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Tamsin Bradshaw

When PMQ had its soft opening in May, it offered opportunities to established designers keen to embark on a new path as well as young, emerging creators.
Johnny Li was one of the former. Since 1998, the architect had been working on hotel design and branding with his business partner, David Gibb.
With the venue, the pair saw a chance to introduce something new to Hong Kong's retail market: high-quality, craft-driven furniture that filled the gap between the city's low- and top-end furniture scene.

"We're trying to raise the standard of Hong Kong's furniture design," says Li, design director at Yiline, the new retail arm of design firm Li&Co. Yiline presents own-brand furniture and homeware sourced from Hong Kong and farther afield.
Yiline, says Li, is a mixture of cultures and design influences. "It's not about East meets West. It's about an amalgamation of different things. The world is becoming more mixed and in this furniture collection, we hope, there's a new chemistry."
The furniture collection - which ranges from HK$6,000 for stools to more than HK$100,000 for silk-and-wool rugs - uses materials such as American walnut and African mahogany, blending them with a variety of stones and crystal.
Rather than using polyurethane as a protective finish, many of the woods are waxed, says Li: "We're trying to bring back traditional construction methods."
The result is a range that is simple, pared-back and detail-oriented. "It's like a good glass of vintage wine: the more you let it breathe, the more the flavour comes out," adds Li.

Nathalie Edwards, creative director and founder of interior design firm Life Styling, is another Hongkonger creating furniture that mixes craft and construction.
The House of Edwards range - introduced in collaboration with Philippa Haydon, founder of interiors store Bowerbird Home - has Edwards designing each of the pieces.
"It's always been a dream of mine to design furniture, and this happened quite naturally," explains Edwards, who says her vision for the collection crystallised when she was creating bespoke pieces for Haydon's home.
The Dutch-South African designer blended mixed metals - "brass, rose gold, tinted steel" - with metallic leathers and Lucite to create a signature look that's glamorous and refined.
"I like the idea of returning to understated luxury," she says. "I feel like we need a bit of decadence back in our homes and our lives," she says.
With its lustrous quality and use of plush materials, and some bespoke detailing, the House of Edwards range certainly touches on the decadent. It is also an artful blend of old and new. "It definitely has a modern edge and old-school glamour," says Edwards.
The full collection, several pieces of which were introduced in March, will be available by the end of the year. It will include beds, sofas and armchairs, in addition to a dining set (table, HK$29,990; chairs HK$4,290 each), metal-plated leather cushions (HK$1,200), and rugs (HK$15,000-HK$24,900), the latter three of which are already at Bowerbird Home.

Another designer with a long-term vision for his collection is Jason Nogoy, a Filipino-American designer now based in Hong Kong. Nogoy, whose studio is called Crafthouse, recently created a range for Madura, a French brand that offers a range of homeware, in particular curtains, shades, pillows, throws and bed linens.
Nogoy's creations for Madura include shelving for HK$9,800 and HK$19,800, a bench for HK$20,800, and a chair for HK$17,800.
Madura gave Nogoy, also an architect, free rein to design what he wanted. He used this as an opportunity to express his feelings about life as an expatriate in Hong Kong.
"My work is inspired by the place I live," says the designer, who has also worked in the US, Italy, the Netherlands and Bali, Indonesia. "I get inspired by each country, but I also use the process as a tool to understand the culture I'm living in."
To convey his sense of Hong Kong life, Nogoy incorporated elements like suitcases into his designs. "Foreigners have to have a special reason, legally, to be here - they have to bring some sort of skill with them," he says. "At the same time, people here are so nomadic."
His choice of materials is also a reflection of his life here. "The impression I first got of Hong Kong was that it's hard-edged," says Nogoy, who factored steel into his creations. "There's a lot of metal in Hong Kong."
He worked with Brand X, a Kennedy Town-based furniture workshop, to take his designs from concept to reality, then added the finishing touches, such as stitching leather to steel. "I wanted to do the experimental things myself, such as the leather weaving," he says.
Nogoy had to drill into the steel before he was able to weave the leather through it - an unusual combination of technology and primitive craft.
Indeed, craft is an important aspect of design for Nogoy.
"The kind of energy you put into your drawings, the thinking about people [the people who will be involved in producing it as well as the end user] … that translates to the products."
Nogoy's craft and personal investment links him to Edwards and Li. "Behind every single piece of furniture, there's a story," says Nogoy.
"Sometimes, the moment you ship a piece, or pass it to the client, you forget about it, but the friendships and relationships you made along the way remain. It's like the soul of your friend stays with you," Nogoy says.
life@scmp.com


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LIFE

Designers creating craft-driven furniture gain foothold in local market

Kelvin sofa. Photo: Li&Co

Ah Shui scholar's painting table by Yiline. Photo: Li&Co

Nathalie Edwards has created pieces for the House of Edwards range. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Jason Nogoy has designed furniture, including chairs (left), for Madura. Photos courtesy of Jason Nogoy

Lifestyle

Interiors & Living

A fresh crop of designers creating mid-priced, craft-driven furniture are gaining a foothold in Hong Kong, writes Tamsin Bradshaw


When PMQ had its soft opening in May, it offered opportunities to established designers keen to embark on a new path as well as young, emerging creators.
