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Haunts: Miho Hirabayashi

Shirley Lau

Miho Hirabayashi is an architect-designer at design studio Fak3 and a part-time architecture lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. After finishing high school in Tokyo, she lived in London for eight years, where she completed her studies and worked before moving to Hong Kong.

Favourite place to shop for the home

'An interesting place is Portobello Market in London. I like to walk around there seeing different mixtures of antiques. But it's not just antiques. They have nice accessories, picture frames and so on. And you can see different styles in different shops.'

Favourite item at home

'My dressing table. I think it was originally a Chinese desk. I got it from my neighbour next door. They were throwing out all their old furniture. It is retro, well-crafted and has really nice details.'

Favourite living architect

'Does it have to be a living one? If not, then it would be Carlo Scarpa. He was good at 'intervention', such as turning a castle into a museum. I like the details in his work. For living architects, I like Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa. Their designs, such as the Christian Dior building in Tokyo, are very, very simple.'

Favourite architecture magazine

'Casa Brutus. It's more like a style magazine. You can get the latest information on what's going on in the design world. For more theoretical stuff, I read Domus. It has information on the history and origins of buildings. I usually read it in the university library.'

What's the city with the best design?

'I'm interested in Tokyo, where I'm from. The city is planned in such a way people can enjoy the street space. Individual areas have their own character, which is related to different architectural styles in different areas.'

What's on top of your wish list?

'We are now developing furniture pieces at Fak3. I would like to keep some items in my home as I can get the right proportion to fit the space. There's a difference between buying a piece of furniture from a shop and making it yourself.'

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