A Home for Art and Repose
Wynk Collaborative’s streamlined yet warm design makes this apartment an ideal canvas for both art and the undulations of home life
The owners of this Singapore apartment deliberately chose to paint the walls white, and for good reason. ‘It’s our canvas for expression,’ says Si’ai Liang, who lives here with her partner Prem Dadlani. Above a poufy Arflex Strips sofa, a painting by Vietnamese artist Hong Viet Dung mirrors the leafy treetops outside and the occasional sunrays that shine in through the window. In the dining room, Juan Ford’s graphic work The Mystic is juxtaposed with a sanguine, abstract piece by German conceptual artist Michael Müller.
There’s also plenty of pottery, the bold, rotund and quirky forms amiable companions to the mindful selection of furniture, including Sovet’s Totem dining table and a set of leather-upholstered Fritz Hansen Series 7 dining chairs, as well as a GUBI Stay lounge chair and Circ floor lamp from Estiluz in the living room.
The couple engaged Singaporean practice Wynk Collaborative for the interior design, and the team created a suitable foil for these pieces. The material palette is composed primarily of large Statuario marble-look tiles and Elm wood veneer for the joinery. ‘The muted colours and textures of the materials give some respite from the busyness of everyday life,’ says Si Jian Xin, who co-founded Wynk Collaborative with Leong Hon Kit. ‘The tactile quality of the materials and the softness of the furniture are also little touches that make coming home feel like walking into an oasis of calm.’
The streamlining of the interior architecture helps to amplify this feeling. ‘We replaced the existing swing door and wall in the master bedroom with a pocket sliding door so that the door can be totally concealed when necessary,’ Si explains. The wardrobe was also repositioned away from the doorway and a semi-porous screen detail in the sliding door ensures perpetual glimpses of Hong Kong artist Wong King Seng’s The Moon.
The lighting design is also paramount to the atmosphere. “We took care not to make the space overlit, and instead there’s a relaxing ambience for unwinding after work and hosting friends for drinks,’ he says. In addition to dimmers, he opted for less direct lighting and added accent fixtures to provide softer illumination. Pieces such as the Model 2065 pendant from Astep (in the dining room) and David Pompa’s Meta suspension lamp are like levitating sculptures that attract the eye and define spaces.
Text / Luo Jingmei
Images / Jovian Lim
