When Koh Zhiyi was a young boy, he would follow his design-loving father to garage sales, found through the classified ads in the newspapers that he would comb through religiously every morning. Stories abound on the people they met and the mid-century modern furniture they discovered and brought home. “This was the pre-Internet era. We’d get lucky when some owners had good stuff but didn’t know how much they were worth, ” Koh recalls fondly.
Some of these precious finds now furnish the HDB apartment he shares with his wife Lee Minli. The couple, who married in 2017, moved in in January this year. Albeit modestly sized, the home has a considered feel, with various mise en scène of furniture and objects that draw the eye around. Koh’s love of mid-century modern and vintage design, passed down from father to son, is palpable.
“Things in that era were made to last, ” he explains on his affection for items made post-World War 2 that embodied a distinctive craftsmanship and quality. Lee and Koh, who are 29 and 32 respectively, met at Singapore Management University. Their creative home speaks nothing of their careers in finance, and is a delightfully surprising place to encounter within
