Hong Kong the inspiration behind Bo Innovation’s interior, says designer

What was your brief for Bo Innovation? “The brief started with going to the restaurant and understanding what [chef Alvin Leung’s self-proclaimed] ‘X-treme Chinese cuisine’ is. After that, we looked at Alvin’s collections. Although Alvin grew up in Canada, he has a lot of emotional attachment to Hong Kong and is always finding inspiration in its history. He has collected posters, postcards, old menus and tableware, lots of which was made in Hong Kong, not to mention objects related to Bruce Lee, his idol.”

What aspects of the city are reflected in your design? “Hong Kong is famous for its neon signs, so we made a big neon light to create a feature wall. The light is a simplified version of the MTR map. Then you’ll see a big mural, which I asked one of my old classmates from design school, Wilson Tsang, to design. It’s like a timeline of Hong Kong, when it was a fishing village, then a British colony, then … post-unification.

“Another feature is a golden trellis suspended from the ceiling, made using reflective brass. That piece uses the contour lines of Lion Rock, which people associate with the Hong Kong spirit. Nothing is too literal in Bo Innovation, but once you see a line, once you see a colour, you’ll see details that reference Hong Kong.”