When Dee Quinn moved from Sydney to Hong Kong with her husband and two small children, aged two and four, a little over a year ago, ideas for an e-design business came, along with a new apartment that inspired her passion for idiosyncratic style. “I don’t think I ever would have started my own business back in Australia as it costs a lot more and requires a lot more paperwork. But Hong Kong really encourages small businesses which has been a great opportunity for me,” she says.
Dee admits that Hong Kong is one of those places that is filled with wonderful opportunities for design and finding new spaces to explore. The interior designer and blogger (adornationblog.com) has taken her ideas and worked them into the three-bedroom, light-filled apartment in Pokfulam. Despite missing the space and lifestyle in Australia, the apartment’s exquisite view out over the sea to Lantau and Lamma islands are hard to beat, says Dee.
The elegantly styled apartment is filled with unusual artefacts and family heirlooms that are set off by treasures such as antique bronze Buddhas and silver candelabras sourced from around the globe. “I used to love refurbishing old furniture, lamps, anything I could get my hands on for next-to-nothing and could see potential in,” Dee says. The designer has created a library of effects, which tell a story along the way. There is the glamour of a vintage 1980s Lucite bar cart – picked up for a song on eBay – alongside an Axel Haig etching from 1882 that was a special gift. A pasta jar, decorated by her son for a Mother’s Day gift has become a vase so treasured it lives in the main bedroom.
Dee is mad about unexpected combinations, especially the old with the new.
She is currently coveting a marble Saarinen table for beside the couple’s bed, and she is on the lookout for a more functional desk with extra storage. “Our current desk was never meant to be permanent, but instead it has hung around and outlived its welcome,” she explains.
