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January 22, 2017

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Home » Sunday » Home and Design

Cozy, minimalist family apartment

CAROL Chyau has crafted a spacious, modern and cozy family space in the center of Shanghai that is bright and soothing.

The co-founder of Shokay, a socially responsible textiles brand that creates premium knitwear, yarn, and fabric from yak down, knows how to balance life and work. And an ideal living space is key.

“I have lived for a decade in Shanghai and had been looking to move for the last four years but couldn’t find an appropriate place. My previous place was a spacious three bedrooms in Jing’an District, only a 10-minute walk to my office with rent undervalued by 30 percent, so unless I found the ‘perfect’ place, I wasn’t willing to move,” she said.

“The ideal criteria were that it had to be close to public transportation, have four bedrooms with each being very spacious, and a large living room. We have many visitors and my father often comes to Shanghai for business. We also wanted abundant natural light.”

Her current apartment is located on Hongmei Road, next to the Yan’an Elevated Road. Chyau liked the fact that every room was spacious, and the kitchen was especially large. “It has inspired me to cook, which I hadn’t done... since moving to Shanghai. Of course, I also liked the marble floors and floor heating. We were looking for former French concession-style wooden floors instead of the usual Chinese wooden floors, and were pleasantly surprised by the marble. The previous owner had blue glass as decoration, which was an eyesore for us so we knocked that out,” she said.

Chyau didn’t change much about the layout. “The biggest aesthetic change was adding wallpaper. We were bold in selecting a particular pattern, and that has turned out to be a key feature in our apartment. We also switched out all the windows to be double or triple paned, as we live right next to the Yan’an Elevated Road. We often comment that these were the best investments we made for the apartment.”

Natural tones prevail in the space, along with a touch of copper gold. It took considerable time to choose the right wallpaper and other furniture, because the marble flooring had various shades of grey with a touch of beige. “In the beginning I chose very similar colors and textures for the couch and curtains, and then had to expand out into a colorway rather than always sticking to the same tone to prevent the apartment from looking overly grey or overly beige,” she said.

When selecting furniture, pieces had to match and fit the space appropriately. “We also like natural wood, so we gravitated toward certain materials and colors very quickly. Because our wallpaper became such a strong feature, both in our bedroom and living room, we started matching everything against that. We wanted sleeker legs on our chairs and tables that tapered, rather than the chunky style. We preferred thinner surfaces, such as glass table shelving on a wooden structure,” Chyau said.

As Chyau and her husband puts the place together, they found it to have a subtle East meets West aesthetic, which is not surprising, because it’s a reflection of their own identity and background.

Chyau has kept things minimalist for now because she and her husband like to collect special pieces when they travel. “We didn’t want to fill up the home for the sake of filling it up. My husband and I lugged two side tables and two rugs back from the Taj Mahal. I have carpets from Yunnan Province, candle holders from Zambia. I have travelled to over 30 countries and many pieces were collected from my travels.”

Among the many beloved travel pieces and beautiful accessories, Chyau’s own Shokay home collections are also a highlight. The luxury hand-woven throws, pillows and cushions decorate the living room to the bedrooms. “My new home is like a Shokay showroom. As we have expanded our Home & Lifestyle collection, we now have a lot more products that go in the home. I have the luxury of both envisioning and living in a Shokay home. The hand-knit pillows give the living room very unique textures.”

Shokay is known for its offerings of incredibly soft and delicate yak down fiber, the key material of all its products. The birth of Shokay has not only vastly improved the yield and quality of yak down, but has given local herders and producers new opportunities and stable incomes.

“At Shokay we have an Artist in Residence program where we invite artists to explore our supply chain in Chongming island and Qinghai Province. In 2014, we invited Australia mixed media artist Caitlin Reilly to our communities. Many of the art pieces now hang in my apartment too. I seem to have an affinity for yaks… When I went to Nepal, I was so excited to see yaks everywhere that I brought many yak paintings from a local artist there as well,” Chyau said.

Shokay is everywhere in Chyau’s life, from the knitwear and scarves she wears in the daytime, the loungewear she wears at night, and the pillows and throws used in her home.

 

Ask the owner

Q: What’s the best thing about living in Shanghai?

A: It’s the New York of Asia. International and cosmopolitan, but hard to keep up with the pace of change.

 

Q: Describe your home in three words.

A: Spacious, cozy, peaceful.

 

Q: What’s the first thing you do when you get home?

A: Make myself a cup of tea and lounge on the couch.

 

Q: How do you unwind?

A: Read

 

Q: What’s the best thing outside your window?

A: Tall green trees

 

Q: How do you scent your home?

A: With fresh flowers once a week.

 

Q: What’s your favorite object at home?

A: My yak stool.

 

Q: Where do you source furniture in Shanghai?

A: Boloni, Taobao, Kinetic.

 

If you’d like us to feature your home, email yangdi@shanghaidaily.com




 

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