MAKING AN ENTRANCE

PRIYA ASWANI IS ONE OF THE BEST–KEPT SECRETS OF THE INDIAN DESIGN WORLD. THE TASTEMAKER BEHIND A MUST-HAVE HOMEWARE COLLECTION ROOTED IN CRAFTSMANSHIP, SHE IS ALSO THE HOST OF MUMBAI’S MOST STYLISH DINNER PARTIES. HER SOUTH BOMBAY APARTMENT IS A SOPHISTICATED MIX OF CHIC DÉCOR, CRISP INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE AND ANTIQUITIES

- GAURI KELKAR

Just off one of south Mumbai’s main thoroughfares, a road sweeps up and away, sloughing off the stridency of a city on the move. In this upscale residential neighbourhood, homes evoke a quiet sophistication that makes preconceived notions of luxury seem positively pedestrian. In one such building is interior and product designer Priya Aswani’s fourth-floor flat, overlaid with old-world elegance encased in a new, albeit timeless aesthetic. And to think it was a fire that started it all. “This flat, and the entire floor above, has always been my family home. This floor, which had four bedrooms, was originally meant for my four siblings. The floor above, connected by an internal staircase, had my parents’ master bedroom, my bedroom, the formal reception areas (the living and dining rooms), the study and the kitchen. Then, more than 14 years ago, there was a fire in the flat above ours. That was when I turned [the lower level] into an independent home for myself,” explains Aswani about her 3,300-square-foot home. Her mother and one sister live on the floor above.