A Young Design Manager Brings Scandinavian Style to His Bachelor Pad

Name: Nithin Ismail
Location: Hyderabad — Telangana, India
The basics: One year, owned — 1,500 square feet

Nithin, a design manager, carries his passion for design out of the office and into the home. He brings his trained eye to every aspect of his space, curating a home with clean lines and elegant simplicity.

Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: I’m a Senior Design Manager for Studio SAGA, the team behind Microsoft Edge on Windows. Living every day in a design museum, breathing design uncompromisingly in every detail, be it the furniture or tea canisters or textiles — that perfectly captures the theme when I started curating my own bachelor pad. Set in the city of Hyderabad in India, but unlike this heritage city’s celebrated Indo-Islamic architectural influences, I was more fascinated with Scandinavian minimalism. I did not want to see it as interior design, but rather a celebration of product design. The space in itself serves as an open canvas abundant in white with black accents, drawing attention to a few objects that reflect the passion of its creators.

Going Scandi also meant going across borders for sourcing almost everything. It was a journey of discovery of many retailers across the world who shared similar passions, and for many of them it was their first order to India. In fact there isn’t much at home that was picked from a brick-and-mortar store. When I come back home after a passionate day at work, I often feel the same passion is carried home but on a different scale, from pixels to the physical space where I live. I try to remember the designer’s name behind each and every detail that makes this space a museum of their creations, with gratitude and great admiration.

What is your favorite room and why? There isn’t one, my attempt was to not feel attached to one space alone and instead get every nook and corner to add to the overall composition that makes my home one large space.

If you could magically change something about your home, what would it be? If a few more lines could have be erased from visibility and the ceiling moved further up!

What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? The Eames bird. I studied Product Design at National Institute of Design in India, which is often regarded as Eames school, founded by the designer couple Charles & Ray Eames. The space I wanted to live in wouldn’t have been complete without a few of Eames’ classics. Quite contrary to where one usually showcase the Eames bird on their shelves, it sits along my bedside waking me up to inspiring mornings every day.

Which fictional character would be most at home in your place? I like to think Wall-E, but the space is designed around the clean lines of EVE.

Nithin’s words of wisdom: Meticulously craft every detail that comprises your space, realize every object you keep there adds to the character and has a role in completing the composition you’re trying to create.

Thanks, Nithin!

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