In the old days, when visitors entered the extraordinary Hong Kong residence Aw Boon Haw created for his family in 1936, they stepped through a moon gate onto a large carpet in the main sitting room. Haw Par Mansion was built in a variety of architectural styles, including Burmese and Indian, but that carpet, with its clouds and dragon and phoenix, was unquestionably Chinese. Only glimpses of the original remain in faded photos, yet a magnificent version of it has arisen as the centrepiece of an exhibition in the newly restored house in Tai Hang. This is the third public showcase organised by Design Trust Futures Studio (DTFS), which match-makes established designers with emerging talent. The exhibition’s theme, Heritage is Innovation, uses Haw Par Mansion as a springboard for eight design pairings. Their brief was to take the past and fashion something original for the future. That is why Elaine Ng Yan-ling has woven, if not exactly a magic carpet, then one that, literally, glows with Chinese mythology. To achieve this she had to match the most modern technology of which weaving is capable with the requirements of the Hong Kong government’s Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO). Haw Par Mansion is a grade-one listed building repurposed as a music foundation’s base, and the AMO had opinions about how authentic a six-metre-square floor covering should be. It wanted red; it was also keen on the phoenix motif. So Ng, with the help of Hong Kong carpet manufacturer Tai Ping, bowed to history while pushing the boundaries of 21st-century know-how. Nine new interactive fibres (including thermo-chromatic and UV-sensitive ones) and 72 new yarn combinations combine to make Ng’s phoenixes appear to dance according to the light, temperature and footfall in the mansion. Her grid-like background blends into the original pattern of the parquet floor to bring both harmoniously together. Tiger Balm founders make Hong Kong mansion a hotbed of heritage innovation As Tai Ping is the exhibition’s partner, it’s hardly surprising that carpet features in other designs. Terra Mobile , for example – wheeled stools resembling miniature rock sculptures – has an odd, textured effect achieved by mixing clay with bits of cast-off carpet yarn that burn out in the firing process. The stools were created by Julie Progin and Jesse McLin together with their mentor, Ho Puay-peng. Michael Leung made six enormous carpet vases. Each one consists of six panels that reveal six different stories. All 36 panels were individually hand-tufted by Tai Ping’s team in Xiamen, southern China. As it happened, they were delayed at the border and didn’t make it to the opening night; luckily, the exhibition also includes a room of prototypes where Leung’s plans and Tai Ping’s yarn colour charts (geranium, opium, dragon, bittersweet) tell their own tale. Leung’s creation was prompted by archive photos of rooms that featured vases. Florian Wegenast and Christine Lew looked to the mansion’s ceramic-tiled roof to make their Totem Tile Lights. Rony Chan and Ire Tsui have crafted hanging paper mobiles inspired by its stained glass and its moon gate. The Aw family made its money from the ointment that became known as Tiger Balm, and tiger themes stimulated other designers in the show. Perhaps the most appropriate is a tigerish acoustic panel created by Polly Ho and Andy Wong, intended to be of use in the mansion’s new musical incarnation. Still, the works must likely to stimulate Hong Kong’s collective memory are those that recall the Tiger Balm Garden. This once surrounded Haw Par Mansion and, as generations of traumatised children can attest, featured a grotesque sequence of hellish sculptures for the purposes of moral education. Hong Kong’s version has long gone but, in May, DTFS organised a trip to Singapore’s Haw Par Villa, where 150 dioramas remain. Xavier Tsang’s clever scent diffuser, which his mentor, Michael Young, helped him conceive, and an amazing wax creation called Sensory Fragments , which looks like an inverted chandelier, convey what Tsang calls “this creepy, crazy dreamscape”. They’re on display in the former dining room against a backdrop of dying flora. The air is perfumed with a sweet balm that stirs memory while the eye is entranced by what Tsang, a candle maker, has sculpted. It is loyal to the show’s theme of heritage, individual, and makes a visual statement. Any ghosts left lurking in the house would approve. Heritage is Innovation is open to the public (registration only) until September 30 at Haw Par Music, 15A Tai Hang Road, Tai Hang. Enquiries: studiolab@designtrust.hk