A bold and vibrant design redefines the traditional experience centre, transforming a former rug atelier into a sensory haven, reports SURFACES REPORTER (SR).
Icy, invigorating, and with a texture that’s a fine crossover between granular and velvet, Sorbet is a legendary sorbet duo that packs a punch. It evokes the feeling of sauntering through sunny lanes in faraway lands, offering an equally delectable palette that washes over the canvas of a space.
Reprising the experience of bathware discovery lounges, Sorbet fuses a luxe milieu with a penchant for colour - no holds barred! The archetypal configuration of bath solution experience centres has been traded for an intuitive and intrigue-driven rendezvous, celebrating the patron’s experience in a newfound light.
Set in a primo location in Southern Mumbai, Sorbet occupies the former space of a celebrated rug atelier, using colour and geometry as its playground. The design team saw merit in preserving—and celebrating - the site’s inherent features, including its 12-foot-high walls, deep volume, and the building's porous relationship with the elongated street.
The building’s façade exhibits a permeable demeanour, with a skin made of various types of glass: fluted, clear, and a fabricated trellis set into the lime-hued cuboid that rises along the street’s edge.
The porch-like entrance is veiled under the shade of a glass brick trellis with embedded planters sprouting plum-hued foliage, and a carpet of random rubble-style Kota underfoot. The façade subtly hints at the visceral rush of hues and elements that await inside, with arched terrazzo-handle-embellished doors waiting to be swung open! Inside, the space feels like being amidst a monolith of greens, with hues punctuated by levitating halos (bespoke lighting systems) and I-section stanchions bathed in a berry hue.
The design intent was clear: to ensure patrons experience the entirety of the store’s volume from any point within the blueprint, with vistas that are seamless and all-encompassing along the space’s rectilinear axis. Services remain intentionally exposed, with HVAC and ducting running through the length of the space, all highlighted by the marsala tone that washes over them.
Sorbet’s identity is defined by its singular material palette. The mint hue appears in textured paint, candy-esque terrazzo, and Piccolo mosaic segments, marking various nodes and moments throughout the centre. The flooring is a dynamic landscape of smooth Kota stone, shifting between jagged chunks and smooth curvilinear pieces embedded in rivulets of ivory grout.
Movement is guided by a layout of intersecting circles, creating semi-open enclosures to house product typologies. These circles vary in diameter and height, allowing glimpses of the store from different perspectives.The display systems within these enclosures result from intense conceptualization. Their curved and tiered forms echo the dominant geometry of the space. Cloche-style pedestals, curved units extending from the enclosures, and circular display systems dot the layout, creating moments of pause for patrons to engage with the range of products.
For the design team, Sorbet was far more than just a recalibration of what ‘conventional’ experience centres could look like. It was a journey that invited visitors’ inner child to play, marinate in visual storytelling, and abandon all notions of the ‘expected’ at the door.
Project Information Sheet: Sorbet
Project Completion Year: 2024
Principal Designers: Huzefa Rangwala and Jasem Pirani
Firm Name: MuseLAB
Team Members: Bhavin Mandot, Fahim Khambati, Trupti Desai, Simran Khaitan
Project Area: 2600 sqft
About the Firm
MuseLAB is a design studio founded in 2012 by Huzefa Rangwala and Jasem Pirani, specializing in bespoke, innovative environments, interiors, and furniture. Based in Mumbai, the studio focuses on creating unique, highly customized designs with meticulous attention to detail. Their process combines intuitive and traditional methods to uncover both tangible and intangible elements, ensuring each project tells a compelling story. MuseLAB’s services include masterplanning, architecture, interiors, and product design, delivering immersive and focused design experiences.