- Interior
In Zhongshan, in southern China, lies House of Soil: an apartment that withdraws from an overload of visual stimuli. The eponymous interior practice Soil Studios created a space that unfolds in a holistic manner, prompted by a personal spiritual experience of the couple behind it. The inspiring history of the apartment almost reads like a book – and we are delighted to guide you through it.
Soil Studios was founded in 2020 in Hong Kong by Alex Ho and his partner OJ Miu. The multidisciplinary design studio works from a conscious approach to interior design, placing ecological materials and ethical choices at its core. Just as fertile soil creates the conditions for growth, Soil aims to develop spaces that enrich the lives of their inhabitants. They themselves describe their design philosophy more as an attitude: ‘Soil is not a style, it is a philosophy born from a contemplation of “roots”’. The apartment in Zhongshan, called House of Soil, is the first project in which the duo was able to realise this vision without external constraints. 
Second chapter
House of Soil is described by its founders as their ‘second chapter’. The first chapter took place during a 21-day pilgrimage around Lake Namtso in Tibet, where they lived temporarily as monks and were entirely dependent on nature. According to them, this experience laid the foundation for their understanding of inner calm and mindfulness: ‘It was a harsh, glorious shedding that taught us that all emotions – and all designs – begin in the mind. We returned to Hong Kong drained from our former lives, but grounded. We had found the Soil’.
A PILGRIMAGE AROUND LAKE NAMTSO IN TIBET LAID THE FOUNDATION FOR THE FOUNDERS’ UNDERSTANDING OF INNER CALM AND MINDFULNESS
In the summer of 2023, the couple found an apartment in Zhongshan, OJ’s birthplace, overlooking the green Wugui Mountain. The landscape evoked memories of Tibet and offered a natural continuity with their earlier experiences. House of Soil was conceived as a ‘vessel for the soul’, in which that same sense of calm took shape once again, this time translated into a living environment.
Ritual entrance
The apartment opens with a clear sequence. A dark wood-veneered door opens onto a narrow corridor that creates tension through its restraint. The path ends at a wooden column, crafted by a local artisan from the city. Above the column hangs a Japanese cast-iron candlestick in which incense is burned, a scent that contributes to the spiritual character of the apartment. Concealed shoe cabinets and a full-height mirror hint at a future clothing line, while a Noren curtain made of antique fabric, sourced from Atelier So in Shanghai, provides access to the rest of the home. 
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Photography by Studio Periphery
Text by Carolien Depamelaere