Elsa Jeandedieu’s Hong Kong home is a canvas in constant flux
In her ever-evolving Mid-Levels rental, a muralist treats walls and furniture as extensions of her creative practice
“My son used to be in the main bedroom but we wanted more space so we took over that room and gave him the second bedroom. It was either swap rooms or find another home,” she says, with a laugh.
The transition was helped by the rooms’ existing colour palette since Jeandedieu had painted the ceiling in the primary bedroom and the walls in the second bedroom a sophisticated khaki, which worked for both generations.
The family also benefits from an unusually flexible landlord. He was happy for Jeandedieu to paint the apartment, including, most recently, the kitchen cabinets, and agreed when she requested permission to build a wall enclosing an area off the living room.
“We felt we had enough space in the living room for a dining table and chairs so by building [partition] walls, we turned the original dining area into an extra bedroom for guests,” she explains.
Raised in the south of France, Jeandedieu knew early on that her future was in art and design. She moved to Hong Kong in 2008 to work as artistic director for a local art company and seven years later set up an eponymous studio in Wong Chuk Hang that has steadily grown in reputation and scale.