Husband-and-wife team win interior design 'Oscar'

Virginia Lung Wai-ki and Ajax Law Ling-kit, the husband-and-wife team behind Hong Kong-based interior design firm One Plus Partnership, will be celebrating their history making win tonight at the Andrew Martin International Interior Designer of The Year Award in Shanghai.

This year, One Plus Partnership beat out 90-odd global rivals to earn the title, making it the first interior designer from Asia to win the award. Founded in 1996, the "Oscars" of the interior design industry has a winners' list that includes Kelly Hoppen, Kit Kemp and Martyn Lawrence-Bullard.

"It still feels so unreal," Lung says in their office in North Point. "When I was on the phone with Martin [Waller, co-founder of Andrew Martin], I thought there must be some mistake. Not even in our dreams had we thought about winning." Adds Law: "It was a big surprise because we know the other firms shortlisted are all movers and shakers in the industry; some have been there much longer than us."

But the two certainly dare to dream big with their designs, and have done so since they opened for business in 2004. The three projects they submitted to the competition this year - Wuhan Moulding Show House, Wuhan Pixel Box Cinema and Parc Four Seasons Shanghai - are all ambitious projects. "When our contractors first looked at the blueprints and models for the Pixel Box Cinema, they felt it would be impossible to construct," says Law.

One Plus likes to develop designs from novel themes. The cinema was inspired by the movement of the pixels that make digital film images, while the Wuhan Moulding Show House is a playful take on traditional moulding techniques on ceilings and walls. Parc Four Seasons Shanghai highlights the owner's passion for cooking by borrowing the concept of "executive chef".