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Inside a former Hong Kong resident’s art-filled home in stylish Auckland suburb, Parnell

Fresh modern furnishings and plenty of natural light allow the artworks in Belinda Corder-Kruger’s flat to take pride of place

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Art greets visitors to the Auckland home of Belinda Corder-Kruger as soon as they step foot through the door. Photography: Paul Ellis

In Belinda Corder-Kruger’s Auckland home, art takes centre stage. Four years ago, the New Zealander found the 1,300 sq ft, three-bedroom flat in Parnell, one of Auckland’s oldest suburbs. A big attraction of the apartment, which is a short walk from the city, was its unfussy, light-filled interiors, ideal for the art and property adviser’s eclectic collec­tion of paintings, sculptures and furnishings.

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Corder-Kruger helmed Art Lease, a Hong Kong corporate-art consultancy, for more than a decade. She had lived in the city for 20 years before moving back to New Zealand in 2012.

Art has had a big influence on my life. Art comes first, then furniture, then people
Belinda Corder-Kruger

“Art has had a big influence on my life. Art comes first, then furniture, then people,” she says with a laugh.

Built in the 1960s, the flat had been renovated before its sale, having been updated with a contem­porary open-plan layout, a timber floor and modern fixtures. The only significant change Corder-Kruger made was to remove a wall between the kitchen and living-dining room to make the most of the panoramic harbour views.

“I wanted to be connected to the view and the living area as much as possible, not locked away in a kitchen,” she says. “So you can cook, watch TV and see the view all at once.”

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The furnishings are a fresh, contem­porary mixture of custom-designed pieces from Hong Kong and those collected on her travels, from an antique French chandelier bought at a store in Chelsea, London, to calligraphy brushes purchased in a Shanghai market.

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