An Indian-origin couple’s Hong Kong apartment feels like an extension of the ocean

He was born and raised in Hong Kong; she was a Mumbai girl who’d moved here after they married, five years ago. Priyanka and Harsh Maheshwari were global citizens in every way: they loved to travel, loved to entertain, loved movies, and (sometimes) worked odd hours. For them, home was a space that would make room for all the little quirks of their lifestyle–but it was also meant to be a place of escape from it all, where you could picture yourself taking an afternoon nap literally anywhere, and where nothing felt too forced or cluttered. “The idea was to design a space that allowed them to be more them, than they would be anywhere else,” expresses architect Rajiv Parekh, one of the founding principals at reD Architects, an AD100 firm which designed the couple’s 2,200 square-foot Hong Kong apartment.

Ishita Sitwala

Ishita Sitwala

Ishita Sitwala

Before starting on the design, Parekh and the firm’s other founding partner Ekta Puri followed their usual practice of sitting down with the clients, who up until then had been living with their in-laws, and got a sense of their likes, dislikes and idiosyncrasies. The result? A home that has all the hidden curiosities and the plush cosiness you’d want in a space that was uniquely yours.

There’s nothing in the design that would give away that the couple is of Indian origin–but there’s an undercurrent of distinctly desi craftsmanship that’s hard to shake off. Maybe it’s the latticed wooden screen at the entrance that allows light to percolate through from the vestibule; maybe it’s the rich grains on the behemoth-like 14 foot Burma teak dining table, stained black, that greets you right as you enter, or the chevron pattern on the grey stone flooring, laid out without visible joints–incidentally, a first for Hong Kong contractors. The textures, the tones, the sensibilities of India are everywhere–but never too obvious, and never clamouring for attention. Parekh admits that any reference to India, or indeed to the design heritage of Hong Kong, is purely incidental–his team’s primary focus, when designing the home, was the view. “Maybe because I am from Mumbai, but the Hong Kong harbour view, to me, was the hero of the story,” explains Parekh, “Every time you come home, that’s what you want to look at.”

Also read: 6 Indian homes that take inspiration from the Art Deco style

Ishita Sitwala

Ishita Sitwala

3D wallpaper from Memento by Moooi on the ceiling and Aditi Anuj light fixture bring textural elements into the design.

Ishita Sitwala