This Bangalore Penthouse Pays Homage to Indian Textiles

Perched on the 16th floor of a downtown apartment building lies a 5,000-square-foot family home, an escape from the bustling urban sprawl below. Designer Smita Thomas of Multitude of Sins, a Bangalore-based interior design firm, was brought in after the build to elevate the space with wood, marble, and traditional detailing, as well as ample designated storage, which added “character through its form and materiality,” Thomas notes. The homeowners, who inherited one of the oldest textile companies in the city, also asked that the home pay homage to their family’s work. “Being an ancestral business, textile knowledge and exposure to design enabled them to understand the patterns, motifs, and colors that the house could carry within its design,” she says.

Spread across two floors, the palatial floorplan is open and spacious with walls of double-height windows, ideal for “witnessing beautiful sunsets” yet was initially a “bare shell in terms of interiors,” says the designer. To make the layout more functional, Thomas opted for designated zones, plus brought in architectural forms such as arches as well as materials that would allow each space a visual differentiated purpose.

A Bangalore Penthouse Designed to Standout 

Originally dressed in a vanilla-toned marble, the main living room was made even more remarkable through stripping the skirting and creating a layered composition of beige and maroon marble, “imposing definition and a sense of nuance to the existing flooring,” shares the designer. The living room also features a free-handed, Renaissance-esque art piece inspired by classical motifs with a pair of cranes, a sign of positivity in the Indian Vastu, a traditional architectural system based on ancient texts. Below wood beading and corduroy wallpaper merges with the marble, while a white-and-black marble table, spindled chairs, and a pastel-toned rug, custom designed by MOS, yields a highly sophisticated seating area.