Inside stories
Every detail has a tale to tell in an artist’s residence made unique with her own work and antique flea-market finds
Daphne Mandel’s 2,400 sq ft apartment is as light and bright as they come. Situated on The Peak, in a colonialstyle block that was built in 1951, it is blessed with high ceilings, three balconies and myriad tall windows and glasspanelled doors that the landlord has had the sense not to change.
“The amount of light that floods the flat at any given time is almost surreal,” says Mandel, who is French. “I work from home and while I could rent a space in the city to work from, I know I wouldn’t find anything better. I would constantly be thinking up excuses to go back to my flat.”
Light is of particular importance to Mandel because she is now a full-time artist. Although she says she has always painted, it was more a hobby and came second to her former work, as a landscape architect and urban planner. In 2006 Mandel and her business partner were named among the top five young landscape architects and urban planners in France by the Ministère de la Culture but when she moved from Paris to Hong Kong six years ago, with her American husband, she realised it would be difficult to continue in the same industry.
“The process of urban planning in Hong Kong is entirely different from that in France. There, the city layout and buildings are always part of a largescale vision; here, it seems to be more chaotic,” she says. “When I arrived, I was shocked by the restless urban scene and the juxtaposition of things co-existing in small areas. Each architectural project tends to be conceived as independent, with no consistency or regard for the existing site. As it turns out, this has become an inexhaustible source of inspiration for me.”
Her paintings adorn the walls throughout the three-bedroom, two-bathroom flat (in which Mandel and her family have now lived for five years) and reflect her love of architecture. Looking more like photographs than paintings, they feature typical Hong Kong buildings (think Sham Shui Po rather than Central) that are embellished with quirky details such as a menagerie of exotic animals, or chinoiserie-inspired wallpaper covering the facade of a rundown block, all executed in intricate detail.
Creativity is in Mandel’s genes. Her mother writes about art for a Dutch newspaper and her grandmother was Dutch textile artist Wil Fruytier, who was feted for her rope tapestries – one of which has pride of place in Mandel’s living room.
“My grandmother was an amazing lady,” says Mandel. “She’d pick up anything – objects, fabrics – and be instantly thinking how she could use it and what she could turn it into. She was so popular all her pieces were sold and we have hardly any in the family. Every time we find something, we fight over it. I found this one among some rubbish in her cellar – it was almost unrecognisable, all mouldy and dusty.”
Mandel seems to have an eye for picking out “rubbish” and turning it into treasure. Her entire flat is furnished with pieces found in flea markets in London, Paris and Milan.
“Apart from three lamps in the living room and a couple of Ikea items in my sixyear- old son’s room, I haven’t bought any major items from a conventional shop,” she says. “They’re not particularly expensive pieces but I love that everything has a real story behind it – the memory of where we bought it or what it used to be.”
Her desk and that of her son, for example, were both sewing tables in a Singer factory; a bench in the corridor was once seating on a Milanese tram; pendant lights above the dining area come from a wet market; and a foldable iron table once did duty in a French military canteen.
“I also have a passion for furniture design from the 1950s and 60s,” says Mandel. “Designers then created the perfect harmony between form and function. Everything was so clever and efficient – and the designs are so beautiful.”
Into the mix go vintage lamps; vibrantly coloured, lacquered Chinese chests; a silver coffee table; and a fair dose of red and orange. Her apartment is the antithesis of a wall-to-wall designer look – and yet everything works together despite such varying origins.
“My parents’ flat was very 1970s – bright orange, shag-pile carpets and really cool,” says Mandel. “I was very influenced by that aesthetic, too. I find current design trends can often be a bit bland and beige but even if you prefer muted tones you can always spice them up with a burst of colour. To me, your home is so precious and a reflection of yourself – so why wouldn’t you fill it with interesting and unexpected things?”
Bedroom (above left) The black-leather-upholstered bed was custom made for HK$13,000 by Wai Wing Upholstery & Curtain and the Retro floor lamp cost HK$2,500 at Aluminium. The 1965 paintings by Raskin were purchased from the St Sulpice antique fair in Paris.
Unsightly light and electricity switches that are seldom used are hidden behind a cleverly placed box frame. If Daphne Mandel needs to access them, she simply lifts up the picture.