Scandinavian-style Hong Kong flat showcases owner's collection of chairs and bears
A home stylist with a passion for chairs and bears uses his Pok Fu Lam apartment as a test site for his imagination, writes Peta Tomlinson.
If you write the first letter of hoo in upper case, you miss the point, says the founder of the design studio, Chen Yu Chang. The lower-case "h" resembles a chair - and its significance is revealed upon entering the Pok Fu Lam home of Chen, his wife, Kennie, and their three-year-old son, Jami.
Chen is a chair fanatic. And that's not all.
"I'm a bit OCD [obsessive-compulsive disorder]," he says, with a laugh, admitting he is also partial to collecting bears.
Luckily, it's a useful habit when one heads up a design firm focused on residential interiors that includes at least one statement piece of furnishing in each project.
In his own home, Chen's statements - dining chairs - are grouped around a long wooden table in the open-plan living/dining area: some are old (vintage fibreglass and wire Eames chairs) and some are new (a CH24 Wishbone chair by Hans Wegner and a 109 chair by Finn Juhl). On the day of our visit, even Jami's blond-wood highchair has a place in the set: from American brand OXO, it balances well its function (to serve messy young eaters) with grown-up design sensibilities.
The couple decided to live in Pok Fu Lam because of its peaceful ambience. They chose their flat for its efficiency - of the 1,020 sq ft gross floor area, 906 square feet was usable - and green view of the mountain behind.