The penthouse sits on the 22nd floor in Clifton, Karachi. Glass on three sides. Sea on two of them. The city on the third. The brief arrived in one sentence. Make it feel like a private gallery at dusk.
The client is a shipping family, and a collector. Contemporary Pakistani painting, mostly large. The furniture could not compete with either. It had to hold the room, then step back. That is a harder job than it sounds.
Working with the light
Sea light in Karachi is hard and white by day. By 6 in the evening it turns amber. We planned the palette for the evening. Charcoal plaster walls. Smoked oak floors. Lined curtains in heavy charcoal wool. They close the glass completely. Daylight is welcome. It is not in charge.
The pieces
We made the principal pieces for the penthouse. The Noctis dining table, smoked glass on a fluted black pedestal. Above it, Noctis pendants dropped low. A Meridian sofa and cocktail table hold the lounge. 2 Noctis lounge chairs sit at the window. A Noctis bar cabinet in black lacquer and smoked glass. Each piece was measured against the paintings first.
The bedroom took the longest. The client wanted to wake to the sea. And sleep in the dark. We built a channel-tufted headboard in white velvet. The wall behind is charcoal. Taupe curtains on a silent track. A sputnik chandelier in brushed brass, dimmed to a glow. Everything in that room is quiet.
I walk in at night and the room is already still. That is what I paid for.
The client, 3 months after handover
Delivery on the 22nd floor
The service lift took nothing over 2.4 metres. The dining table was drawn for it. The pedestal comes in 2 sections. A hidden steel key joins them. It went up in the lift. It was joined on the floor. The seam disappears in the flutes. This was decided in month 2, not on delivery day.
The project ran 9 months from first meeting to last cushion. It now holds 31 works of art, and the pieces we made for them. Guests notice the paintings first. Then the view. Then, slowly, the furniture. That order was the brief.
