It’s the unmissable, oversized wave that snags attention. A literal wave, it appears almost symbolic, a graphic gesture in bronze sweeping away predictability and linear thinking. “The idea was to avoid straight walls as much as possible and allow the home to flow organically. This led to the exploration of curves, arches, and fluid forms,” says Rohini Bagla of her eponymous firm. In this 1,200 sq ft sky-rise apartment in Mumbai, she sweeps past the archetypal template and reshapes the space around seamless curves and rounded edges.

That she could do so was also because the homeowners were anything but square. The Shuklas: he is in real estate, she runs a preschool, and they have a little girl, had a distinct brief: “We wanted to avoid anything too predictable; instead, we were looking for a home with character, sculptural elements, and a strong design identity that still felt soft and soothing,” they say.

Rohini’s narrative read into these requirements with a narrative that bends convention – all starting with that wave on the wall. “Its dynamic gesture and warm, metallic sheen set the tone for the rest of the interiors,” she says. In her bid to get the curves just right, material application became a crucial intervention. FlexStone – a lightweight, foam-based cladding material, was key to achieving the non-linear envelope.

Every corner of the house is intentionally designed, a deliberate sinking into curvilinear geometries, right from the arched window frames in the living room – with a striped tubular border that draws attention to them – to the gentle arching of the kitchen entrance, the curved pillars, totems, and ceiling details. The sense of warmth and cocooning this brings is reinforced by the muted colour scheme and material palette: a balance of matte and metallic, soft and sculptural, neutral and accent. Much of the furniture and decor, too, both custom-made, play off this in inventive iterations. Like the soft-edged island clad in metallic tile accents, the cylindrical cabinet cleverly suspended from a brass rod in the living room, the alabaster sphere lamps in the master bedroom, or the circular bed in the daughter’s bedroom.

Executing these curves seamlessly across every element was one of the project’s greatest challenges, Rohini admits. “Translating fluid, organic forms into a built reality demanded exacting precision, detailed drawings, close on-site supervision, and highly skilled craftsmanship – especially when working with materials typically confined to linear applications.” Yet, these complexities were integral to realising the vision as intended. The result is a home where the curves aren’t just expressive, but deeply resolved, allowing the sense of flow to feel both natural and assured.

As the Shuklas describe it, despite the home’s strong design language, it “never feels heavy or overwhelming; instead, it feels cosy and welcoming.” An end goal that the living-room wall wave seems to have manifested – a flourish of intent and a signature of warmth brimming over.