Hong Kong flat gets industrial theme with wood, concrete and pops of colour

Siam came home one day and, out of the blue, told me she’d sold our flat,” laughs Englishman James Forbes-May, who has been living in Hong Kong for eight years and runs an IT sales team. “We had two months to find somewhere else to live.”

And so began the journey that led the couple to the 2,300-sq-ft apartment in Olympic, Kowloon, they now call home. They had lived in the neighbourhood years previously so they knew and liked the area. Forbes-May was also keen to find a place that didn’t have empty land next to it.

“You might not think to buy near a highway but it means nobody is going to build another block right in front of you,” he says. “We looked at developments that seemed nice and shiny on the outside but were quite cramped inside, with low ceilings. This place, which is about 10 years old, has loads of space and light, and surprisingly high ceilings. And I think our view, with Hong Kong Island in the distance, is one of the best in the world.”

There was no question about renovating the apartment. Its décor was old-fashioned and the original four-bedroom layout didn’t suit the couple’s needs, featuring among other things a disproportionately large guest bathroom. In addition, Siam Fung, a native Hongkonger who runs her own Italian fashion import business, knew exactly what she wanted for her new place.

“I love reading home magazines and watching property shows,” she says. “I had lots of ideas – almost too many; for ex­ample, we didn’t need so many bedrooms so one of them became my walk-in wardrobe.”

Choosing an interior designer was also a no-brainer. Fung had been Tik Chan’s first client when he started his company, Studio 93, in 2010 and they had worked together on several projects. For Fung’s latest venture, they ripped everything out, reducing the property to a basic shell.