From New York to Hong Kong and back: art-deco apartment a tribute to businesswoman’s travels
American Mary Kate Jackson’s worldly apartment in the Big Apple tells the story of her well-travelled life
Experiencing another continent for the first time can affect a person. Businesswoman Mary Kate Jackson discovered just how profoundly when she moved from New York to Hong Kong in 1993. Having never lived outside her native America, she was required by the company she was working for to understand Chinese culture and customs with a view to conducting business. She immersed herself in the culture, studying Mandarin, Chinese history, religion and literature; learning brush-stroke painting; and taking cooking lessons.
“Antiques brought my studies of Chinese history to life and learning about art unlocked the culture,” Jackson says.
She also travelled extensively in the region, visiting Japan, India and Indonesia, among other countries, picking up items to remind her of where she had been. From Hong Kong, she moved to Paris, followed by stints in Amsterdam and Florence.
Fast forward a decade and Jackson found herself coming full circle, living back in New York in a chic 1,600 sq ft apartment on Park Avenue that she had bought in 2010. In 2013, she embarked on a renovation, with Hong Kong-based interior architect Anji Connell setting the design direction and fusing Jackson’s disparate collection of “lifetime souvenirs” into a cohesive whole.
I wanted to highlight the apartment’s art-deco roots without going over the top
The apartment’s previous owner had combined two one-bedroom units into a single spacious property, and installed warm Brazilian cherry wood flooring throughout. Jackson liked the layout, with the communal living areas at the heart of the apartment and the two bedrooms and two bathrooms on opposite sides, but decided that the living, dining/kitchen and bathrooms all needed a makeover.