A modern, family-oriented duplex in Hong Kong

Text Adele Brunner / Styling David Roden / Photography John Butlin

Many people have cautionary tales about working with friends but not so Catherine Chang and interior designer Gabi Ho, who’ve known each other for years. When Chang and her husband, James, who works in finance, decided to renovate, Ho was the person Chang turned to for help.

“I love the interiors Gabi has done, so it was a nobrainer that I went to her,” says Chang. “She would come up with ideas, I’d have my comments and we would go back and forth, exploring and discussing all the options.

“Being close friends, we talk all the time anyway, so we didn’t worry about bothering each other during outof- office hours.”

Which isn’t to say the project was straightforward. After buying the apartment they had been renting on the third floor of a block in Hong Kong East, the couple discovered their former landlord owned the flat directly below it. A year later, when he decided to sell that, too, they jumped at the chance to own a 3,600 sq ft duplex. Ho not only had the task of unifying the two apartments, she had to do so in a limited time frame – Chang was pregnant with her second child and wanted her home to be ready before she gave birth. Speed was essential and, as both the apartments had to be gutted, the Changs moved out for six months.

“The layout wasn’t at all like it is now,” says Ho. “We were dealing with two separate flats and the stairs between the two floors didn’t exist. We had to … link them – both physically and design-wise.”