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Bachelor pad a groovy place to hang with friends
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HOLLYWOOD producer and artist Michael Lechner von Leheneck fell in love with Grosvenor House because of its central location and refined Art Deco style.
He moved into one of the apartments in the building on Maoming Road eight years ago and asked designer Cathy Wang to transform it into a comfortable, but timeless place to live in.
“Knowing Michael well helped a lot,” Wang said. “It is always important to know and understand the client’s background and personality in order to match their personal tastes with my signature style as a designer.”
Wang said the building has great character. It was built in 1928 and once was used to host heads of state from around the world.
“Built in the most beautiful and refined Art Deco style, it has thick castle-like walls, the original wooden floors and high ceilings: the perfect space for a face-lift,” she added.
Lechner von Leheneck, who will next produce “Sea Fever” starring George Clooney and Bradley Cooper, has lived in Vienna, Geneva, New York, Los Angeles and now Shanghai. Wang said she wanted to create a masculine looking apartment that suits him while softening it up slightly. She chose olive green for the living room and strong colors throughout the apartment, much to the owner’s delight.
“I grew up in old mansions and castles in Austria. These colors brought back my childhood memories,” said Lechner von Leheneck, who was born into an Austrian-Tyrolean noble family.
The living room is dominated by two brown leather couches, resembling the style of an old English gentlemen’s club, and a huge aluminum trunk with leather details worked around the metal. Two French 18th century Louis XVI chairs give a French aristocratic touch.
Black-and-white photos of Hollywood movie stars like Meg Ryan, Jet Li, Tom Hanks and Angelina Jolie hang on the walls. Some reveal a certain intimacy and serve as an art collection that reference Lechner von Leheneck’s career as a film producer.
Wang also used paintings and artworks made by the owner to decorate other rooms. He paints under his Chinese name, Long Yinxi.
“These very fashionable and decorative photo-paintings and paintings sometimes look more like huge fashion shots than traditional paintings,” Wang said.
“They are perfect elements to play with for an interior designer like me who is inspired by fashion and the fashion industry.”
The bedroom features a coral red color scheme and white curtains, denoting a combination of sensuality and innocence. There are also gold table lamps by designer Philippe Starck and some of his famous Fendi portraits.
The dining room is mainly yellow with a twist of peach that goes nicely with the black furniture. A golden terracotta warrior sculpture sits in the corner of the room while more black-and-white photos of Hollywood stars give the space heaps of character.
Wang said preserving the old while creating something modern at the same time is a challenge she enjoys in her profession. The Canadian-Chinese designer said she turned her Shanghai lane house into a fashionable luxury retreat, winning a Asia Pacific Interior Design Award in 2013-14 and other honors for her effort.
“My signature style is sophisticated and elegant,” Wang said. “It can be applied in a contemporary setting or classic place. I love to mix old and new, East and West.
“Depending on the project, I may use a French element in it, a culture I always felt close to and connected with. I did this with my award-winning Yongjia Road lane house design, which shows elements of a ‘modern’ 18th century French interior.”
Q: What’s the best thing about living in Shanghai?
A: The speed and the drive of the city and its people.
Q: Describe your home in three words.
A: Great location, thick walls, city apartment.
Q: What’s the first thing you do when you get home?
A: Put on music.
Q: How do you unwind?
A: Reading a movie script, one of the new screenplays proposed.
Q: What do you spend most of the time doing at home?
A: Late evenings after events or dinners with friends.
Q: What’s the view outside your window?
A: Green gardens and the tennis courts of the Garden Hotel.
Q: How do you scent your home?
A: Manly, fashionable, stylish
Q: What’s your favorite object at home?
A: The Philippe Starck Gun Lamps.
Q: Where do you source furniture in Shanghai?
A: Most of it I imported myself from Europe.
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