How a Hong Kong entrepreneur’s obsession with tidiness led him to launch a new kind of box
Conrad Lee has indulged his passion for design by launching Boxzes, a modular storage system made from stackable acrylic boxes
What led to this venture? “Last year, I opened a bar in Central – Freeze Lounge – but as I’d always had a passion for design, I spent six months developing my concept for boxes.”
Why boxes? “It started when I was a kid. I had an extreme obsession with tidiness – I collected a lot of items, but always had to have them arranged in a certain way. Then, in high school, as a Valentine’s gift for a girl I was dating, I made her a box and filled it with chocolates. That taught me how to design a box.”
What’s different about Boxzes? “To begin with, there are two sides to the box. It allows you to use the box from the front or the side, horizontally and vertically. The graphic inside has a textured finish, so even people with poor vision can navigate by touch, and the clicking of magnets on the lid gives confirmation that it is closed.
“The multidirectional mirror [optional], also attached with magnets, gives the user an extra viewing angle, or can be used to conceal the contents. The modular system is stackable, and you can mix and match the colours: transparent, pink and grey.”
Why use acrylic when many product designers are moving away from plastic? “To achieve transparency, there are not a lot of materials to choose from. Plastic has a safety advantage over glass, and obviously it’s much cheaper to make. If you want to talk about green design, instead of being recycled, my Boxzes are made to be reused. Today it can be a display box, tomorrow a shelf. As a modular system, you can add to or take away individual pieces. So it’s functional and aesthetically pleasing.”