Of all Campos' projects, Bep Vietnamese kitchen, in Central, is her favourite.
Source:
https://scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1677822/candace-campos-id-design-her-high-end-interiors Post Magazine
Candace Campos, of ID Design, on her high-end interiors
Californian Candace Campos – the founder of ID Design, who has poured her years of creative experience into an interiors career – is behind some of Hong Kong’s coolest eateries and hottest homes, writes Anji Connell
Candace Campos. Photo: Amanda Kho
What's your background?
"I graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a degree in psychology and spent the next 15 years working in various creative fields, including branding, product development, layout design for books and magazines, as well as in advertising and fashion."
How did you end up doing interior design?
Home Journal featured my loft-style home-office and it generated so much interest that before I even knew the path I wanted to take, I was on it. I found interiors to be the [career] that ticked all the boxes for me. My design knowledge is a culmination of time spent working in other various design fields carried over and applied to interiors, and construction [skills] I have learned on-site from my builders. My most beneficial learning experience is, without question, the time I spend with my contractors."
What projects have you completed in Hong Kong?
"My restaurant projects include Cocotte, Fatty Crab, Nom, Pinot Duck, as well as Sift, the cupcake shop chain, and Babu, a Middle Eastern takeaway, plus many residential projects. Bep [Vietnamese kitchen on Staunton Street] is my favourite and, I think, my strongest project to date. It's certainly most reflective of my personal design aesthetic, which is clean and modern, but warm. I love poured concrete for its colour and texture; the richness of raw walnut and oak woods; and adding brass detailing for its luxuriousness."
Who has influenced you?
"[French architect] Joseph Dirand and his old-school Parisian details, to which he lends a contemporary take, has definitely been a big influence. I love his clean, cool palette of black, white and greys. And Australian design company March Studio's shop for Baker D Chirico [in Melbourne], for which they created a beautiful, modern wood installation that integrates so well with the existing brick structure. And I love the work of SANAA, the architects of The New Museum in the Bowery, New York. I love the contrast that a white building, among the older black and stone architecture, brings to the street."
How is design changing in Hong Kong? "Compared with five years ago, it seems that the identity of restaurants here is now driven more by design."
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