Slick and impeccably choreographed as it is, this Dubai apartment isn’t the work of a big-name architect or interior designer. Rather, it’s one of those rarest and most magical homes: the kind lovingly created by an owner with a natural flair for design. Located in Central Park Towers in Dubai International Finance Centre, it’s the antithesis of cookie-cutter urban living, with thoughtful touches throughout.
The three-bedroom apartment belongs to Persian-born Parsa Ghavimi, a professional in the skincare industry who has gradually turned his passion for design into an interiors redevelopment studio, High Edit Developments (HED). He began doing small renovation projects during his free time; eventually, they evolved into this new home which he designed entirely by, and for, himself. “What initially started as a creative escape during weekends slowly turned into something I became deeply passionate about,” he says. Positive responses encouraged him to keep going, in spite of the fact that he has never formally studied interior design or architecture. “In some ways, I think that allowed me to approach spaces more instinctively, because I was never restricted by conventional rules or traditional ways of thinking.”
What attracted Ghavimi to this Dubai apartment was its double-height ceilings, which are “extremely rare” for this part of Dubai. Nevertheless, it came with some challenges. “When I first saw it, the interiors felt very dated and compartmentalised,” Ghavimi remembers. “The original kitchen was enclosed within walls that interrupted the openness of the space. Removing walls and unnecessary visual barriers became one of the most important architectural decisions.” He had a strong vision of how the space should feel. “I wanted to create something that felt very different from a typical residential apartment - I’ve always been fascinated by hospitality and commercial interiors, because of how bold and experimental they have become. Here, the space’s height allowed me to approach the interiors in a much more architectural way, particularly through lighting, scale and sightlines.
Ghavimi wanted to create a “sculptural and gallery-like” atmosphere where every element would communicate visually, rather than feeling like disparate rooms. Focusing on surface finishes proved crucial to the design’s integrity. A plain structural column was transformed into an architectural feature by cladding it in stainless steel. “I loved the contrast of introducing something normally associated with industrial architecture into a home environment, while still making it feel warm and liveable,” he says.
This detail in this Dubai apartment is complemented by other reflective elements, such as the soft-sheen metallic kitchen cabinets, and is enhanced by Ghavimi’s couture lighting scheme, which creates shifting effects at different times of day. The apartment’s tinted glazing restricts natural daylight, so he used architectural luminaires to inject emotional warmth. “I used a lot of very minimal lighting from brands such as Davide Groppi and Occhio, because I wanted it to feel atmospheric and sculptural rather than decorative,” he says. A “very special” piece by Occhio creates a cinematic red glow at sundown, completely changing the apartment’s raw industrial character.
It’s here that you realise the true extent of Ghavimi’s skill, for this red-orange lighting system forms a dialogue with various details. Wiring for his extensive art collection was coloured red and left exposed, while the apartment ceilings are an ingenious adaptation: with the old false ceiling panels removed to improve views of the skyline, their raw concrete finish was left bare, with red functional pipework intact. “I even painted it a stronger red, so it would stand out more intentionally,” Ghavimi adds.
This wasn’t the only original feature Ghavimi reinterpreted. The winding staircase once felt bulky and incompatible with his vision of transparency, but rather than demolishing it (“I felt there was something interesting in working with the existing bones”), he instead wrapped the sides in glass, and applied a textured grey paint finish inspired by traditional Middle Eastern clay architecture. Now it has much in common with the glass and natural stone that lend refinement to the material palette, notably the green-tinged Brazilian quartzite in the master bathroom, the bold Brazilian granite on the twin kitchen islands, and the gleaming mirrored dressing room, which is framed with fine black lines for rhythm and structure.
Ghavimi prefers to maintain a neutral colour palette in his projects, introducing “colour, tension and emotion” via artworks. Living surrounded by art comes naturally to him – he grew up in a family of collectors - and here it lends warmth to the industrial aesthetic. “My art collection is a mixture of family pieces — mainly works by important Iranian artists — and pieces I have collected over time by younger contemporary artists,” he explains. “For me, art has never been something secondary or decorative within a home; it is always part of the identity of the space itself.” He enjoys blending different generations of artists together – the Warhol flower prints in his kitchen, for example, contrast with a horse canvas by Iranian painter Reza Lavassani – and won’t hesitate to separate elements from a three-piece work to prevent things from feeling too formal or predictable.
Furniture is treated in a similarly relaxed way. Not wanting the space to feel crowded, Ghavimi selected just a few statement pieces, such as a diamond-shaped Baxter leather daybed that faces a colourful portrait by Iranian artist Afarin Sajedi. In the mezzanine TV lounge, Roberto Matta’s surreal 1970 MAgriTTA armchair for Gufram is teamed with glossy black-painted concrete coffee tables; nearby sits a sculpture of three heads by Hossein Azadi, another Iranian talent. Embracing wide open space is key to the apartment’s panache. “I think many of the strongest elements came from embracing things that would traditionally be hidden,” says its owner. “Letting spaces breathe allowed materials to be felt more strongly, and the reflections make them feel almost alive.”
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