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The kid-friendly Hong Kong flat that was inspired by a hidden waterfall

The tranquil, minimalist interior of the Pok Fu Lam flat designed by Bean Buro, proves that sometimes inspiration is found in the unlikeliest of places

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A palette of soft blues and greys creates a tranquil ambience throughout the apartment. Photography and video: John Butlin. Styling: David Roden. Photography assistant: Timothy Tsang

After completing a preliminary site visit to a 1,600 sq ft, four-bedroom flat in Pok Fu Lam, Lorène Faure decided to go for a stroll. Just metres from the lobbies of large, luxury developments nearby, she spotted a small waterfall hidden in the shrubbery off the road. It came tumbling through the greenery, then trickled on towards the coast.

The waterfall stuck in Faure’s mind. On her next visit to the flat, she showed it to Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui, with whom she runs architecture and interior design studio Bean Buro.

“The waterfall was so interesting and beautiful,” Kinugasa-Tsui says. “We didn’t expect to find something like that in Pok Fu Lam. I hope it doesn’t sound too cheesy, but the idea of water and rock became the main element in this apartment for us.”

It helped that the ideas conjured up by the waterfall matched some of the guidelines suggested by the clients, new Hong Kong-Chinese parents who recently returned to the SAR from Britain, where the husband had been completing a PhD.

“There were all these keywords in the brief, like ‘calm’ and ‘tranquil’ and ‘fresh’,” Kinugasa-Tsui recalls. “And we could tell that the clients liked things minimalistic, with lots of white and blue.”

Inspired, Faure and Kinugasa-Tsui set to work. They moved walls to make the rooms more efficient and converted the fourth bed­room into a study, which was then connected to the main bedroom to create one large main suite. Throughout the flat, they used a palette of blues, greys and white, although it took a while to identify the exact shade of blue for the built-in cabinets in the living room and kitchen.

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