In Hong Kong village home, Asian antiques get pride of place
Artefacts from Southeast Asia have been given a modern setting in the Sai Kung villa of an expatriate entrepreneur
Text Catherine Shaw / Styling Anji Connell / Photography Jonathan Wong
One of the benefits of expatriate living is the opportunity to learn about a foreign country's unique art, crafts and heritage. For Canada-born Catherine LaJeunesse, this experience has translated into a home full of treasured artefacts that reflect her peripatetic lifestyle.
The former banker lived in Hong Kong from 1990 to 1996, before setting up home in Singapore, where she lived for 13 years. It was there that LaJeunesse - who had developed a love of Chinese antiques while living in the British colony - established her eponymous business, LaJeunesse Asian Art, which became a fixture on the antiques circuit thanks to her passion for sourcing remarkable Thai, Burmese and Chinese works.
"It was a fascinating time and I learned a great deal, particularly about Burmese Buddha [figurines], thanks, in part, to a close friendship with Nicoline Lopez, author of The Art of Living in Singapore," LaJeunesse says.
In 2009, the family - LaJeunesse, her husband, Andre, who works in the financial industry, and their son and daughter, now aged 13 and 11, respectively - returned to Hong Kong. In 2013, LaJeunesse founded an agency, Quoin, that specialises in executive-level placements in capital markets.
Having lived in Hong Kong before, the couple knew they wanted to be based in Sai Kung.