Nata Lee creates a colourful family home in an industrial loft
This place was built 100 years ago as a factory. Then later, it was used as a car repair shop. When I first passed by, there weren’t even any windows. It was dark, rundown and gloomy. But once I saw the big open space, my imagination was running wild. After initially intending to use it only as my art studio, I realised it would also make an ideal family home.
It was really important for me to use original materials and also to keep some of the existing elements. There are some old hooks from the car workshop still hanging on the ceiling. There’s always a story to tell. And it was clear that we wanted to have a big, long dining table to entertain family and friends.
It was really important for me to use original materials and also to keep some of the existing elements. There are some old hooks from the car workshop still hanging on the ceiling. There’s always a story to tell. And it was clear that we wanted to have a big, long dining table to entertain family and friends.
"I love to surround myself with things that bring joy. I like to believe they also bring some magic into our home"
Nata Lee Hahn
My approach to an interior project is very similar to the way I approach art. It’s a big three-dimensional painting that I can enter. It doesn’t take much to make a place cosy: good warm lighting, a few soulful pieces that have personal meaning and just having good people with good vibes hang out in your place.
When I was growing up in Hong Kong, my father would often take me around antique shops. The shopkeepers would have a story for every item. I would just sit and listen to these tales. That’s when I developed my love of treasure hunting. Today my home contains an eclectic mix of contemporary, classic and vintage pieces, including Kokeshi dolls from Japan plus a number of soft furnishings, cushions and rugs collected during our travels. When my kids are older one day and move into their own homes, I hope they’ll look back and say they were inspired by living here. That it left them the space to be creative and use their imagination, that they think of it as a place where they felt safe and uplifted.
Home should be a place where we can express our creativity, according to Nata Lee Hahn. Baking cookies occupies both the mind and the hands. Ingredients become dough, dough is shaped into figures. Sweet smells fill the kitchen as little ones gaze wide-eyed into the oven at what they have made: tomorrow’s memories.
