Luxury show flat interiors in Hong Kong blend realism with dream design

For months, you’ve watched the building rise up from the dust, floor by floor – possibly imagining your future apartment there. When the show flat is at last revealed, it’s the moment of truth for hopeful home-hunters. Typically, the first look inside would be a mock-up interior installed in rented premises off-site, perhaps bereft of doors and walls, and sometimes with scaled-down furniture to make the space feel larger. These days, however, developers are having to work harder to convince prospective buyers that their product does indeed offer the lifestyle of their dreams. Increasingly, that involves engaging high-end designers to finish the job for them. That’s because buyers have become far more sophisticated and expect to experience their future home in real life, according to Arthur Tang Chun-hey, founder and design director at ARTTA Concept. “The show flat was always about the wow factor, but just not at the surface level any more,” he says. “Developers are starting to realise that customers want to see something liveable, more realistic [than a mock-up].” In February 2025, ARTTA completed two show flats at Chinachem Group’s In One project in Ho Man Tin. Both were sold within a month of launch on the market, a result Tang describes as “a record” that, he says, surprised even the developer. “The feedback was that for both buyers it was love at first sight,” he says of the 600 sq ft, two-bedroom and 1,000 sq ft, three-bedroom apartments. “That’s exactly what the developer wanted to achieve with a show flat in the building: to exude a vibe that is so realistic, it feels like a dream come true.” How do you sell the dream to a buyer you’ve never met? For their first show flat commission, ARTTA’s team accessed market data to establish a targeted clientele. “We researched the geographical location, the pricing of units [for sale and rental], who’s moving in and out, and even such detail as the likelihood of parents buying units for their university student children. That’s how we play around with the magic,” Tang says. To attract a demographic of younger luxury buyers, design inspiration was drawn from places such as New York, Japan, Australia and Shanghai. “We wanted to do something the market hadn’t seen before, to create not just visual impact, but a connection to the space,” Tang says. While the design team had free rein, their proposal for a contemporary Asian aesthetic for the smaller unit – as opposed to traditional luxury for the modern European-style larger unit – received initial pushback. “Lower management were hesitant to show the design to higher management, and tried to persuade us not to risk such an idea,” Tang says. “We persisted, and they were surprised when that unit was the first to be sold. That gave us confidence that we’d read the market correctly.” At the premium level, today’s wow factor comes from quality of design and build, rather than bling, Tang notes. “Gold and marble are no longer the focus of a show flat but, rather, we inject soul through a mix of timber, fabrics and eco-friendly materials,” he says. Curved edges in the larger unit and straight lines in the smaller, in addition to complementary colour palettes and furniture, provide comfort to the owner, he continues. “For the smaller unit at In One, we added a tea corner, and for the larger unit, a coffee-cum-wine area, so clients get connected and feel at home the moment they walk in.” Last year, Studio Ella also completed its first show-flat commission, designing three units at 33 Kennedy Road, Mid-Levels, for The Development Studio (TDS). “Recognising that the market has become more sophisticated, TDS shared our vision of creating spaces that transcend the traditional notion of show flats, focusing on authentic materials (such as wood), character and liveability,” says Ella Bridgland, the studio’s founder and director. “They also recognised that we have a strong art element to our design, and are driven by attitude and context, rather than forced aesthetic,” she adds. The trend of creating more personalised show apartments is growing globally, according to Bridgland. However, she finds that in Hong Kong, “lots of developers are not willing to take a risk doing something different”. “The focus has remained on maximising a sense of space, using illusion to make a flat look larger, while overlooking the need for personality, warmth and tactility – the layers it takes to create a home,” she says. “Our approach at 33 Kennedy Road went deeper than merely the furniture arrangement, to imagining how people would live there, without dictating a lifestyle.” Buyers of Studio Ella’s three-bedroom show flat on the 20th floor seem to have appreciated the personalisation, purchasing the unit for HK$36.12 million last October. Flats of the same size on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd floors sold for HK$34.22 million, HK$34.38 million and HK$35.07 million, respectively, around the same time. Designing for an unknown buyer is not very different from a private commission, Bridgland adds, as most people can’t imagine what’s attainable until they start exploring the possibilities with their designer. “Buyers cannot desire what they have never seen or imagined. As a designer, it is my responsibility to reveal what is possible,” she says. “Style is important, but practical considerations equally so. You still need space for a toothbrush beside the vanity, suitcase storage and so on.” For 33 Kennedy Road, more than 130 artworks including 30-plus commissions were curated for the public and private spaces of the building, the latter comprising a studio of 335 sq ft, a two-bedroom unit of 663 sq ft and a three-bed, 1,047 sq ft apartment. Each was designed with a “personality” in mind: the studio embracing dark, earthy tones; the two-bedroom inspired by Japanese minimalism; with a bolder palette for the larger family apartment. “Art plays a central role in elevating the design, creating a dialogue between people, place and aesthetics that has the power to add depth and completely transform the perception of a space,” Bridgland says. The property went on the market in July 2025 and by year’s end, all 71 units, including the three typical apartments Studio Ella designed, had been sold. Bean Buro’s first show flat assignment was for New World Development seven years ago. Lorène Faure and Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui, Bean Buro co-founders, believe the wellness features incorporated into their design for the luxurious duplex at Mount Pavilia, Clear Water Bay – such as air and water filtration, non-toxic materials, biophilic elements and smart lighting to align with the body’s circadian rhythm – marked a turning point for developer show flats. “Wellness was quite a new concept in 2019, and this sparked a trend that continues to grow in Hong Kong,” says Faure. “Today, well-being is on everyone’s mind, especially after Covid. Developers are realising that buyers expect a healthy building, and many are now seeking WELL or LEED accreditation [signifying the design and operation of sustainable, wellness-focused buildings].” Show flats in situ, such as the Mount Pavilia duplex, are the ideal because, by seeing the lobby, the clubhouse and the apartment, among other things, “you really feel like you’ve experienced the whole building”. Even so, they remain the exception. Most are still mock-ups installed off-site – as was Bean Buro’s design for Hip Shing Hong’s Madera Garden, in Ho Man Tin – as developers have pre-sale targets to meet before a building is completed. Bean Buro has also prepared several show flat submissions for other developers, which have yet to come to fruition for various reasons. Faure notes, however, that developers’ desire to attach established professionals’ names to their projects indicates an elevation in their eyes of the value architects and designers can add. “For one residential project we’re currently working on, all promotional and marketing materials profile the architect and interior designers,” she says. “Celebrating the design team as a selling point to potential buyers is relatively new in Hong Kong, and if it’s adopted industry-wide, better projects will come out of it.”

Luxury show flat interiors in Hong Kong blend realism with dream design

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Developers in Hong Kong are enhancing show flats with realistic, high-end designs to attract sophisticated buyers, blending style with liveability

Developers in Hong Kong are enhancing show flats with realistic, high-end designs to attract sophisticated buyers, blending style with liveability