Australian designer Stuart Membery lists Bali villa Monkey Palm
The globetrotting Stuart Membery, a style icon for four decades, is selling Monkey Palm, his Bali bolthole.
The fashion designer turned property stylist bought the restoration project in 2004, a year after visiting Bali and falling in love with the Indonesian island.
Monkey Palm was a challenging project from the outset.
“It was a wreck. Deplorable. It had no roof at all — but I loved it,” Membery told me.
It became his signature property design showpiece which has since been embraced on projects by many of his clients across Bali.
The four-bedroom, plantation-style compound, which has appeared in Vogue Living, has a clean blue-and-white facade and covers 445 square metres of building space on 1820 square metres of land off a quiet laneway in bustling Seminyak.
Membery runs Stuart Membery Architecture in Bali where he spends around six months a year. His work takes him all over the globe.
“I was in the Middle East for months on a big-deal project last year and this year I’ll be spending a lot of time in Singapore — I’m a worker,” Membrey said.
He has no intention of quitting Bali because when Monkey Palm sells, he intends to relocate to Pineapple Hill, another four-bedroom property he has renovated over the years.
For him the sale of Monkey Palm is almost a predestined event of perpetual self-reinvention — a process he enjoys.
“I look forward to continuing to evolve,” Membery said.
Ray White Cottesloe agent Deb Brady is marketing the home at $975,000 in conjunction with Iggy Damiani at 1st City Sydney, and Harcourts Indonesia and Exotiq Bali.
Brady said representing Membery and his property was quite exceptional.
“I’ve been a great fan of his for years, from back when he first started in fashion,” Brady said.
“The Membery name is synonymous with style, and the property is simply as beautiful as you would expect.”
Indonesian law states that foreigners can’t own land, so Monkey Palms is being offered with a 22-year lease in place, with a 10-year extension available.
Membery believes he knows the type of person who will take over his home.
“I know who my market is — I’ve always known my demographic,” he said.
“Baby Boomers, because I’m one of them!”
This article was first published in the Sunday Telegraph.
