Take a look inside this Taiwanese apartment that uses two types of marble to create a luxurious contemporary interior.
12 September 2017
Home Type: Taiwanese apartment
Floor Area: 1,410 sqft
Text by Redzman Rahmat
Just like Singapore, homes in Taiwan can be notoriously small. This apartment in Taichung City, Taiwan, however, is a picture of beauty at 1,410 square feet. The design team from Taiwan’s Ris Interior Design spent three years renovating this apartment for a family of four. They reconfigured the floor plan, used luxury materials and introduced a palette of rich colours and textures, resulting in a family home that’s both outwardly lavish and stylishly contemporary.
“The owners love natural marble,” the designers share. “They truly admire the irregularity of marble veining and its innate beauty.”They go on to explain that the husband wanted their home to be designed with marble parquets, colourful inlays and plenty of moulding ornaments. The wife on the other hand, was concerned that his design choices were too “old-fashioned”. To come up with a compromise, the designers decided to juxtapose marble with titanium elements, taking a slightly different approach to the traditional definition of luxury.
Stretching from the doorway to the living room is a wall composed of luxurious Grigio Carnico marble. Its web of black, white and grey veins sets the scene in this highly polished home. “We ignored the way most people do marble wall panelling,” the designers add. “We deliberately designed the linear proportions of that marble wall.” As a result, this showstopping wall features slivers of inlays that add to the home’s personality.
The design in the dining area is just as eye-catching. As a contrast to the duskier marble in the living room, the designers chose white Cherokee marble. They cut the marble slabs into smaller uniform pieces, then positioned them in a vertical chevron pattern. “You may see lots of wood parquet flooring in this chevron pattern, but when it’s executed at elevation view, there are even more aesthetic details that can be noticed.”
The same Cherokee marble – this time in full format – lines the flanking wall of the dining room. The natural beauty of this cloudy grey-on-white marble brings a sense of lightness to this space. Equally interesting is the designers’ choice of furniture. They took reference from Italian contemporary brands and customised their own designs, taking into account the homeowners’ preference and requests. The resulting bespoke furniture pieces may bear some similarities, but according to the designers, are tailored for easier maintenance and to be more durable to Taiwanese weather.
The rest of the home is just as luxuriously detailed. From the textured painted wall in the son’s bedroom to the creamy fabric panels in the master bedroom, it’s evident that the design team paid special attention in the material palette of this luxury apartment.
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