Years ago, when Mark Fenlon returned to Britain to visit his brother, he was offered chopsticks at dinner - a clear sign of how his life was seen as firmly rooted in Hong Kong.
Mr Fenlon, who first arrived in Hong Kong in 1993 for a short visit, has been living here since 1998. With business partner Chris Davies, he co-founded design company Markimage in 2002 to design and manufacture for the hospitality and service industries.
He found Hong Kong a good place to do business, while Britain and Europe were bound by tradition and red tape, with little to stoke the entrepreneurial spirit.
'In Hong Kong, we could easily seek ways to make money and freely go out to meet people to exchange ideas,' he said in an interview at his firm's Chai Wan studio.
'If we were doing the same business in the UK, it would take much more effort to achieve a similar result,' said Mr Fenlon, who makes no secret of the fact that China was a big part of the reason for setting up business in Hong Kong.
'Since China joined the WTO, many mainland companies have been going to international markets and they want to have the English-language version of brochures and other marketing materials. Our company acts as a bridge between Chinese firms and the world.'
In terms of design, he said Hong Kong people have different taste from Europeans. Local clients want all the space in a brochure to be filled, a syndrome he calls 'everything including the kitchen sink'.
