Photography by JJ Jetel

The Sai Kung home that creative director Ross Urwin shares with his his life and work partner, Darrel Best, is a masterclass in the most important rule of personal style: that you should ignore fashion trends and invest in furnishings and details you love. “Finding pieces that have character and a story behind them creates an inspiring environment to live in,” says London-born Ross.

Hong Kong has been Ross’s home since 2007, when he moved from London to lead Lane Crawford’s design and lifestyle team. He left the retail giant in 2013 to co-found Infrastructure Hong Kong with Sydney-born Darrel. The one-stop creative agency advises a who’s who of hospitality, lifestyle and fashion labels, including artists and entrepreneurs, on developing their brands and projects.

You’d assume a life spent in the midst of the world’s leading design fairs, with both emerging and established artists, designers and connoisseurs such as Ilse Crawford, Jaime Hayon, Tom Dixon, Kelly Hoppen, Faye Toogood and Russell Pinch as friends, would translate into a home that is a cornucopia of iconic design. Instead, the 2,100sqft, three-storey home with a leafy rooftop terrace is a decidedly relaxed hybrid of vintage and contemporary that reflects the couple’s refined taste and easy glamour.

Photography by JJ Jetel

“It’s a challenge at times to keep yourself from continually buying all the wonderful things you are exposed to through your work, but if we purchased everything we fell in love with, there would be no room for us,” says Ross. It helps, he adds, that they are able to indulge their design obsessions on a day-to-day basis through their work and interaction with designers. Developing a focused buying plan also helps keep temptation at bay. The couple recently bought a 1925 Federation house in Byron Bay, eastern Australia, which they are decorating with a dynamic but carefully curated mix of objets d’art.

“I’m more instinctual so I have already raided most of the local vintage stores and have purchases in mind in addition to allocating various pieces from our home in Hong Kong, while Darrel, who is more considered and likes the luxury of deliberation and contemplation, has been creating CAD plans and spreadsheets from the minute the hammer went down at the auction,” Ross says.

Photography by JJ Jetel

While authenticity and provenance are all-important, developing your own style is essential, whether at home or advising clients on how to develop their own authentic identity in a saturated environment, he adds. At their Hong Kong home, this translates into an eclectic mix of contemporary products they have designed, found or purchased from young designers or artists the pair has helped to support. 

Here, Warren Platner side tables and Eames plywood chairs sit comfortably alongside family heirlooms, including a collection of Ross’s grandfather’s hats. An ardent admirer of vintage furniture, Ross says mid-century and contemporary pieces often work very well together—for instance, a Willy Rizzo-designed Italian 1960s coffee table with an abstract patterned rug they designed themselves. “We both like to stop and think about the key objectives for a space—comfort, functionality—and then devise appropriate design considerations,” says Ross.

Photography by JJ Jetel

This sleek yet unpretentious approach perfectly reflects Infrastructure’s growing portfolio of clients, including lifestyle companies Atelier Swarovski, Tai Ping Carpets and Resource Decor; shops and retailers such as Design Shanghai, The Beast and Lane Crawford; as well as design powerhouses like Kelly Hoppen and Winkreative.

“It doesn’t matter if we’re working with a hotel, store, brand or designer, the partnership can only be successful if we know our clients well enough to work in a collaborative partnership.” Good design is as much about comfort as aesthetics, Ross adds. “There’s no point in having a well-designed chair if you don’t want to sink into it.” 

Photography by JJ Jetel

Ross’s favourite place to escape with book in hand is the first-floor library, where he relaxes on a sinuous black leather and steel FK 87 Grasshopper chaise lounge designed by Preben Fabricius and Jørgen Kastholm in 1968 and recently relaunched by the Danish firm Lange Production. 

Darrel’s go-to spot is the ground-floor sitting room, where he starts each day curled up on the white linen sofa with a cup of tea. The open-plan light-filled expanse houses the kitchen and dining spaces, while upstairs—via a staircase that functions as a vertical art gallery—the third floor accommodates two bedrooms in a cool white palette.

Photography by JJ Jetel

Ross recalls moving into an empty house a full month before their container arrived from London. “With a need for basics to tide us over, we ventured to Ikea and bought a sofa we thought we’d release once we were properly settled in. The sofa is exceptionally comfortable so is still with us nine years later. What seemed like a compromise turned out to be a wise purchase, proving that good design and comfort can be democratic and accessible. After all, we’re not making a design statement, we’re making our home.”

 This article was printed in the November 2016 issue of Hong Kong Tatler