bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Gillian Rhys

'My favourite place anywhere in the world is on the terrace of the Ladies Recreation Club, overlooking the tennis courts, having a glass of wine,' says Brad Davis, co-founder of the design company Fort Street Studio. For someone who lives in New York and travels every two months to destinations all over the world, this may sound surprisingly specific. But Davis has good reason to like Hong Kong - it is where he and Janis Provisor (his partner in business and in life) started their now flourishing luxury silk carpet company.
'To have started a business like this from scratch would have been impossible anywhere else in the world,' Davis says. 'It's an entrepreneur's dream. We were a couple of artists who didn't know anything about carpets or how to sell them. People here have been extraordinarily helpful to us.'
Hong Kong fell in love with Fort Street Studio's designs as much as the designers fell for the city. 'We're in many of the best homes in Hong Kong,' Davis boasts, before adding: 'If not all.' With the Chinese consumers' positive effect on the luxury goods market globally, Fort Street Studios has also enjoyed sales buoyed by this part of the world. 'Business has strengthened every year since we've been here. Last year was our strongest year ever and this year is equalling that.'
Davis and Provisor's fascination with China has been well documented: the artists visited the mainland silk capital Hangzhou in the late 1980s and, feeling a connection with the place, returned a few years later to work with the artisan weavers they found there. 'We made a jump and it changed our lives,' Davis says. Together they created luxurious hand-knotted, wild silk carpets using Dangdong silk from north China, which is durable, but still soft enough to make you want to roll about on them.  
However, it is the beautiful, technically complex designs that immediately distinguish Fort Street Studio carpets. The patterns are based on original watercolour paintings by Davis and Provisor that are recreated in the silk weave. From the outset, Davis worked side by side with the dyers to create the exact shades they wanted. The yarns were then  dyed in small batches to achieve varying degrees of colour intensity so the carpet actually looked like a watercolour.
An eight-year stint in Hong Kong to develop the business side followed before the husband-and-wife team moved back to New York to open a flagship showroom. They also sell from Los Angeles, London and Milan, all supplied by three factories in Hangzhou that employ about 100 people. But they maintain that the Hong Kong showroom is still the centre of the business.
When we meet at Fort Street Studio's industrial-looking Hong Kong showroom in Quarry Bay, Davis (Provisor had hopped over to Bali to work on her jewellery range) is on one of the couple's thrice-yearly visits to the city. But this time there's an added motive; Fort Street Studio is looking to expand the business in Asia.
With a new senior vice-president, Paul Melo, on board, the company is on the hunt for a second, more centrally located showroom. 'We're looking at the whole breadth of Central, from Wan Chai to Sheung Wan, which is an interesting place right now,' he says.
'We don't need a street-level presence; we're not looking for walk-in trade as the business is exclusive. But visibility and accessibility are two different things. We want to make visiting our showroom as simple as possible for our customers.' 
After all, Fort Street Studio consumers spend at least HK$64,800 for a 1.8 metre by 2.7 metre  rug (the smallest off-the-rack size) and considerably more for a custom-made size and colour, which makes up three quarters of the business. That Elton John is a customer is an indication of the price. One Hong Kong customer comes in with colours his fung shui consultant has told him to avoid. 'Luckily we have a lot of colours to choose from,' Davis says. 
 The new showroom will also house their growing collection. Following the Hong Kong trip, the team is heading to Nepal and then  India to set up production capabilities for materials other than their trademark silk.
'Silk will always be our core product, but we can't grow it any further and we're at the point where we would like to expand,' Davis says. 'We've been in the business for 17 years and we feel restricted by working with one style. Both Janis and I would like to broaden out with textured Nepalese-style carpets and wool products from Jaipur.'
Davis expects the production process to be slower than in China, but says there are other positives about working in these territories. 'China is a very well-oiled machine and we work with a great group of people here, but they have many more weavers [in India] and the carpet industry there is much larger and offers more varieties than China.'
The plan is to offer the three carpet varieties under one roof 'like an art gallery' in a new, larger showroom in New York next June, launching with the autumn collection. And ideally at the same time in the new Hong Kong showroom, premises allowing. 'I don't think we can wait [to find the right property] so we're thinking we'll do a pop-up store somewhere in Central in the interim,' Davis says.
But this is not, Melo emphasises, an attempt at a diffusion line. 'The new carpets will appeal to the existing buyer. Maybe they want several rugs for several different rooms and they may be looking for wool in a specific room because it's more hardy than silk. That's the reason we're broadening the offering. The prices may be lower because of the fibres used, but it's not because we want to go mass market. It's to offer our clients other options.'
Davis adds that the decision to expand the collection came when they worked on their recent collaboration with Hermes. The exclusive French fashion house approached Fort Street Studio last year to design a capsule range of rugs for their Hermes Maison homeware line. The carpets are currently only available at the Hermes Maison stores in Paris and Beverley Hills.
 In keeping with Fort Street Studio's painstaking attention to detail, the pair trawled through Hermes' archives in France and came up with three designs: Appaloosa, based on the horses' dappled coat to reflect Hermes' equestrian heritage, Patine, inspired by the appearance of antique leather and, the most popular, Chevron, a hand-drawn herringbone pattern reminiscent of flooring in smart French homes.
'We had to come up with the right mix of Hermes' and our sensibilities and when we worked with Hermes it led us to think we would like to do more collaborations,' Davis says. 'With Paul on board to develop the business side it frees Janis and me to focus on design. We would like to work in other mediums.'
On a personal level Davis and Provisor are enthralled with china (the porcelain this time, not the country) and are keen collectors of art deco and German pottery from the 1960s and early 70s. Is this one of the mediums they would like to delve into themselves? 'I can't see us doing dishes,' Davis says. 'But if we were invited by a china company to work with them we'd like to.'



Taking floor art to new  levels