Of tides and time

A sun-filled Bombay apartment by Studio Nishita Kamdar is a meditation on meaningful pauses and chromatic warmth

12 Nov 2025

Mumbai, nay, Bombay, in this home’s telling, is a living collage of centuries. Nishita Kamdar, the Principal Architect at her eponymous practice and an inhabitant of Maximum City, designs spaces that hum with the same pulse as the place she calls home. Aria, a four-bedroom, 2,800 sq ft apartment in South Bombay’s Breach Candy, reads like an ode to her honed sensibility — a light-filled expanse bearing a discerning eye for simplicity, layered influences, and a heart for details. This dwelling’s precinct is alive with echoes of rich architectural lore. Here, land meets sea, Indo-Deco residences from the 1930s stand resilient within tree-lined avenues, and the past and present breathe together in leisurely rhythm.

With Aria, the Architect addresses a looming question: what form does luxury take today? “Is luxury the abundance of space? Does it comprise only expensive belongings? Or is it simple living that enables one to appreciate the finer nuances of life? In this home, luxury lies in painstakingly collected objects, the feel of materials under fingertips, and moments spent surrounded by the ones we love,” Nishita answers.

"In this home, luxury lies in painstakingly collected objects, the feel of materials under fingertips, and moments spent surrounded by the ones we love"

Nishita Kamdar

The living area and media room have been envisaged as a fused whole separated by a membrane with symmetrical cabinets. The armchair is by Project 810, and the vase is by Eeshaan Kashyap; Photography by Ishita Sitwala

WITHIN LIGHT AND PAUSES

Theatricality makes its entrance early. The etched, Bauhaus-inspired wood door conceals the entrance, like a three-dimensional painting gently revealing what it houses. Inside, the abode is drenched in daylight, while the view folds into trails of gulmohar and mango canopies. One’s welcome comprises a rendezvous with the terracotta-hued, sculptural wall, dubbed ‘The Melting Candle’. Here, the lines between art and architecture congeal. The hand-carved plaster wall is clad in IPS, its undulating shape evoking the form of molten wax caught mid-melt as it journeys towards the leather-finished Kadapa floors.

Crafted in African marble, the dining table is rooted under the sculptural luminaire by Davide Groppi. The dining chairs are bespoke creations by Yashesh Virkar; Photography by Ishita Sitwala

The sofas are rendered to life by Yashesh Virkar, and the coffee table is by Mangrove Collective, composed around the Jaipur Rugs carpet; Photography by Ishita Sitwala

EMBEDDED EXPERIENCES

The sculptural wall’s burnished embrace cradles the dining nook within, a space that bears a chameleonic identity. “Basking in natural light through the day, the monolithic African marble table perches upon bulbous stone columns. Come night, the ambience transforms into a moonlit vision, the scene illuminated by the lunar pendant’s silver light,” illustrates Nishita.

“With green vistas framed through the long balcony, the living room is a keeper of memory — each object a reminder that joy dwells in thoughtful pauses and not mere possession,” she adds. The amorphous-shaped seating forms a near-round layout, encouraging conversation. Earthy tones and fluid contours lend the pieces an appearance of emerging from the stone floors, with the effect feeling intentional rather than installed.

Artwork titled ‘Story Telling Stones’ by Artist K.P. Reji finds an ideal perch in the son’s bedroom, its hues riffing off the room’s colour palette; Photography by Ishita Sitwala

A MONOCHROME IMMERSION

Beyond the living area’s focal wall, which conceals the bar, lies a sanctuary of monochromes: the media room. “This space holds the pièce-de-résistance,” notes the Architect. “A majestic, totemic installation held within an elliptical wall that lights up the room and commands attention.” The two-tone, hand-painted fresco evokes a playful yet meditative mood, creating a space for reflection and housing the artworks of M.F. Husain and Sunil Das, collected with passion by the clients.

IN THE INTERLUDE

Myth and movement lace one’s path through the passageway. Conceived in wood and inspired by the Buddhist Wheels (Dharmachakras), the commissioned installation depicts Shiva’s life through its imagery. “One can brush these wheels gently with their hands while walking through the passageway. To me, it was one of the best ways to transform a space that was once meant only for circulation. Teak wood-clad and oil-rubbed doors elevate the experience of this passageway,” Nishita avers.

The media room’s ceiling mural is hand-painted by House of Berserk. The space’s muse is the Klove Studio light installation. The plush leather sofa is created by Portside Café and rests atop a Jaipur Rugs carpet; Photography by Ishita Sitwala

The vivid headboard in the parents’ bedroom celebrates the home’s penchant for colour and artisanship. The linen is by Sarita Handa and the vase by Eeshaan Kashyap; Photography by Ishita Sitwala

NESTLED IN COLOUR

As a visual departure from the communal spaces, Nishita’s tryst with colour in the bedrooms is far from light-handed — it is deliberate and arresting. Nowhere is this clearer than in the master bedroom. She explains what guided her approach: “The master bedroom has a dominantly masculine ethos. The omnipresence of black and white is punctuated with bursts of mud red. Customised artefacts appear in obscure corners. These help us experiment with forms rather than colours, staying true to the home’s palette of hues.”

The dark stone flooring yields to embedded inlays of in-situ marble and terrazzo. This interplay of materials also extends vertically: a scenic, monochrome wallpaper enwraps the space, articulating light and depth. The burnt wood, four-poster wood speaks to a bygone era, its position anchored under three portholes, perhaps a maritime tribute to the city’s Art Deco chronicles.

A surrealist reverie comes alive in the powder bathroom, its terracotta-hued walls painted over by House of Berserk. The mirror is by Jodi Life; Photography by Ishita Sitwal

The darker stone flooring dynamically transitions into a medley of marble and terrazzo inlay in the master bedroom; Photography by Ishita Sitwala

WHEN STYLES CONVERSE

The son’s bedroom encourages imagination, its core grounded by a black IPS floor inset with a blue rink-form inlay — an unassuming design detail that invites versatile play. Primary hues of blue and red colour-block their presence, nodding to Bauhaus and Art Deco sensibilities that merge functionality with a bold visual identity.

Time feels slower, more languid in the parents’ bedroom. The textured walls create a neutral backdrop, but the Architect’s use of colour stands out. “The bed is the only sizeable piece of furniture and its large fabric headboard is set within a solid wood border that bears colour,” she explains. The headboard is stitched in colourful threads, celebrating the home’s broader exploration of craft and texture.

In a city renowned for building upwards at a tireless pace, Nishita’s design endeavour urges one to look inwards. To let footsteps find a destination that relishes the art of living slowly, where luxury is freed from measure, and is sought instead in the fullness of one’s experiences.