At Banyan Tree Residences in Kuala Lumpur, a five-year realisation of a dream has resulted in the most concentrated use of Versace Home collection pieces in one residence. For its owner Aidan, who spends his time between Asia and Europe, creating this living space decked out in Versace is the fruition of his teenage years. Then, he had first encountered Versace Jeans, which was among the few fashion brands in the 1990s that had made significant inroads into the Malaysian fashion scene. To the teenaged Aidan, Versace Jeans and its associated imagery were impressively cool.
The idea to work on a Versace Home-themed living space occurred along his journey towards his 40th birthday, with Versace’s iconography becoming the link to his younger self. He soon reached out to Matthew Lim of Matthew Lim Associates (MLA), a frequent collaborator who had helped him on interior design projects on his other business ventures. “This project really pushed our boundaries to create a fully customised residence,” Lim states, adding that beyond the experience of working alongside the owner, he also gained a valuable friendship. For Lim, their shared five-year process of designing the space revolved around understanding how to fully amplify the Versace Home pieces, many of which had been sourced by Aidan on his frequent travels to Europe and within Asia.
Here in Malaysia, the local store that retails only Versace’s fashion lines set up a dedicated ordering facility to help Aidan ship in pieces for the project. His recollection of the sourcing was of how difficult it was due to the scarcity and desirability of Versace Home collection pieces. “You practically have to grab the pieces you want the moment you see them, from the cutlery to accessories. Otherwise, you are unlikely to see them again,” Aidan says.
Just last month, this home project arrived at its long-awaited conclusion. Across the 1,000 sq ft of space, black and gold dominate the palette, with the Versace medusa head logo featuring in its unabashed accents. MLA had transformed the entire unit into a giant studio space, fitted with a powder room, central bathroom with vanity, shower and toilet, as well as a pantry that segues into the dining and living spaces.
The exuberant gold finishes begin from the ceilings with a special hand-mixed ‘stardust’ effect. The application of this technique gives an appearance of a hand-beaten, wave-like metallic surface—an almost organic atmosphere particularly when it catches the rays of the setting sun. Walls, meanwhile, are a combination of a cork-and-pewter base with wallpaper, as well as gold-veined dark Portoro marble from Turkey, which is also used for the flooring. The custom super king-sized bed, naturally covered with Versace Home bed linen and duvet, is placed on an elevation with gold-plated wall sockets and lighting controls.
Among Aidan’s many considerations in acquiring the pieces (he stopped keeping count) for his home was the need to have 24k gold plated-only items as they would not tarnish and thus maintain their lustre. When a Versace Home item was not readily available, the other consideration was that it had to be made in Italy, hence the De’Longhi coffee machine next to the Versace Home oven gloves and apron. Sharing the same counter is a rose gold SMEG toaster to augment the golden theme.
For both Aidan and Lim, the overall big idea never wavered—it was really a matter of looking at the entire array of Versace Home pieces as a collection and building a gallery that would also function as a home. “In a way, you could say it was like piecing together a jigsaw, and every time we found something we liked that fit the overall concept, the process would move forward,” Lim says.
As for Aidan, his vision for the space was informed by both Lim’s proposed designs and his own aesthetic preferences, which eventually led to bespoke outcomes. Two key instances illustrate this. The first was in MLA’s proposal of a diamond-shaped bathtub. At the time of drawing, neither Lim nor Aidan had any idea if they could actually source for something with such a unique shape. It would take months of searching across numerous online sources before they finally discovered the Diamond Freestanding Bathtub from Maison Valentina in Portugal. The built-in oval tub is finished in a high gloss black varnish, casting a moody character to the bathroom. This made-to-order tub is also the first faceted bathtub that Maison Valentina had made for Asia. Similarly, the vessel sink from Maison Valentina is in the shape of a tree stump and is made in gold-plated cast aluminium to recall growth rings.
In the second instance, Aidan’s preference for a ‘floating television screen’ necessitated a great deal of discussion with the cabinet contractors. The solution was a customised tempered laminated glass that could support a 65-inch Samsung The Frame in the cavity, allowing it to look totally suspended in the air. The modernistic cabinet and television juxtaposes with the sensual glamour of the Versace Home sofa and a custom-made hand-tufted rug of mohair and botanical silk by Ferreira de Sa and Studio216. The completion of this rug was also accompanied by the maker’s label placement and name on the piece (a first for them) upon Aidan’s request.
Other pieces happened almost naturally. For the Large Rokko Cheetah, a hand-painted metallic-finish porcelain sculpture by Versace Home, Aidan had purchased it and added a Versace medusa medallion on it to create an extra layer of detailing next to his well-stocked drinks cabinet, which boasts an astounding array of bottles from top Champagne houses. In a key observation of details, the flush button on the toilet is also sourced from Versace Home and modified with a Gerberit cistern tank, as is the toilet roll holder, soap dish and toilet brush in its gold-plated container. In the shower, the ceramic tiles are similarly sourced from Versace Home, as is the adjacent 24k gold-plated wall hook for the terry-towelled bathrobe with its Barocco-printed sleeve and wrap belt.
For Aidan, the completion of this ode to Versace and his youth has put him in a contemplative mood. “I had high expectations and knew that Matthew could match the big vision to accommodate all my requests,” he says. Many extra details explain the duo’s uncompromising approach to seek the very best solutions for the space: a Grohe bathtub mixer and kitchen tap in polished gold, Reginox kitchen sink, Axor for the powder room’s mixer and shower set, Yale Luna Pro face recognition and fingerprint access, and Jung switches used throughout the unit.
As for Lim, his retrospective view of the entire project is that the takeaways are infinitely enriching. “A lot of what we did towards the end, we probably would not have executed at the start of the project,” he says. “Being patient, perhaps motivated by the owner’s insistence, and really expanding our perspectives helped us to understand how to fully utilise and situate the pieces for maximum effect, such as integrating Versace Home tiles with gold-mirrored water jet-cut marble for the vanity.” And with all that, Lim concludes: “The end result of applying everything we learnt along the way makes the result even better than what we imagined at the start, and that is really satisfying.”
Photos: Weng Jen / TWJPTO Studio
