From Hong Kong to Bangkok: interior designer retains edgy, industrial style in Thai home
Known for giving Hong Kong’s traditional Chinese tenements a second life, Andrew Bell works his magic again in his 1,300 sq ft Bangkok duplex, minus his trademark black-framed Central Market windows
Bell’s eye for drama and love of industrial-edge design are evident in his own home. In Bangkok, Thailand, his base since leaving Hong Kong in 2012, he and his partner live in a one-bedroom, 1,300 sq ft flat that is as contemporary as it is chic, and lofty where it has the greatest impact.
The “home/office”, as it was categorised, had immense appeal as a two-storey unit (“I think nearly everybody wants to live in a duplex at some stage,” says Bell). Other big pluses were the huge windows at one end, and the fact the property would be handed over unfinished.
“It was sold completely empty,” says Bell. “It was unique even in our own condominium block.”
So, unlike homeowners in Hong Kong who find themselves dismantling newly completed housing upon taking possession of their property, Bell was more or less able to dictate what he wanted.
The rawness of cement seems to gel with the natural aspects of stone and timber
Improbably – space-starved Hongkongers might say “crazily” – that saw him halve the mezzanine, which originally extended from above the main entrance to what is now a single black post emerging from the top of the kitchen’s granite island.