Inside the apartment of Superbalist's head of brand

Words: Dylan Muhlenberg | Photography: Nick Gordon

“I like anything that’s considered. Anything with a story to it.”

Klyne Maharaj is defending the Commes des Garçons candle burning on his kitchen countertop, and says it’s these little details that are so important to expressing identity. 

With his formative years spent boarding at a WASPy private school for boys, Klyne has been an outsider since the age of 13, flexing his uniqueness even more by gravitating towards alternative subcultures and dressing in everything from 90s rap wear to the somewhat embarrassing accoutrements of the suburban mall punk. Still, it was this dabbling that helped form the refined sense of style he has today.

His home is no exception, and at first glance it’s the type of grown up space you’d expect to find inside a high-rise block in the city bowl, all clean lines and shiny surfaces. Look more closely though and you’ll see Klyne's personality peeking through throughout.

“All the weird odds and ends like the books, records, guitars, stuff that gives the place character, that’s all me. And then the plants, deities, candles, burners, the nicer home things, they wouldn’t be here without Robin. So there’s a lot more atmosphere because of her. There's a softness to the place. Otherwise it would be over the top bachelor pad.”

The young couple has shared their home for three years now, and the novelty of living in a hotel in the centre of town still hasn’t worn off. Especially when considering how between them they’ve lived in Botswana, Pietermaritzburg and Grahamstown. Today the small-town kids turned metropolitans couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. 

Preferring to leave his car parked in the underground parking and skate everywhere, Klyne finds the amount of bars and restaurants nearby quite overwhelming, but is up to the challenge. Then the Company Gardens has become something of his backyard given its proximity right across the street. 

Klyne is especially happy here after a recent renovation job opened the space up, providing some much needed storage for things like his ridiculous sneaker collection. Using a white palette, glossy finishes with luxury accents like imported woods from Germany and quartz countertops the space is beautiful without being precious and can stand up to whatever is spilled on it. 

However it's the heat that Klyne buys for his feet that he's most excited to show off, and unlike his brother Dane, who at time of interview was working in finance and had dedicated a display case to his prized kicks, Klyne keeps his shoes in the cupboard like a normal person. Inside it’s anything but, with Supreme and Stone Harbour collaborations, Ricardo Tisci designs and a pair of New Balance hand made in the UK. 

“This is much more manageable because twice a year I’ll clean out my cupboard and give away some shoes and clothes, but yes, I have a lot of sneakers because that’s what I spend my money on. I buy nothing as an investment, everything is to wear, I don’t dig reselling culture.”

Klyne explains how sneaker culture has blown up and with a new collab dropping every weekend it's taken the sting out of collecting sneakers. Obsessing over sneakers is now definitely mainstream. Which doesn't necessarily mean that this sneakerhead will move on to the next thing, he's just less concerned with playing a numbers game and is more focussed on what he chooses to acquire. 

“I shop a lot of my sneakers on Superbalist and buy stuff that anyone could buy, I just wear it differently. We stock enough brands and products to allow our customers to do the same thing.”

Wearing a pair of Nike Mayfly, Klyne says that true style isn’t necessarily about buying the most expensive or rarest collaborations, and instead it’s about applying your philosophy and personality to something that anyone could buy, and then making it yours. 

His home is testament to this, the perfect blank canvas to apply his personality to, and in the process making it something that's a reflection of who he is and what he's about. If you reading this still haven't found your own personal style yet, then you could do far worse than borrowing from Klyne's aesthetic. Get started by shopping the selects below, which he kindly curated for The Way of Us.