Cover The kitchen island in dark stone with marble inlay detail is part of a film-inspired interior design that draws on mood and texture throughout
The kitchen island in dark stone with marble inlay detail is part of a film-inspired interior design that draws on mood and texture throughout
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In a bachelor’s apartment in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, The Makeover Guys draw on Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love to realise a film-inspired interior design built around mood, colour, and the freedom to actually live
When Victoria Loi, Chief Creative Officer of Kuala Lumpur-based interior design firm The Makeover Guys, took on this residential project in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, she did not start with a mood board or a material palette. She started with a memory. Specifically, the memory of watching Wong Kar-wai’s 1999 film In the Mood for Love and being unable to shake it.
“This space is inspired by In the Mood for Love,” Loi says. “Its world, its pauses, and its unspoken tension never really left my mind.” She titled the project Whisper from 2046, a reference to Wong’s 2004 follow-up film and the thread she felt running between the two works.
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The living room in full, with the black leather sofa, low black coffee table, a striped armchair at the window and two amber globe sconces set into the panelled feature wall
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The client’s brief happened to align with where she was already going. He had no interest in the minimalist aesthetic that has dominated Malaysian residential design in recent years, with its constant upkeep required to remain coherent. He wanted something that could absorb the demands of daily life without unravelling. “He wanted a home that he could actually live with him,” Loi explains. “One that reflects his lifestyle and character, where even when things are a little messy, the space still tells a story.”
Above A view through the timber-framed entrance into the corridor, where a small woven stool sits below a framed grid artwork at the far end
Above The living room display cabinet closed, its reeded glass panels in crimson frames flanking the central shelving, with a woven stool and black coffee table in the foreground
A view through the timber-framed entrance into the corridor, where a small woven stool sits below a framed grid artwork at the far end
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Above The mustard-yellow display cabinet opens to reveal walnut shelves holding design books, a terracotta vessel and a vintage boombox on the lower level
Above Close detail of the reeded glass cabinet doors in crimson-lacquered frames, with turned wood and chrome pull handles
The mustard-yellow display cabinet opens to reveal walnut shelves holding design books, a terracotta vessel and a vintage boombox on the lower level
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Loi had long paid close attention to how cinematographers handle light and how production designers build emotion without dialogue. In the Mood for Love works largely this way, through colour, framing, and the particular pressure of its silences. “There’s so much emotion in the frame and space,” she says. “That really shaped how we approached the design.”
The kitchen island clad in dark stone with a marble inlay detail, flanked by timber cabinetry and a checker-stripe tile feature wall
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The apartment Loi designed does not quote the film directly. There is no attempt to reconstruct its 1960s Hong Kong interiors, the narrow stairwells, the amber-lit corridors, the texture of walls in a cramped residential block. “It is not about recreating a movie set,” she says. “It is about capturing an emotion that stayed with me for a long time.”
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Above The dining area viewed from the living room, with the red-orange figured wood table base and open shelving beyond, beside a rubber plant in a turquoise ceramic pot
Above The dining area looks towards the corridor, with the tiled display niche anchoring the wall and the red-orange wood table base visible in the foreground
The dining area viewed from the living room, with the red-orange figured wood table base and open shelving beyond, beside a rubber plant in a turquoise ceramic pot
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For Loi, film has always functioned as something close to a private archive of possible spaces. “I often find myself wanting to step into those frames, to feel the atmosphere, to live inside those crafted moments.” This project was the first time she let that habit directly drive a commission. The apartment carries what she calls the film’s “quiet tension,” its handling of mood and colour, adjusted for a home that someone actually occupies rather than a set that is lit and dressed for a single take.
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Above The dark marble display shelves hold ceramics, a portable table lamp, a wooden box and a Tadao Ando atlas
Above The full display niche is set into the checker-stripe tiled wall, with an amber glass wall sconce and a woven bolster bench below
The dark marble display shelves hold ceramics, a portable table lamp, a wooden box and a Tadao Ando atlas
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Above The dining table surface is in dark stone with inlaid strips of figured red-orange wood echoing the base below
Above A wide view of the dining and kitchen zone, with the checker-tiled feature wall, black leather chairs and copper tube pendant overhead
The dining table surface is in dark stone with inlaid strips of figured red-orange wood echoing the base below
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The practical consequence of this is an apartment that does not depend on order to hold together. Loi designed it to remain itself when books are left open, and dishes are not yet washed. “We wanted to create a space that tells a story effortlessly,” she says. “A place you can truly live in as yourself, free, effortless, and unforced. Even without perfect upkeep, it still feels alive.”
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Above The open-plan living and dining area, with the checker-tiled niche wall, kitchen beyond, and the edge of the black leather sofa at left
Above A credenza in the living area, with red-orange figured wood shelves mounted on a grey fabric wall holding ceramics, stone spheres and small objects
The open-plan living and dining area, with the checker-tiled niche wall, kitchen beyond, and the edge of the black leather sofa at left
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A side project ran alongside the interior work. Malaysian film director Mickey Lai came on board, and the two spent time thinking through a reversal of the usual arrangement between designers and filmmakers, in which a narrative generates the space.
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The bedroom seen from the doorway, with the full fabric-panelled headboard wall and its banded treatment of grey and crimson, curtained window and copper pendant.
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Above A close detail of the crimson rolled bolster cushions set into the wood-framed headboard panels, with a dark veined marble shelf and a wooden knot sculpture below
Above The dark charcoal built-in wardrobe with bronze hardware, set against warm wood-panelled walls, with a globe wall light mounted to the left
A close detail of the crimson rolled bolster cushions set into the wood-framed headboard panels, with a dark veined marble shelf and a wooden knot sculpture below
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Here, the space generated the narrative, and Lai made a film from it. “We explored how a space could inspire a story, instead of the other way around,” Loi says. Watching the finished film confirmed something for her about the scope of what a room can do. “It showed me that a space can spark imagination just as much as it can support daily life.”
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Jennifer Choo is Regional Managing Editor of Tatler Homes, covering architecture, interior design, and art across Asia. Based in Malaysia, she oversees regional content on luxury residential design and contemporary art collections. Legally trained but choosing to pursue her passion for design, she previously led notable design publications and worked as an interior stylist and art consultant for property developers, design firms, and private clients.
