Tang Zijia: Artworks should feel as comforting as a home does.

　　At the most representative real estate project of the Tomson Group: Tomson One, Tong Zijia built a residence for himself. This residence integrates the exquisite design of Japanese designer Tomoaki Watanabe and his years of art collection, like a private museum; it also witnesses the days and nights of Tong Zijia leading Tomson Group to forge ahead, like a documentary of entrepreneurial life. "Tatler" visited this residence and spent an afternoon chatting with Tong Zijia about home and collection.

Tong Zi Jia
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MR. TONG CHI KAR
CHARLES

　　Three years ago, standing on the balcony of Tomson One facing both sides of the Huangpu River, Tong Zijia must have recalled that distant morning when his father took him by boat to Pudong... Such a slightly melancholic "One Hundred Years of Solitude" style opening applied to Tong Zijia does not feel exaggerated at all. As a post-80s generation, the storms he has experienced in the past fifteen years, have gradually shaped this young "eldest son of Tomson Group" into a mature head of a prestigious family.

Comfort, the simplest yet most difficult

　　Building a home within his own group's real estate is not as easy as it seems. Tong Zijia still remembers the "struggle" before designing this home. As a real estate professional, Tong Zijia is very familiar with architecture, interior design, and decoration. When creating model homes for the company's clients, he can find the right direction between the company's positioning and current trends and execute immediately. But designing a home for himself became both simple and complex.

　　Tong Zijia has a free-spirited and interesting personality, and his speech is concise and powerful. Most walls and floors of this residence use only white walls and marble, presented through soft furnishings. The furniture colors are mainly elegant earth tones. In the prosperous Lujiazui, it gives a feeling of returning to nature.

　　And within the seemingly simple decoration, there are quite rich details. First, around "living functions," Tong Zijia and Japanese designer Tomoaki Watanabe communicated for a full year during the design planning phase to establish the layout and style based on daily living needs, work, business receptions, banquets, and other functions.

　　From the elevator hall through the main door, entering the interior, the main living room intertwined with metallic textures and understated fabric elements faces the Huangpu River, offering unparalleled views. On one side is a round dining room, with a lightweight Baxter chandelier above, a round table exuding steady momentum, and alternating colored dining chairs revealing Tong Zijia's unconventional personality; on the other side are the study and bedroom, as well as a corridor leading to the meeting space. Along the corridor, various photo frames and memorabilia record important moments of Tong Zijia.

"Simplicity, I believe, is precisely
a pursuit of precision, not something simple."
／ Tong Zi Jia ／

　　For more than a decade, designer Tomoaki Watanabe has participated in many Tomson Group projects. Their long-term communication and shared attention to detail made them a perfect match. Through Watanabe's meticulous design, every detail of the residence is thoughtfully crafted, showing noble temperament in simplicity. For example, upon close inspection, the white wall coating contains glitter, layered through multiple applications to create a delicate and rich texture; also, the metal parts throughout the home are all made of brass, which, although more costly and demanding in craftsmanship, presents a unique sense of time that no other metal can replace.

Living with art

　　Whenever talking about art collection, Tong Zijia becomes more talkative, constantly revealing many unique insights. Besides being the head of Tomson One, as an art collector, he is also quite famous in the circle. Around 2009, to add artworks to Tomson Group's real estate projects, Tong Zijia began to accumulate a concentrated understanding of art, and since then, it has been unstoppable.

　　"I remember at my most obsessed time, whenever I wasn't working, all my energy was spent studying artworks. This hobby has lasted exactly 10 years now. Nowadays, I don't spend as much time on it, maybe because other hobbies take some time, or because my ten years of collecting have accumulated a lot of professional knowledge, but I still feel this will be a hobby that continues."

"Putting artworks at home is to accompany them,
they are family, they are loved ones.
Like the house, they should be comfortable."
／ Tong Zi Jia ／

　　Tong Zijia often changes the artworks at home. Just one or two months before the interview, he replaced all the artworks arranged for more than two years with a batch of more colorful works, including Zhou Chunya's "Peach Blossom" which is the first thing seen when exiting the elevator, Xie Molin's "Thorn NO.13" and Song Yige's "Back Garden" on both sides of the living room, Zhang Enli's "Iron Net" hanging in the corridor leading to the bedroom, Wang Guangle's untitled work in the business meeting area, and a trendy installation piece by British contemporary female artist Tracey Emin—a heart-shaped neon light near the living room entrance.

　　Tong Zijia likes quiet, especially when thinking about work. Being alone at home, walking and thinking is his way to organize thoughts, so "having a peaceful atmosphere that allows deep thinking" is an important reason he likes these artworks, especially Wang Guangle's untitled piece, whose radiating gradient colors paired with lighting create a profound Zen atmosphere in the interior space.

　　And Tong Zijia's most treasured are the "Klein Blue" series displayed in the living room, study, and corridor. All are created by Yevs Klein, a representative figure of French Pop Art. "Klein is a very favorite artist," said Tang Zijia. "He created a unique blue that belongs exclusively to him, and used it as a spirit, presenting it on different media to become individual works. This conceptual performance art approach was very avant-garde in an era still dominated by oil painting."

　　"Overall, my attitude towards the artworks at home is the same as my attitude towards my home: since we live with them every day, comfort must come first." After 10 years of collecting, Tang Zijia has brought art into more spaces, and art deeply influences his mood every day.

The wonderful relationship between hobbies and fate

　　For Tang Zijia today, art Collecting is no longer a solitary pleasure. "It's not just about owning something, but about sharing it with those who appreciate it, becoming a kind of fate," said Tang Zijia. Initially falling in love with art to add artworks to public spaces, he increasingly values the emotions conveyed to others through art. Therefore, works by Zeng Fanzhi, Qiu Xiaofei, and Dalí have entered the lobby of Tangchen Yipin, and Tang Zijia often spontaneously organizes exhibitions of his collection.

　　He is also a regular at popular Shanghai art events such as the West Bund Art Festival and Art 021. His love for art extends to using it as a bond to meet interesting people from around the world. Not only art world celebrities like Liu Yiqian often visit Tang Zijia's residence, Even Princess Eugenie of the United Kingdom became a guest of honor at Tang Zijia's table through their shared connection to art. 。

　　"People have different perspectives on art; some may only see it as an investment. But to me, art is much more than that; it is a very fun thing. I might meet someone from a foreign place at an art exhibition, and if I happen to travel there someday, I will have a friend locally. This kind of fate does not happen every day."

　　Besides art collecting, Tang Zijia has two major hobbies: golf and traveling, and the first two often become important parts of the third. When the weather is cold, Tang Zijia often goes to warm countries to escape the cold and enjoy the joy of golf; when the weather is pleasant, he frequently visits historically rich places in Europe and America, filling his itinerary with various art museum routes.