arc. Shopping, gathering, eating, and lingering are designed to flow together, creating a hybrid of lifestyle retail and hospitality.

The café carries forward Nicobar’s design language—cane and timber furniture, terrazzo counters, greenery, and soft tropical light. The palette is consistent with the store, ensuring continuity of experience. Seating is flexible, with communal tables and quiet nooks, so visitors can choose their pace.

Operationally, Caara’s kitchen emphasizes freshness and craft, aligning with Nicobar’s ethos of contemporary, grounded living. By embedding a café within the retail floor, the design transforms shopping into a richer cultural activity. Nico-Caara demonstrates how architecture can extend brand ethos across domains, merging food and design into one seamless experience.