From minimalism to maximalist design, Singapore apartment full of vintage furniture, collectibles and art is a delight for the senses
- The owners of a 4,100 sq ft apartment in Singapore used to be minimalists. A trip to France inspired them to make their home a riot of colour, texture and taste
- The flat is a showcase of luxe homeware and artworks, each room filled with collectibles, vintage furniture, eclectic art and exuberant patterns
One of the many benefits of international travel is the way it can open up the imagination. For the owners of this 4,100 sq ft (381 square metre) flat in Singapore’s leafy Mount Sinai area, a holiday in the south of France sparked a light-bulb moment that has since transformed how the family lives.
“We used to be kind of minimalists,” says Singaporean entrepreneur Amy Long, who shares the four-bedroom, four-bathroom flat with her husband and daughters, Sierra, eight and Willow, five.
“The turning point was when we rented this little cottage in St Tropez one year that was so full of character. It had an amazing collection of mid-century objets and art; then other crazy things, like sun hats in the foyer. And it made us realise you can go nuts in your house, and it will look fine. It’s even better that way because it’s things that are meaningful for you.”
Soon after, Long started building her own collections piece by piece: Murano glass, Majolica pottery and Constance Spry mantle vases for starters. Some were market finds, others hunted down on the internet. She once carted 125kg (276 pounds) of excess luggage, full of coveted curios, from New York back to Singapore.
By the time the family moved into this flat, in late 2018, to be closer to the girls’ school, and after three months of planning and a 10-week renovation, they were maximalists.
Long admits the flat is now at saturation point. She has had to adopt a one-in, one-out policy, which must be hard for someone who this year launched (with fellow Harvard Business School alumni) the Hong Kong-based online marketplace Vermillion, for which she is the general manager Asia-Pacific (excluding China).