Home, Personified

This Martin Modern apartment reflects the interior designer who owns it.

If your day job involves designing homes for others, how do you do it for your own? Terence Neo, CEO and cofounder of boutique interior design firm EightyTwo faced this question.

His answer: “Go back to my core philosophy (and personality) of keeping it minimalist and timeless, with hints of understated luxury.”

“I think designs need to stand the test of time and this is truly representative of what we do, because we add value to a place,” says Neo, who has a decade of experience under his belt.

It certainly helped that he had a solid base to build upon, as his apartment is on a high floor in Martin Modern, a GuocoLand project near Robertson Quay.

Since EightyTwo’s office is just across the street, buying into the condominium was a no-brainer, saving Neo from having to commute. In addition, over 80 per cent of its land area is dedicated to landscaping, evoking the feeling of coming home to and living in a garden. He is also a fan of ipli Architects, which was behind the building design.

He lives alone in the 1,050-sq ft, three-bedroom unit, which, despite the distinctively masculine vibe, is not a testosterone-ladened man cave.

The walls have been intentionally kept in their original white and are almost bare, forming a blank canvas for the furniture curated from a variety of lifestyle retailers.