Inside an entrepreneur’s Hong Kong penthouse, where art and maximalism unite
After locking it away for years, a Briton decided to use his new Pok Fu Lam duplex as a blank canvas for his bold assemblage of art
Some homes have a focal point, be it a feature wall, a staircase or a chandelier. But this Pok Fu Lam penthouse dispenses with any central element, engaging you instead from every angle with art.
Turn one way and a bronze nude crawls from a wall; swivel around and a lurid attack dog puts you on guard; look back at the entrance and an old payphone dares the visitor to make a call: place the receiver to your ear, however, and you might be shocked by the message you hear.
If the works on the ground floor haven’t set your brain on fire, a David LaChapelle photograph should ignite a few sparks. The American photographer’s sylvan Pietà depicts Jesus cradling the body of the late “King of Pop”, Michael Jackson.
These pieces and more turn Warren Lee’s 3,200 sq ft duplex into a private gallery, where art covers the walls of every room, including the smallest (where Mona Lisa’s eyes follow your every movement). Not surprisingly, perhaps, the collections were behind the British entrepreneur’s decision to snap up the three-bedroom unit a year ago. “I was fed up with having all my art in storage,” he says.
Lee, who has been in Asia for three decades (and in Hong Kong since 1994), wasted no time in refurbishing the unit to suit his style. Having overhauled and sold a Repulse Bay flat, he had the confidence to undertake his latest project without a designer but with the help of a contractor.
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“We tore the place apart,” Lee recalls. During that time the floors on both levels were resurfaced with ceramic tiles that mimic marble. “I had marble before and it was a nightmare,” he says. “Ceramics are amazing; you can splash wine on it and it cleans up. And the dogs can lick their food off the floor.”
A beagle, a poodle and a King Charles spaniel share the duplex with Lee, his son, a friend and their helper.
“I have my little farm,” Lee jokes, surrounded by his life-sized fibreglass mutt, a couple of woolly sheep, antique camels and a stuffed peacock whose tail feathers graze the ground. “The dogs have trimmed the bottom of it.”
Little, if anything, is ordinary. And that goes for the sea-view corridor, which, on the lower floor, stretches from a bedroom at one end, through the kitchen and across the living room, to a semicircular balcony. In fine weather, when doors and windows are left open, breezes make air conditioners redundant.
“Seeing both sides [from the living area] really kicked it off for me,” says Lee.
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In the lounge, even the “blank canvas”of concrete-look wallpaper is bold. Unchanged, however, was the staircase, beside a kitchen now with bells and whistles. Amid new cabinetry and appliances, Lee installed an extendable counter and a cabinet that can be hidden by an automated, mirrored Venetian blind.
On the top floor, his bedroom suite leads onto an open work area and television lounge, from where the terrace can be accessed. For convenience, a bar was installed beside an outdoor dining table, and, to set the scene, a vertical garden was created beside a convertible pond (when covered, the area serves as a lounger).
Lee’s bedroom is also a conversation starter, not least because of a Roberto Cavalli chaise longue in the shape of a bear. Beside it are wall-to-wall white cupboards whose doors resemble piano keys. In a corner a skull sits on a table with fur drawers, custom made during a previous life. And by the bed is the en suite bathroom, open save for a glass shower enclosure.
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The lights in this bathroom, like those elsewhere in the duplex, are unusual – naturally. In here, illumination shatters the vanity mirror; above the kitchen counter it reflects from mercury-like blobs; and from the top floor, it falls in a rainbow of colours. At least that’s what I’m told.
As Lee struggles with the light controls on his mobile phone, I inspect his photographs more carefully. On the main wall, a picture, by Brazilian photojournalist Sebastião Salgado, shows buildings reduced to rubble in Kabul, Afghanistan. Nearby is the amusing 1974 snap of sport’s first streaker being marched off a rugby field by British bobbies. The exhibitionist, however, has been cut out of the picture. Similarly, the horses trotting through a photo of the Grand Canyon have been erased. A black-and-white series, shot in the Philippines during anti-Marcos demonstrations in the 1970s, continues the theme: the protest banners have been blanked out so viewers can form their own ideas about what they say.
The thought-provoking effect of these creations is not lost on Lee. Ensconced in a B&B Italia chair in the living room, he says, “I sit here just looking at the art.”
Kitchen The Erste kitchen, designed by Hugo Lam Ngai-ho, cost about HK$500,000 (appliances not included). The fridges are accommodated in a pantry behind the exposed section. The stemware cupboard can be concealed by an automated mirror Venetian blind. The stools are old. The Skydro ceiling light (about HK$30,000) was from Artemide.
Main bedroom The two photographs framed in white are by Dávila. On the blue table, which has a fur-lined drawer and mirrored top, is a skull by Pugliese, who also created the bronze sculpture on the wall.
Tried + tested
