Sixteen years ago Todi Kong and her husband Mario Sousa rented an apartment in one of the newest residential complexes in Macau at the time, Nova Taipa Gardens.
Later, when the property boom hit, the Sousa’s apartment went on the market, so they put in an offer to buy and it was accepted. They then bought an apartment that came up on a higher floor and very soon after taking possession their agent called and said that the adjacent unit was also for sale.
They jumped at the chance to have a double apartment, and the Sousas, both civil engineers, set about converting it into a space that they have now called home for the past eleven years.
“We took the two apartments down to bare shell combining them into the one space. In those days I did all the designs by hand. There were many sleepless nights,” explains Todi.
But living downstairs in their original apartment during the renovation meant they were able to run upstairs on their lunch breaks to keep a close check on progress.
The three-bedroom apartments in Nova Taipa Gardens have generously sized bedrooms, so the Sousas decided to keep one unit as the sleeping quarters and the second unit for the living quarters. The very large master bedroom incorporates an adjacent smaller bedroom made into a walk-in closet. The guest bedroom was converted into a spacious area with a study-cum-entertainment area for their 21-year-old son, currently studying software engineering at Manchester University. The final bedroom has become Todi’s art studio.
Entering the home, one is welcomed by a water feature complete with floating candles and flowers.
“I like water and seeing the candle light reflections,” Todi smiles, “When we host dinners for friends I sometimes set this up to welcome them, but during the very humid months we remove the water and put a wood cover on top so we can display various decorative pieces.”
To the right of the entrance stands an impressive stone carving, one of several that the Sousas own and clearly a very cherished possession. Parts of the stone have been so finely polished that the surface looks and feels like wood.
“When we were in Australia some years ago, we were at the Gold Coast and came upon a shop owned by a Spanish man selling a lot of big stone sculptures from Zimbabwe. He would tell us fascinating stories about each piece so we were drawn to them.”
“Wherever we go somewhere we like to buy things that remind us of our trip. It’s not just the piece, it’s the story behind it”.
The beautiful sculptures, bronze statues, paintings and their other treasures on display come from Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, China and beyond.
Ahead of the entrance lies an impressively large living area. The overall colour scheme is cream and white accented with pale caramel and black.
“I like neutral colours; having a neutral palette means that the look and colour scheme of my home can be easily changed by changing the small objects, cushions, throw rugs and the like. We also like bringing materials from nature in to the house so we have a lot of wood and stone; it’s very relaxing,” explains Todi.
A huge cream leather sofa, luxuriously deep, is complemented by the pale cream-flecked tiled flooring and a darker caramel-beige border. A thick cream rug underfoot is patterned with several large white and black circles. The couple designed some of the furniture themselves and had it made locally – the pale wood coffee table and a low side table in the corner between the sofa sections has a hole in the centre so that a large palm plant can be placed inside it with the leaves coming through the hole.
From the living room, one enters a room that has been set up for entertainment, complete with snooker table and music equipment.
Throughout the apartment all new doors were installed, each designed with five mirror panels inset down the centre to give depth and reflective light.
The next room is the dining room, with no less than two dining tables.
“The round one is for when we’re just the three of us eating, it’s cozier,” explains Todi. “The big one – it’s so big that our contractor had to have it made inside the apartment because it would never have been able to fit in the lift – is for when we have friends over.”
“When I design a piece of furniture I like it to have more than one application,” Todi explains, pointing to two waist-height round side tables sitting on a base. Their tops can be removed and inside are hand beaten stainless steel basins from Thailand, with a plug, so that they can be filled with ice for drinks when the Sousas entertain. They can even be used for salads or seafood appetizers. When the ice melts, the water is drained out through the plug, down a pipe in the central base, and collected in a small bucket. Ingenious!
Two oil paintings of ladies in white are by Vietnamese artist Nguyen Dieu Thuy. And originally a panel of four oils of a Chinese lady bought in Shanghai has been separated into four individually framed pictures making them more of a statement.
The kitchen is spacious, bright and modern with all white cabinetry, white tiles and stainless steel splash back, brown-black-cream flecked granite countertop and flooring, and stainless steel appliances. Plants at the window – a palm and a large oregano plant – give a sense of garden and obscure the view of buildings outside.
The Sousa’s home is clearly an expression of their appreciation for art, but it goes deeper than that. Though civil engineering has been Todi’s day job, she has enjoyed drawing from a young age, and over the years this hobby and painting has led to a passion for sculpting.
“I’ve been experimenting with this for the past eight years but only four years ago I decided to dedicate myself more seriously to my art. I had my first exhibition a year and a half ago.”
Organized by the Orient Foundation it featured 13 of her beautiful statues. She has now become known for her creations within artistic circles in Macau and is currently working on a new collection for another exhibition planned for next year.
“It takes about one to two months to make one piece, so it’s slow going,” she says. “I use epoxy sculpting putty for the molding of my sculptures, which is a self-hardening material. As it doesn’t need to go into an oven it gives me more freedom to shape the sculptures without depending on other elements”.
She then paints the figures to give them a bronze-metallic look and dresses some of them in fabrics treated with fabric hardener. A number of her pieces are displayed around the home: the mother with baby; the seated figure that is especially precious as it was a gift for her mother; a standing woman in a long burnt orange robe and the torso made of stainless steel mesh covered in epoxy, fabric and then painted.
It’s not only sculptures that Todi uses to express her creativity. She also paints – a striking 3-D acrylic and fabric painting hanging by the bar is hers.
And with the Sousa’s son now away studying in the UK, is there any pull to move to Europe one day?
“We love it here, Macau is still a good place to live… safe, convenient…only the traffic is not convenient!” she laughs.
