Instep: What's the philosophy behind the store?
Hamza Tarrar: I want to show people how a piece of furniture can be a piece of art. Each floor we have created has spaces dedicated for each brand of furniture so that people can see how each piece would look in a particular setting. Till I made the Versace floor, people here did not know about minimalism; to most people it appeared as an empty space but we have placed it in context. It's a huge investment.
Instep: Do you think this investment is a bit too risky considering the economic recession?
HT: I have done a lot of work aboard. I'm originally an interior designer from Miami and I have done hotels, celebrity homes and more. I'm making enough money abroad. A time comes when you just want to do something in your country. This was just to show my parents that I could do it here too. I wanted to make an institution and create a place where people could come and understand what design is. We are basically trying to educate people on living a luxury lifestyle. And we also have our own line of furniture, which is affordable unlike these designer furniture pieces. We want people to learn about minimalism, baroque and different eras of design. People here just categorise everything in terms of traditional or modern, which is not the be all and end all of design. That's why on each floor we've done up a different setting and we will actually be teaching people on how they can make a place look like this. |
Instep: Have you been trained as an interior designer?
HT: No I didn't study interior designing and I'm very proud of that. I am an Aitchisonian and did my Bachelors in marketing and finance. I think creativity is inborn and even when I was six years old I would change the colour and décor of my room and go every year with my mom to shop for upholstering. I actually started off by helping a very rich friend design a new apartment for his girl friend. Everyone loved the place and at the house warming party I met a lady called Linda Nadler - from a PR firm called SRJ. I told her that I wasn't a professional designer but she told me that if I redo her apartment for free, she would make my website and market me like a decorator in Florida. I agreed with it because I was a student working on campus trying to make ends meet. I didn't come from a rich family. I wasn't like the Saigols or Manoos of Pakistan. Now I am! (chuckles).
Anyway, I went to thrift and consignment stores and did her whole place in less than $2000. That's my specialty: making a place look fabulous with no money. In the meantime Linda made my website and threw a house warming party where she invited all the rich people from Florida. I met Tom Darden who was the Vice President for HSBC and he commissioned me to redo his two apartments in the St. Regis hotel that very night! I charged them $5000 as my fee and then kept freaking out because I thought it was too steep. Usually designers charge $30,000. From there I got HSBC bank's contract and that was a big venture for me. So that's when I started making real good money and my parents thought I was selling drugs. |
Instep: And you invested that money wisely…
HT: I made a total of $30,000 from the project out of which I gave $20,000, to the Florida Grand Opera and became their youngest patron.
Instep: Why did you do that?
 HT: Networking. By becoming the youngest patron, I got to go to the black tie dinners attended by billionaires. Everyone was curious about me and that's where I picked up most of my luxury clientele. I never did tiny apartments, rather did mansions for people like Barry Plotkin (the richest man in Florida) and the famous architect Frankloid Wright, whose house was named after him. That house was brought down in pieces from New Jersey to Fort Lauderdale beach. It was on the ocean, it was three floors, made of glass. That's when people started calling me Prince because they thought I resembled 'Prince' (chuckles) because of my hair. In fact Barry Plotkin said my hair inspired him and he put me in touch with Romero Britto who made customized items for his house. I had to get custom made products for this kind of clientele and that's how I met the President of Fendi USA. We spent more than $5 million on that house. The hype built around me as a 'young designer from the Middle East.' People there still think that Pakistan is part of the Middle East! I landed in the Florida Design magazine and have also done the editorial for the magazine. If you check out the last issue my work is on the front cover.
Instep: So how did you manage to bring all these big names here? How did you convince them to invest in a region as turbulent as Pakistan?
 HT: I was getting a lot of customized pieces of furniture from Fendi Casa in the USA, which I would frequent a lot. One day the President of Fendi in USA, Luca Buttazzoni, walked into the store and observed me giving suggestions to the sales girls there. He invited me to join the board and asked me to the designer series Spring 2007 display for Fendi Casa. What they do is that they get four designers from all over the world and then they re-do the show using their own products. So there I met the owner of Clubhouse Italia, Mr. Alberto Binnetelli who later called me for a meeting.
I went in my usual extremely well dressed style because I felt I was representing my country. Even though I was advised to say that I was from Dubai, I wouldn't. If I can work with people like the Cassidys, then the world should know that this grooming is from Pakistan. I didn't get groomed in America. So I told Mr Binnetelli that I wanted to take Fendi to Pakistan and he just laughed and asked whether people would buy Fendi there. I'm the biggest buyer in your showroom, I said to him, 'I'm wearing Cavalli and have driven here in a convertible. Where do you think I'm from?' At first I was just bringing Fendi and then the idea grew and I approached the Versace group amongst others. My parents thought I was insane to buy all these expensive pieces and not work on consignments. Since I brought all these things myself, I actually own this shop. And inspite of what everyone said, Mashallah in our first week, we sold half of our Fendi floor!
Instep: We heard that you were sold out in your first week! How much truth is there to that rumour?
HT: (Laughing) Yeah, we sold out our Fendi floor, our entire gold and black display and even our yellow display, which frankly, I am quite surprised at, because I didn't think the yellow croc display would appeal to people. But lo and behold, it also got sold. (Beaming)
Instep: So who is your clientele? Do tell.
HT: I cannot give names but I can tell you that in our first week we had everyone coming a week before the media launch, from show biz, to celebs, to the socialites, to the Prime Minister's wife.
I didn't expect such a good response; it took us two and half years to get this together and I am grateful to everyone, especially Raza Ali Dada and the Fendi people to put this place together. |
