This Kuala Lumpur Apartment Embodies the Colourful Spirit of Friendship
Creative director Mandy Gioh enlisted longtime friend and Wunderwall Design co-founder Wil Ken Ee to transform her compact Bangsar apartment into a vibrant celebration of colour and reimagined nostalgic elements
Friendship is at the heart of this compact 800-square-metre apartment in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. When homeowner Mandy Gioh, creative director of beauty brand Chuck’s and lifestyle brand Motherchuckers, secured her home, she knew that her longtime friend and Wunderwall Design co-founder Wil Ken Ee would make an excellent collaborator. ‘Wil excels at mixing materials and perfecting the intricate aspects,’ Gioh says. ‘As someone who tends to look at the bigger picture, his eye for detail is something I deeply appreciate.’ For Ee, the call came at the right time. ‘As a studio, we were just beginning to explore colour with greater confidence, as a way of stretching ourselves and adapting to different styles.’
While Wunderwall is better known for subdued palettes, the designers have conceived a captivating colour story in the dwelling. The canary yellow walls and ceiling are matched with a baby-blue Ligne Roset Togo sofa and terracotta tiles by Michael Anastassiades for Mutina. The team didn’t shy away from intriguing patterns and details either, introducing an acid-washed mirror wall and a custom wine-red, white-veined Rosso Levanto marble table in the dining room.
Hailing from the same down-home suburb outside of Kuala Lumpur, Gioh and Ee share a penchant for timelessness, which explains their passion for reimagining nostalgia in a fresh way. The custom bar-curio cabinet wrapped in burl wood, for example, began from a vivid memory of Gioh’s grandmother. ‘She kept her crockery and collectibles in a wooden cabinet, so this is my own modern take on it that preserves a relationship with my family home,’ Gioh explains. Similar touches include Verner Panton’s scalloped Fun pendant, which bring to mind classic chandeliers, while the tiles’ basket-weave pattern loosely references the parquet flooring of Gioh’s previous home.
The home is a bold exercise in colour, but the biggest design gesture is subtler and somewhat unexpected: an open bathroom — without doors — sits between the bedroom and walk-in wardrobe, connecting the private areas as one large chamber. And to complete the circulation, Ee added a concealed door from the wardrobe back into the dining area. The doorways, framed in the same burgundy marble as the dining table, are a wonderful complement to the matcha-coloured glass mosaic bathroom tiles. ‘We opted for cool tones in the bathroom, since the living area was filled with warm shades,’ says Ee. ‘In the end, we decided on a custom colour, playing with gloss and matte finishes to produce this mesmerising outcome.’ In spite of the modest number of materials used, the bathroom carries an outsized presence through colour and texture.
An outcome that beautifully reflects Ee and Gioh’s friendship, their implicit, quiet understanding of each other’s style has resulted in a memorable home. ‘It’s not every day that you get to work closely with the client and co-create in such a joyous manner,’ Ee says.
Text by Joseph Koh
Images by Weng Jen
