Home sweet home

interiors

moving homes -especially if you love where you live - can be terrifying. I grew up in a Pyarali Merali home that was one of the last of the more than 300 homes and other properties and projects made by the iconic Ugandan architect in Pakistan. The house was made by my family in 1973, long before I was born.

Pyarali, who is currently 90 years old, was 43 when he designed our house. It features unusually an upstairs and downstairs garden, has wide, open rooms, low ceilings and the look and feel of a timeless California home and nothing like you would normally find in Pakistan. It was truly one of a kind and a house that no visitor entered without later remarking or remembering. When our family decided to move to Clifton, we knew that it would not be possible to find a similar home so that’s when the adventure began.

Uncertainty always contains within it all possibilities and our search led us luckily to a stunning Habib Fida Ali corner house with beautiful balcony, back garden, elevator, wide roof, and every room in the house just made for entertaining, pending the number of guests and the formality of the moment. The house features three separate entrances and a beautiful back setup for caterers and staff. I particularly love the way the different rooms open to the veranda downstairs and the balcony upstairs, the latter of which goes around the corner of the house.

I had had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with Fida Ali, who my dear friend Deepak Perwani had introduced me to years earlier, and not only was he immensely gifted, but had a very memorable personality. He went out of his way to be welcoming and I found him very charming. The architect was best known for three basic design principles; timelessness, simplicity and functionality. All three of these define the character of our home. Sadly, the legend died at age 81 in 2017. World Architecture honoured him writing, “He always was recognised worldwide for his contributions to the field of modern minimalist architecture. Fida Ali was known and embraced as Pakistan's very own Mies Van Der Rohe for several years by claiming the same phrase 'less is more'- to the guiding principle of his work.”

Fida Ali designed many Head Offices in Pakistan including National Bank of Pakistan, Sui Southern Gas Company, Faysal Bank, Shell and had a long history with my family as he had designed for my grandfather B.R.R. Security Vaults. He also was responsible for the restoration of the Mohatta Palace Museum in Karachi and the campus of LUMS (Lahore University of Management Sciences).

Deciding interiors is about enabling the character of each room to come to life. Art, furniture, rugs and lighting are the basic tools that we used in creating the ambiance for each room and the whole house is peppered with antiques and multi-generational family heirlooms from both sides of my family, which contain great sentimental value. We wanted the den to be very informal, minimalistic and masculine so it had bold, maroon leather couches, original teak wood built-in bookshelves, carved wood tables and a masculine feel. The dining room, on the other hand, was a showpiece for dinner parties, so a long teak table, bold artwork and chandeliers were selected. The drawing room was about warmth, invitation and yet needed the ability to be rearrangeable according to different numbers of guests, so the furniture is designed in pockets of seating so mini groups can enjoy even within a larger party, or if fewer friends, then can gather in one area. Our furniture, chandeliers, sculptures, displays and artwork are from around the world, reflecting our own life journeys and preferences.

Many people like to theme different rooms in their own homes as a Parisian Room, a Roman Room, so forth, but each of the rooms in our home are an alchemic mix of fusion and global, just as we are. Not only do the rooms mirror us, but they all feel hospitable and welcoming so one feels instantly at home.

The artwork is also diverse, ranging from European classical to the Pakistani masters including Sadequain, Gulgee, Pervez, et al., to vibrant works from Nigeria, the Philippines and across Europe. An eye-catching Mashkoor featuring 14 horses is a showpiece in the drawing room, mirrors and gold Islamic calligraphy by Gulgee spells Bismillah, and so forth. Statement-making Amin Gulgee sculptures are sprinkled throughout the house.

The upstairs has a completely different, much more informal style, than the downstairs. It features personalised decor, favourite artwork and family photographs and memories from around the world. One of our most special pieces is an original painting by the late Benjamin Chee Chee (nee Kenneth Thomas Chee Chee), a celebrated Canadian First Nations artist.

A source of pure delight is our childhood pictures block up in black and white on little blocks and displayed in the hallway. We also have an upstairs home office, a quiet space for working, but not for visitors. An antique oak desk with tambour creates a perfect relaxing, yet professional ambiance for printing out a quick document, or these days, longer work for home projects.

Just as there is artwork in all rooms, so are there books in the rooms upstairs, in addition to those in the built-in bookshelves of the downstairs den. We all love reading and collecting and enjoying books as is evident on the surfaces of the family areas. Fiction, non-fiction, historical, business, spiritual, the books add another layer of personality and decor to the home.

The bedrooms are beautiful, jumbo suites with enormous walk-in closets and bathrooms. The West Open home makes the most of natural light and the master suite takes full advantage of the entire corner, as well as the beautiful sunlight of Karachi. It makes for magnificent sunrises in the morning, breakfast on the terrace or simply enjoying the jula (swing) during sunset, which overlooks the private back garden. Sometimes, we pick fruit from the trees, right from the terrace.

It is always special designing the interiors, but at the end of the day and in every way, the house is best when it is a home. Home sweet home!

T. U. Dawood is CEO of 786 Investments Ltd., President of Dawood Global Foundation, and sits on the boards of Pakistan State Oil and Pakistan Refinery Ltd. She is well known for entertaining at her beautiful home.