School founder recalls her strange but creative days in the 'Little White Cottage' at the university's School of Design PIGS, TOMCATS, DUCKS, tortoises, cows and hippos all appear together under the roof of Springfield Flowers Kindergarten. However, the teacher is a human, albeit a rather hysterical one. The founder and principal of the school is also the owner and waiter at the char chan tang (tea house) downstairs. Springfield Flowers Kindergarten is the school of those much-loved Hong Kong icons, McDull and McMug. According to their creator, Alice Mak Ka-pik, this unlikely scenario is vaguely based on the School of Design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where Ms Mak earned her Bachelor of Arts in graphic design. Ms Mak said there were many similarities between Springfield Flowers Kindergarten and the School of Design. 'We design students were well known in PolyU for our weirdness. We were all weird in our own way. A lot of our teachers were even crazier than the students. Even the cleaning amah was as strange as she could be,' she said. 'Despite the fact that we were so different, we worked together harmoniously. We had our own rules and discipline. We all had a lot of fun - just like the Springfield Flowers Kindergarten.' Ms Mak said the school of design used to be based in a building that the students nicknamed the Little White Cottage. Ms Mak noted how the students at the Springfield Flowers Kindergarten loved the school, despite its humble location in an old building in the rundown area of Tai Kok Tsui. She and her fellow students had loved the Little White Cottage in a similar way. She said the place was messy and smelly, with students working with all kinds of media like spray-paint and plastic. Other students avoided the place, but the design students loved it. 'I always hated the red brick walls of PolyU. But inside the walls was this little white cottage where I could find my own world and be true to myself. No one would think you were strange there because there were many even stranger people around,' Ms Mak said. In this unique environment, Ms Mak experienced a whole new way of learning. She learnt that education was more than being spoon-fed information; it can be highly personalised. She felt the days at the design school were an important stage of her personal development. And she understood in what ways she was different from other people, and in what direction she could develop. Craig Au-yeung Ying-chai, a schoolmate of Ms Mak, said his days at the Little White Cottage formed his most treasured memories. 'Every time I look back on my life, I recall the time we sat on the grass outside the Little White Cottage under the blue autumn sky. It was here, by the Little White Cottage, that everything started for me.' He said the lecturers used to picnic with them outside the Little White Cottage during classes and they shared their anecdotes of daily life and put the world to rights in that idyllic spot. The students and lecturers enjoyed a healthy relationship, which included two-way discourse - students were welcome to challenge the teachers. No matter how crazy their ideas were, the teachers always appreciated the feedback. And they encouraged students to follow their own way of learning. Mr Au-yeung was one of the first to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in graphic design at PolyU in 1987. He also earned an MPhil at PolyU School of Design in 1996 and is now a renowned figure in Hong Kong's arts society. Among his other accomplishments, he was the creative director of Commercial Radio, a pioneer in the realm of Hong Kong comics and the initiator of many Hong Kong cultural events. It was the PolyU design school that introduced Mr Au-yeung to the creative world. He valued the independence the school allowed as a crucial element to his creative developments. 'Be eclectic. Anything goes. Those are the keywords I learnt at the design school. And those keywords guided me through the years. Design is an attitude. It can be applied in every aspect of life, not only in design studios or advertising firms,' he said. After graduation, Mr Au-yeung worked at Commercial Radio, which he regarded as a design job. 'I wasn't in the design industry but I was doing designs every day. What should the programme be like? What music is required? What words [should be] used? [These] are all aspects of design,' he said. Mr Au-yeung said he learnt not to think in a linear manner. When he tackled a concept he was open to all possibilities. He said he was now working on a Hong Kong food project and he thought about designing school programmes, hosting parties and events, and launching relevant products to develop the concept. Mr Au-yeung studied the Hong Kong living concept in his Master of Philosophy at PolyU. He said the study stimulated a number of projects he worked on in recent years. He said the living culture of Hong Kong was probably what he wanted to study for the rest of his life. He published books on his home visits and home design items. This year he published a critically acclaimed series of books on Hong Kong food culture - Hong Kong Wei Dao. 'I can't say in what specific ways my PolyU education influenced me, as it influenced me in every way. My experiences at the design school were so formative. I'm proud to be a PolyU graduate.'