Hong Kong design survey

Chapter 1

Gregory So

The government has a role to play if Hong Kong is going to compete with the best in the world when it comes to design. Gregory So, Hong Kong’s secretary for commerce and economic development, spoke to us about what the state is doing to develop local creative industries, in particular the fashion-design industry.

Chapter 2

Cory Quach

Today Hong Kong still suffers from creative brain drain, with students flocking to design courses at prestigious overseas institutions such as London’s Central Saint Martins. But opportunities to study at home have improved dramatically in recent years. Six years ago the Savannah College of Art and Design (Scad) opened a branch in Hong Kong, its first and only presence in Asia. We visit the Scad campus – housed in a lovely converted courthouse in Sham Shui Po – to meet fashion marketing professor Cory Quach.

Chapter 3

Dennis Ho

Hong Kong’s booming infrastructure projects pull in architects from all over the world. Dennis Ho is a partner at international design firm Hassell, which has its roots in Australia. Ho moved back to Hong Kong earlier this year after spending more than 20 years working for London-based architecture firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. We visit him at his new digs in North Point, an up-and-coming community on Hong Kong Island that is attracting a new wave of commercial and creative residents.

Chapter 4

André Fu

After studying and working in the UK, André Fu returned home to Hong Kong to start his own design firm in 2004. Since then he has become one of the city’s best-known designers and his firm Afso has grown into an international design practice with a roster of global clients and hospitality brands. We meet Fu in The Upper House hotel – seven years after he outfitted its interior in his signature “modern Asian” style – to find out what he has been up to.