ECLECTIC EXUBERANCE

Content creator Marjhan Kausar's home is a vibrant homage to her cosmopolitan heritage, where family heirlooms, handmade finds and tweaked high-street items create uniquely captivating spaces.

- Asili Jenie

"I skipped the neutral beige home decor aesthetic because colourful spaces are my happiness,” says Marjhan Kausar as she welcomes us to her home, a 2,034 sq ft apartment in one of the private residential towers in Orchard Road’s backyard. The 30-year-old content creator and her private banker husband, Siraj Ali, did not make any architectural changes to the apartment or hire an interior designer when they moved in in 2019. Yet, as we stepped out of the elevator, we are received into a series of soulful spaces clearly put together by someone with a keen eye for design. Here, family heirlooms and iconic design pieces exist harmoniously with handmade finds and creatively modified high-street items; their bright hues and patterns lend a personal touch to the monochromatic material palette. “I just love mixing and matching—that’s my thing,” she quips.

Kausar has worn many creative hats in her life and she credits her parents for bringing her up with great design aesthetics. Born in Philadelphia to a Pakistani father and Ecuadorian-American mother, she grew up in Singapore and studied footwear design at the London College of Fashion in the UK. Upon returning here, she taught herself graphic design while hunting for a job and learned about branding when she landed a role as head of marketing for a property developer, where she also got to sit in architectural and interior design crits and meetings. She parlayed these skills into a side hustle: creating content for collaborators and clients across genres. Finding her true calling in art directing, she quit her job to do it full-time.