Sarah Sham and Mustafa Ghouse make for beautiful pictures. What with their lovely South Mumbai home, cherubic child Sophia and their pet cat and dog, nearly resembling a perfect IKEA catalogue, showing all us mere mortals what a model life in suburbia is meant to look like. The two, however, are not your run-off-the-mill SoBo couple, juggling domestic life with extremely successful careers in their own chosen spheres. Sarah, an accomplished interior designer and Instagram sensation, is the scion of the Essajee family, which has been into the production and manufacture of furniture for generations. Mustafa hails from the Ghouse family, which has succeeded both at professional tennis and in the field of corporate governance in India.
HELLO! spent some quality time with the Ghouses, trying to decode how they manage to do it all.
SARAH SHAM
Tell us how you founded Essajees Atelier. Starting Essajees Atelier was definitely not planned; it happened by accident. Interior design was the furthest thing from my mind. Honestly, I always thought of doing something in economics, finance or psychology.
In my 20s, when I was working with my father at Essajees, one of his clients was looking for some decorative lights. Dad asked me to go meet her, and I went into that meeting thinking I was going to sell the homeowner a couple of lights for a few lakhs. Instead, she sold me an idea. She liked my design aesthetics and suggestions so much that she suggested I do up her home. I had zero experience, and I didn’t even want to be an interior designer. Even though I told her that she was nuts for suggesting this, she was quite insistent. I ended up agreeing and started with her project, which was a beautiful 8,000 sqft home by Haji Ali in Mumbai.
This story is from the January 2023 edition of Hello! India.
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This story is from the January 2023 edition of Hello! India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
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