Visiting the Repulse Bay home of French art collector Lalie Choffel is a little like walking into an art gallery. There are the white walls graced by gorgeous paintings and photography – and then there’s the discerning curator in the form of Lalie, who is ready with a story or intriguing factoid about every one of those pieces. Unlike an art gallery, though, the art in Chez Choffel spills over onto shelves and sideboards, and into nooks and crannies all over the flat. While Lalie has purchased plenty of her pieces from commercial galleries, fairs, and antique dealers, she’s just as likely to discover a new treasure at a flea market, on the beach or even in someone’s household garbage heap.

Lalie has amassed a truly impressive art collection during her 30 years of buying. It’s enough to spread it out across most of her four other abodes: in Tokyo, London, Paris and the family house in Marseilles. Twenty years ago, Lalie and her family – husband Thierry and children Lotus, Venise and Thibault – spent a short stint in Hong Kong before returning to lay down roots in 2012. Now, the city is very much Lalie’s home base; she stays at the other residences when she travels for business.

What was the Choffels’ biggest consideration when choosing their space? We wanted a sea view,” Lalie says. It was more important for us to have a sea view than to have a huge apartment.” Indeed, the living area opens onto a balcony that looks directly out to the South China Sea. We wanted one bedroom for my daughter [Lotus, who still lives at home], one bedroom for guests and, as we have a dog, we needed a garden. This flat had everything we wanted – it’s perfect.”

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