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Adele Brunner

Text Adele Brunner / Styling David Roden / Photography John Butlin
 
To say Aishani Khan’s flat is bursting with life would be an understatement. The walls are awash with striking artwork, rugs jostle for space on the floor and knick-knacks and curios cover every surface.
“I’ve always lived in busy homes and I am most comfortable surrounded by things I have collected over the years,” says Khan. “I love colour and different cultures – be they Chinese or Indian, African or European – and the way their styles can be so different and yet co-exist.”
Born in India, Khan, her investment banker husband and their now 11-year-old daughter moved to Hong Kong from Mumbai 6½ years ago and have lived in their 2,400 sq ft, three-bedroom, two-bathroom Mid- Levels apartment for most of that time. They sometimes suffer power outages because of electricity overloads but, Khan says, this problem is balanced by the apartment’s advantages, such as high ceilings.
“These apartments are such gems,” says Khan. “They are old and a bit run down and have no facilities but once people move in, it is difficult to move out because it would be very hard to find something comparable.”
The way in which Khan has furnished the apartment echoes her personality. The colours are bright, the objects are interesting and the furniture is very welcoming.
“Everyone has a style that is his or her own, and ours is to make our home intensely personal,” she says. “It is not the way you might imagine a typical Hong Kong apartment to look. I only have things in it that I love and because it’s my home, I put them where I want and not where they are expected to be.”
As is evident throughout the flat, art is one of Khan’s passions. Her mother and father-in-law are painters and Khan herself is a studio potter.
“Some people buy art for investment,” she says. “I only buy art I love; I don’t see it as an investment. I see things in coffee shops and markets, and have bought from street artists. If I like it, I buy it. I don’t care where it is from. I adore pottery, too. I collect plates. Nothing I have matches but that’s the beauty of it – it is all so individual. And I don’t have to worry about breakages spoiling a set.”
An advocate of the “one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure” school of thought, Khan regularly visits AsiaXpat. She says she has bought some of her most treasured pieces from the website, such as a leather footstool, which was being sold for just HK$400 because it had cracked.
“I like things because they are flawed,” she says. “It gives them character. Leather does get scratched and cracked but that only makes it more appealing. I have a wooden bench that I bought from Shambala at a very reduced price because it was twisted. A friend thought it was meant to be like that and wants one just the same. It’s funny.”
Carpets are another obsession. Khan and her husband used to buy a rug each year on their wedding anniversary but have had to stop doing so because, after 15 years, they have run out of floor space.
“Each carpet has a story,” she says. “We never know which style or colour we will buy or where we’ll put it but, as there is no definite colour scheme in my home, it really doesn’t matter as long as it feels right.”
Into the mix go furniture and accessories from Ikea, of which Khan is also a fan. Apart from decorative objects, she says, everything in her home has a practical side or a function. To this end, attractive battered-leather trunks are used for storage, or as coffee tables or bedside tables. Khan’s antique four-poster beds from Goa can be dismantled and flat-packed. And one of her paintings is being used as a temporary gate between the dining and living rooms, to keep a puppy from straying.
“A home should be lived in,” she says. “You should be able to enjoy your home without worrying about it.”
 

 


Living room In the foreground is a bench bought two years ago from Indigo Living (6/F, Horizon Plaza, 2 Lee Wing Street, Ap Lei Chau, tel: 2555 0540) and on it sits a collection of treasures, including a lantern bought years ago from Good Earth (www.goodearth.in), in India; a bottle (HK$320) from Twenty Two North (2/F, Cheung Hing Industrial Building, 12P Smithfield, Kennedy Town, tel: 3907 0386); a shoe last (HK$200) from Shambala (2/F, Horizon Plaza, tel: 2555 2997); beads (HK$300) from the jade market in Yau Ma Tei; a yellow tray from Benares (www.benaresstore.com), in Singapore; and a wooden fish bought in Hanoi, Vietnam. The three pictures on the left wall (foreground) were painted by Rajiv Ranjan Chopra (available through Shibani Chopra; shibanichopra@hotmail.com) while the paintings further down are by assorted artists including: Chinese painter Wenji Billow (wenjibillow@gmail.com); Padmini Lulla (shibanichopra@hotmail.com); and Vietnamese artist Van Tho, whose home in Hanoi Aishani Khan visited. The chair with a green leather seat was purchased through AsiaXpat (www.hongkong.asiaxpat.com), as was the black-leather armchair under the window, beside which is a tray table picked up years ago in Delhi. The wood-base lamp was bought years ago at Pottery Barn (www.potterybarn.com) in New York. The sofa (on the left) and the suede armchair (on the right) came from Shambala. The coffee table was from Indigo Living. All the cushions (HK$250 each) came from Good Earth. The armchair with green cushions, the screen and the green bench were bought years ago at Phinns Casa (www.phinns.com), in Guangzhou. The carpets were from Siva Rugs (sivarugs@gmail.com), in Delhi. The hand-knitted woollen throws were HK$700 from Chandroti Woollens (shubhchopra43@gmail.com).
Living room detail What looks like a painting of a dragon is actually an old Tibetan door, which Khan bought years ago in Guangzhou. Billow painted the two artworks next to it. The statue came from Cat Street and the bowl from Fabindia (www.fabindia.com). The figurines were found in the jade market. The table was purchased years ago, as was the lamp.

Balcony The outdoor bench seat came from a Mumbai flea market and the chairs were bought years ago from Everything Under the Sun (9/F, Horizon Plaza, tel: 2554 9088). The storm lantern (HK$1,280) was from Twenty Two North. The coffee table was made in India using one of Khan’s old window grilles. The small stool is old and the cushions decorated with portraits were bought from Sonya Sapru (sasdesignconsultancy.com).

Dining room The floral curtains were from Anokhi (www.anokhi.com), in India. The dining table was HK$20,000 from Indigo Living and the lace tablecloth was HK$890 from Stanley Linens in Stanley Market. The dining chairs, bench and Chinese cabinet were found on AsiaXpat. Khan made the brown jug on top of the cabinet; the others were bought years ago, as was the candlestick. The red/green painting was by Bonny Hazuria (bonniehazuria3000@yahoo.co.in); the cockatoo by Billow; the camel by Indian contemporary artist V.S. Blodsow (whose agent is Kaveri Lalchand; kaveri.love@gmail.com); and the seaside image by Khan’s daughter. The rug, from Siva Rugs, was bought years ago. The green lamp, the yellow lamp (from Tequila Kola, 1/F, Horizon Plaza, tel: 2877 3295) and the white wooden carrier on the floor were all bought years ago.

Daughter’s room The bed cost HK$13,000 at a Mumbai flea market and is accessorised with a bedspread from Good Earth, cushions from Cotton On (2/F, Lee Theatre, Causeway Bay, tel: 2557 1110) and a dreamcatcher by Sara Sharpe (sarasharpsmile@ gmail.com). Khan had the bedside table made in India years ago. The bedside lamps (base, HK$150 each; shade, HK$179.90 each) were from Ikea (various locations; www.ikea.com.hk). The paper tiger was bought in Jakarta, Indonesia. The long ink painting was bought from a street artist in Sheung Wan and Chopra painted the picture to the right of it. The photograph holder at the end of the bed came from Homeless (28 Gough Street, Central, tel: 2851 1160).

Master bedroom The four-poster bed (HK$12,000) and bedside table (HK$1,000) were bought at a flea market in India. The bedspread was HK$1,000 from Good Earth. The bedside lamp was HK$1,200 from Shambala and the lace over it was HK$120 from Maple (various locations; www.maplefashion.com). The watercolour of fishing boats, by P.A. Dhond, was bought in Mumbai and the black-and-white charcoal nude in Calcutta years ago. The trunk (under the bed) came from a shop off Hollywood Road years ago and the rice boxes beneath the bedside table came from Bali, Indonesia. The dreamcatcher (HK$250) was by Sharpe, whose wire jewellery mannequin was a gift to Khan. The chest at the end of the bed came from Dynasty Home Gallery (10/F, DCH Motor Service Building, 111 Lee Nam Road, Ap Lei Chau, tel: 2554 8861).
 

Window or tile?  The end of Aishani Khan's antique bed was originally inlayed with mirrors. Believing the mirrors would bring bad luck, Khan replaced them with beautiful but inexpensive ceramic tiles she found in Chor Bazaar, in Mumbai.

 
 
 


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A Mid-Levels flat is a riot of colour, echoing its tenant’s vibrant personality


A Mid-Levels flat is a riot of colour, echoing its tenant’s vibrant personality.


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A Mid-Levels flat is a riot of colour, echoing its tenant’s vibrant personality

A Mid-Levels flat is a riot of colour, echoing its tenant’s vibrant personality