The leading authority for the Architecture & Design community
January 2, 2019
Text: Jesse Dorris
MuseLAB Tiles an Apartment in Mumbai with 21st-Century Art Deco Sophistication
A young couple about to start a family had also just bought an apartment in Mumbai’s seaside Worli neighborhood—when the past came flooding back in the form of memories of a childhood apartment full of Art Deco objects and terrazzo tiles.
The couple called their friends at MuseLAB with the idea of bringing the past into their present, 1,250-square-foot home. Tile from Bharat Flooring, says MuseLAB principal Huzefa Rangwala, “was our central element. Contrasting geometrical patterns were chosen for the living room, a solid color for the dining space, and a heritage pattern for the master bedroom.” For the intentionally gender-neutral nursery, the team chose “a dot-like, playful pattern.”
Furnishings are almost entirely custom, with touches of the 1920s throughout the three bedrooms, arranged, says Rangwala, “along a linear axis which opens up to the living and dining spaces, marked by door frames and flooring pattern transitions that seamlessly flow into one another.” Just like the past flows into the present—and future.
Custom seating in the living area includes couches with teak frames and rope backs, tables in bent plywood and white composite, and ceiling lights with matte gold fittings on birch plywood plates. Photography by Sameer Tawde.The dining area features custom pendants and a white composite-topped table. Photography by Sameer Tawde.Pacific blue and oak laminate cabinets are framed with white tile backsplash in the kitchen, with profile handles electroplated in black. Photography by Sameer Tawde.Entrance to a temple nook is marked by a custom, Art Deco-inspired screen. Photography by Sameer Tawde.Various patterns of cement tile demarcate the apartment zones along the hallway, which has white walls sharpened up with leather-finish black granite skirting and a three-inch band of black paint along the top. Photography by Sameer Tawde.Bands of pink, blue, yellow, and white tiles form the nursery bathroom’s flooring; the elephant mirror is custom made. Photography by Sameer Tawde.A teak veneer wardrobe occupies a full wall of the guest bedroom, with handles powder-coated in powder blue and sunshine yellow. Photography by Sameer Tawde.The nursery is intentionally gender neutral. Photography by Sameer Tawde.Bathroom tiles play with contrasting colors and patterns. Photography by Sameer Tawde.
