How art is at the heart of this soon-to-be-demolished Hong Kong home

South China Morning Post

26-03-2025

Although designer Ella Bridgland conceives beautiful interiors for a living, she confesses that she and her husband, Damian Chandler, an arts and culture consultant, never consciously designed their 1,200 sq ft apartment. Instead, she says, their home, which they share with their four-year-old son, five-month-old daughter and cat, has evolved organically over the past five years, and is as much an expression of themselves as it is a testament to their love of art and design.
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The British couple's three-bedroom, two-bathroom rental flat in a
1960s Pok Fu Lam low-rise is awash with eclectic character and craftsmanship. With its three-metre-high ceilings, original Crittall door frames and well-preserved parquet flooring, the space exudes a timeless charm – the perfect backdrop for the artwork and furniture Chandler and Bridgland have not only collected but created themselves. Little wonder they are sad to be moving – the building is due to be demolished.
Ella Bridgland in her Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong, home. Photo: Joshua Lee
'We love the building,' says Bridgland, founder of
Studio Ella . 'It's one of the few left with authenticity and charm. The layout is well planned and the proportions are grand – rarely the case in newer buildings.'
The couple's approach to collecting art is refreshingly unpretentious and deeply personal. Many of the pieces have been with them for years, including works Chandler acquired during his time at art school in London, where the students used to swap their artworks with each other.
'We don't see ourselves as art collectors. It's very much about enriching our living experience,' says Bridgland, who has a keen eye for emerging talent and enjoys championing local artists such as Yi To,
Hilarie Hon and Chow Chun-fai, whose works feature in her study. 'Once we have something we like, it grows with us and becomes part of the landscape of our lives.'
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Bridgland and Chandler buy pieces they feel an emotional connection to rather than following trends or building an encyclopaedic collection. They also like to experiment with the location of pieces, recasting the dynamic of a room and creating a new dialogue through the juxtaposition of different artworks and objects. The couple describe how one of their most recent acquisitions, a piece by Saudi Arabian artist Alia Ahmad, prompted them to rearrange their interior in response to it. As well as reconfiguring artworks on the opposite wall, hanging smaller-format pieces to play with scale, they added a linear directional pendant light to illuminate the art without competing with, or obstructing, it. They also made changes to upholstery.