12th June 2011 - Lounge Weekly - Pakistan Today

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Sonam KapoorMaria B

40 I june 12 - june 18, 2011

Profile

I was very surprised to see that someone who has reached enviable heights in such a short time was so surprisingly down to earth. Having a résumé boasting of doing interior and décor for the likes of David Cassidy, Michael Jordan and Gloria Estefan and that too during his sophomore year at college; is the true genius of Hamza Tarar.

He discovered his true calling purely by accident when a rich friend asked him to design an apartment for his girlfriend. At the house warming party he met Linda Nadler, who worked for a PR firm. He did her apartment for free and in return she designed his website and marketed him as designer.

With not a whole lot of budget to work with, he went to thrift stores and flea markets and did Linda’s apartment under $2000. ‘That’s what I do; I can make your place look good in whatever budget you have,’ he quips. Meanwhile, Linda threw a house warming party and invited a lot of rich people where he met Tom Darden, vice president of HSBC, who ended up giving him his two apartments in St Regis Hotel that very night. ‘I told them I’d charge $5000, and I was freaking out thinking that I hope I had not asked for too much. Little did I know that designers usually charge around $30,000 per apartment,’ he says with a broad beaming smile. ‘From that point, I never looked back and got a major contract from HSBC’s which got my career rolling.’

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‘My parents thought I was into drugs when they saw that I was paying for my own education. I was living and spending lavishly and that makes me laugh every time I think about it.’ He made $30,000 and gave the bulk of that to the Florida Grand Opera, becoming their youngest patron. ‘Networking was the reason for all of that,’ he says proudly.

‘I never got to do small apartments, but did mansions for people like Barry Plotkin and the famous architect Frankloid Wright. His house was brought piece by piece to Fort Lauderdale beach. Situated on the ocean it was made purely of glass. Plotkin got me in touch with Roberto Britto through whom I met the President of Fendi, USA. I tried to convince him to bring Fendi to Pakistan but thanks to the turbulent conditions the cause was lost. I ended up buying all the pieces to bring here. In spite of everyone’s expectations we sold most of them in the first month,’ he says with a smile.

The success story of Hamza Tarrar is quite mind boggling and one can only dream of such a start to a career that has now taken many turns for the better. Despite all that he is quite down to earth. He believes that his success is a blessing from God and came about as a result of his parents’ prayers. His outlook on life took a turn when he was diagnosed with double pneumonia at the start of the year. With doctors almost giving up on him, his near death experience gave him a newfound perspective. He is hopeful about the upcoming seven new lines of furniture. ‘I like to get inside my client’s mind and see what he/she is all about. If one is fond of vintage cars then that’s the theme I work with. I want to personalize the clients’ houses for them. When I do an apartment or a house my client is my priority.’ These are the words of someone who is here to stay and has quite a mature head on his shoulders.

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Glamstock

By Sahar Iqbal

50 I june 12 - june 18, 2011