An Expression of Love
Chasing Wang, the founder of Shanghai-, Milan- and New York-based multidisciplinary practice NÒNG STUDIO, renovated his waterfront apartment to become a timeless repository for his art and design collections. We speak with Wang to find out more about his approach to creating this deeply personal space
Design Anthology: Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Chasing Wang: I was born in Shanghai and studied in Milan. I’ve travelled extensively and worked as an interior designer, photographer and art collector before launching NÒNG STUDIO. I’m fascinated by the 1970s Shanghai Art Deco style and travel around the world collecting vintage furniture.
What did you set out to do with the renovation of your apartment?
My wife and I wanted to redesign our home by drawing from different parts of our collections, playing on my multidisciplinary roots and travels, and creating a narrative that crosses East and West.
Measuring 185-square-metres, it’s a three-bedroom unit that we reconfigured by opening up the rooms to form a larger communal space for our family to gather. This open-plan living area now houses a study, dining room and living room, which we’ve filled with books, collections, art pieces, designer objets and vintage furniture we’ve collected over the years.
How did you approach the project — what design references did you try to incorporate into the space?
I opted for an elegant and sophisticated design that recovers and enhances the valuable decorative elements that are part of the history of modernism. I was also inspired by freestyle jazz, which is all about improvisation and the ability to react spontaneously, to invent and explore. There’s no reason why all these pieces are displayed together other than the fact that I love them all and I wanted to put them together in new ways.
Please tell us a little about your material and furniture choices for the space.
The living room is divided into the dining and leisure areas, connected by a black marble fireplace and plenty of artworks on the wall. The study wall is dramatically decorated with wallpaper depicting opera scenes and an Italian vintage teak desk anchors the space. The corridor is layered with Chinese elements and works by contemporary artists from China, Italy, France and America. In the master suite, light wood veneer wall panels, an Art Deco-style marble fireplace and a rug by Henri Matisse create a similar interplay of elegance and playfulness.
In the dining room, a Franco Albini-designed bookshelf is stacked with objets like chunky ceramics by Jaime Hayon, a scale model of window frames by Frank Lloyd Wright, wooden sculptures from vitra., one of Yoshitomo Nara’s dog sculpture and glass vessels by Mondrian.
Do you have a favourite element or design detail in the architecture or interiors?
I see the entire home as an individualistic expression of everything we hold dear, and we love how art and design blend with comfort to create unpredictable yet dynamic moments.
Images / Chasing Wang
