Within Shanghai’s blossoming creative community, there are few personalities as vibrant and playfully inventive as shoe designer Alison Yeung. The London-born founder and creative director of the Mary Ching luxury shoe and accessory brand is as well-known for her independent spirit and eclectic stylings as her products are for their flashes of purple and gold. Recently short-listed for the 2010 British Business Award for Creativity, busy Yeung was kind enough to take a short break from planning near-future Asiatic expansion to show off her personal digs. TALK met with her in the studio above the Mary Ching shop in Ferguson Lane – an ingeniously converted fire escape – before enjoying a short, lazy walk through the former French Concession to her current address.

Like many of the town’s innovation crowd, Yeung says she loves the laidback pace and cultural experience living in the Concession provides. Her present home was discovered after a three-day, 50 apartment whirlwind tour of the western end of the neighbourhood – an attic-cum-loft in a large and weathered 1930s garden villa. With beautiful wood ceilings complete with skylights and a funky, non-standard layout, it appeals to her personal philosophy, “I always adore combinations of ‘East meets West’ – I love the tension.”

Three things are immediately apparent upon entering Yeung’s apartment: a lack of colour, an excess of seating options and a wide assortment of decorative accessories. About the colourless palette she is quick to admit, “It’s strange, I love colours, but I keep my home in mostly monotones.” Perhaps surrounding herself in black, white and greys gives her a sharper eye and greater appreciation for colour when designing her shoes’ characteristic look.

Yeung laughs easily when the sheer volume of seating around the apartment is pointed out. “I confess I have a fetish for chairs – none match, they are all odds,” she explains in her West London lilt. She proudly boasts that if she sits in only one per day, it will be over three weeks before she has sat in them all. As with the rest of the furniture in the apartment, including a commanding dining room table, the chairs are mostly sourced from the House of Yue-Sai, Kenas or the antique markets of Shanghai and Beijing.

Rounding out the space is Alison’s wide array of decorative items. “The accessories are all my own – a collection of things picked up on travels over the past five years,” she says. The eclecticism is impressive, from an old xylophone that doubles as a hotplate, to a statue of Buddha wearing a feathered hat and an obviously happy figurine from the Tongli Sex Museum. A cement brick with a printed picture of a migrant worker, from artist Wen Fang’s ‘What are you looking at? You make me laugh!’ installation, adds a touch of local contemporary art to the space.

In addition, scattered around the apartment are numerous items Yeung freely admits are purloined from nightclubs, bars, hotels, airplanes, Laris – a testament to her taste and pilfering skills. Mr Dim Sum, Yeung’s rambunctious pug, enjoys a nook all to himself with a chic dog house and bed. The picture is completed with a selection of calligraphy, naughty illustrations from Vietnam and photos of canines adorning the walls.

Yeung is unreserved in sharing her positive assessment of her home and getting the most out of the space. On a weekly basis she hosts chock-a-block dinner parties for up to 12 lucky friends. It might get a little crowded, but at least they won’t have to worry about a shortage of seating.

Web: www.marychingshanghai.com