Photography by Howie Zheng
TRUE COLOURS
PROJECTS
In Dongjiadu, once a working port and textile hub, W.DESIGN builds Hui You Ju around colour as memory rather than decoration, each room carrying its own hue and its own emotional register, a quiet nod to the neighbourhood's own layered, working history.
Entry unfolds in jaded green: a dark emerald marble base meets textured thyme marble as the door slides open, while flooring inspired by vintage Shanghai parquet reinterprets marble strips into a warm, patterned base.
The living room turns exuberant orange, sunlight falling across a travertine table and bamboo silk carpet, custom Zhi Zai floor lamps flanking a mid century armchair by Jindrich Halabala, its curves carrying the artisanal trace of an earlier decade.
The dining room shifts to marigold, a circular gold leaf ceiling ringing the table beneath a soft pendant, jade inlaid lighting glowing below rippled glass screens.
In the southwest tea room, Black Beauty takes over: dark stained walls brushed faintly white, a fireplace casting shadow against calligraphic calm, a black lacquered stair rising nearby like ink made solid, its handrail catching the light as it climbs.
Upstairs, transparent yellow settles the second floor lounge, sunlight resting on a curved wooden ceiling as six sets of double leaf doors let the room breathe open and closed. A Bulgari marble bar balances stone against timber, drawing the wider city into view through the window beside it.
In the southwest corner, a red velvet listening room, Winery in tone, wraps sofas and armchairs in theatrical intensity, vinyl playing as the emotional counterweight to the calm elsewhere.
Across 387 square metres, Hui You Ju treats colour as narrative structure rather than palette, each room its own chapter in a quietly cinematic account of Shanghai's own layered past.
