We meet DOUG ATHERLEY at his house on the Gold Coast, Hong Kong and hear how he left behind a banking career to pursue interior design. He tells us about carrying out a full renovation in the home, putting together a beautiful Chinese vase collection and how an interest in the shibui aesthetic is behind his latest venture.
Where are you from originally and when did you come to Hong Kong?
I was born in the UK and spent 20 years working for major international banks in London, New York and Tokyo. In the early 2000s, I decided on a radical career change and switched from running an international securities operation to studying at the New York School of Interior Design in Manhattan. Returning to London, I did further study at the Inchbald Design School in Chelsea before starting my interior design business, Kinari Design.
Moving to Hong Kong was the result of my wife, a senior banker, being headhunted to work here in 2015. While I’d visited many times on business trips to Asia, actually living here seemed like an exciting opportunity.
Tell us about how you came to launch Kinari Design, and your interest in the shibui aesthetic.
I’d always been interested in design, and had already “done up” various apartments and houses, including converting a Grade II listed warehouse in Limehouse in London into a threestorey dockside house. The experience gained from developing and managing international securities businesses was an invaluable lesson for understanding the financial and practical aspects of project co-ordination, budget management, client liaison and final delivery – all vital to a successful interior design project.
Kinari Design works on residential and commercial projects around the world. We’ve held art shows in private houses for charity, run an art gallery in the grounds of the Astir Palace Hotel in Athens, supported a fashion start-up in London, compered charity auctions in London, Las Vegas and Chicago, and driven from Peking to Paris in a 1960 Jaguar Mark II. We worked closely with the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education in Las Vegas and the Place2Be charity in London.
Compared to the full house renovations and structural alterations that we had done in the past, the design work in Hong Kong has been smaller scale – and was then disrupted by COVID, of course. At that point I decided to branch out and work on a design product site, Shibui Collection.
It was always an idea of mine to put together a collection of things that I personally found aesthetically beautiful – and doing that for home decoration ideas seemed the obvious place to start. The Shibui Collection website will launch in the next few months. Shibui is a Japanese design aesthetic concept described as “the essence of Japanese culture and the ultimate in taste”.
Who lives in your house on the Gold Coast and what attracted you to it?
After four years in Discovery Bay when the kids were younger, we moved out to the Gold Coast three and a half years ago to reduce the travel time for them getting to Harrow School and for a change of scene. The Drake is a small development of houses and apartments with a modern Japanese design style. The houses are large with huge windows and high ceilings. There are great views of the water and the mountains, and the MacLehose Trail is just at the back for walking the dog, Max.
It’s just Laura and I living here full time with Max, who, despite a lovely personality, does like to make his presence known to anyone who has the temerity to walk past our front gate! Our kids are now both in the UK, our son at uni and our daughter at school, but both come back for holidays, to see Max mainly.
Where were you before this spot?
We’ve lived in two houses in DB – Siena Drive and then Headland. At the time, it was a good location for us – low-rise, lots of green space, fantastic access to walks, and the trip to Central on the DB ferry is a nicer commute than a London tube. I have mostly lived in big cities (London, New York, Tokyo) but enjoyed the open spaces and less crowded aspects of DB. We have toyed with the idea of moving to the south of the island but it hasn’t happened yet.
What’s it like living on the Gold Coast compared to other parts of Hong Kong?
There has been a lot of development here since Harrow School opened, and that’s ongoing. For HK islanders, coming out to GC is a relatively rare experience, but driving from Central only takes 25 minutes – it’s all motorway and the water views are amazing. The MTR isn’t convenient though the buses are good. We have a small beach behind The Drake and just past the Gold Coast Marina is Golden Beach, which is lovely.
What are some key features or quirks of your home?
The architecture is simple and elegant and the materials are well chosen. There’s a lift for all three floors (and the car park). I try to avoid it most of the time but it does come in useful if you want to move anything big – though in a couple of residential projects we’ve done, the lift has became a storage cupboard after the novelty wore off!
All the bedrooms have their own bathrooms, which was so much easier with two teenage kids, and the huge roof terrace is a lovely location for breakfast when it’s not too hot and there’s a breeze coming off the sea. We’ve also had dinner parties there.
Is there a spot in your house on the Gold Coat that you enjoy the most?
There’s a tree in the front garden that lets dappled sunlight into the living area in the afternoon. This space has 13-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows so it’s a great place to sit and read.
The main bedroom (again, big windows) has amazing views of the mountains in the distance, which are great to wake up to.
Tell us about an item in your house with an interesting backstory.
About 15 years ago, Andrew Martin in London produced a fibreglass “Pod Chair” that is basically a version of Eero Aarnio’s 1960s Ball Chair – very futuristic and cocoon-like. We have one of these upholstered in a now very faded, blue and red denim to look like a Union Jack. I thought the chair would look really good in our son’s bedroom back when we were renovating a Victorian townhouse in London.
Unfortunately, the ball shape is wide and inflexible and so it now sits rather incongruously in our living room. We’ve never since lived in a house where it will go up any staircase and it won’t go through any standard-size doorway. It still gets used, however, as our now 17-year-old daughter disappears into it to watch movies when she’s back.
Introduce us to the amazing Chinese vase series you’re about to launch on Shibui Collection.
The Chinese vases are hand-made, hand-painted and very high quality. They come from Jingdezhen in China, which has been the centre of Chinese porcelain for over 1,000 years and for a long time supplied the Chinese Imperial court.
I love traditional Chinese vase shapes and have studied the history. I like blue and white porcelain a lot but it was the fact that there were traditional Chinese vase shapes, really well made, in more modern colours, and often crackle-glazed in those colours, that made me investigate further. I’ve bought a fairly decent collection and will sell them on the Shibui Collection site – though I’m having to persuade Laura that we can’t keep them all!
What are a few things you like to do in Hong Kong when you’re not working?
Going out on a junk and finding a quiet bay to enjoy the sun and sea breezes is an amazing benefit to living here. We like going out with friends or visitors to HK, and even occasionally we rent one for just the family.
The ease of travelling around Asia is also a big deal. We’ve just returned from Vietnam and are about to go to Koh Samui before heading on to London. Last year, we visited Tokyo and I saw more in a week walking around the city than I had in 80 business trips there when I was in finance.
I’m also very happy to stay home – we’re lucky to have a lovely house, so it’s not hard to want to stay here. I can happily sit here and read about amazing design, whether its architecture, interiors, art, cars or anything really, for hours.
Otherwise, I’m walking Max – he’s a local dog we rescued as a puppy in DB and he’s very active.
Any recent Hong Kong “finds” you can recommend?
East West Treasures outside Sai Kung has a lovely selection of Chinese vases and other ceramics, plus fabrics and furniture. And a few months ago I made a first visit to Lumeun Home in Wong Chuk Hang, which brings in wonderful old Chinese furniture. Birdcage Antiques in Horizon Plaza also has a very good selection of high-quality Chinese antique furniture.
While Hollywood Road has lost a number of antique shops over the last few years, one I found on a visit years before I moved here was Arch Angel, which always has an amazing selection of museum quality pieces.
Hazel at Cloverleaf Interiors handles upholstery and curtains for me and the fabrics normally come from Wallpaper+ or Altfield Interiors. Finally, the Flower Market is always worth a visit.
This article about a house on the Gold Coast of Hong Kong first appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of Expat Living magazine. Subscribe now so you never miss an issue.
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