Ed Ng: Subtle Luxury
AB Concept have worked on projects for the world’s leading hoteliers, luxury developers and premium restaurant operators. fluoro spoke with founder Ed Ng about their approach to creating spaces and how the experience of luxury captures the senses.
Ng and Terence Ngan founded the Hong Kong-based design company in 1999. Ngan is AB Concept’s lead architect, while Ng brings his innate sense of style to interiors. AB Concept have worked on projects for influential hospitality brands such as Shangri-La Hotels, Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, W Hotels, Waldorf Astoria and Rosewood. The company’s diverse projects span across Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Europe.
The passion brought to each project is evident. Ng emphasises the importance of constructing narrative in their designs. “This story is so important to us and grounds us in our design, it is the one element that is consistent in all of our projects,” he says.
(f) How does travelling inspire the spaces you create?
(EN) Frequent travel is essential for a hospitality designer. Not only do I need to travel for meetings and presentations, but travel also keeps me aware of industry travel trends. From a user’s point of view, I need to be able to create beautiful spaces that are functional and provide an exceptional experience. Travelling both ignites my creativity as well as provides me with logical ideas for problem solving in my designs.
Travelling also puts me in a place that I’m not familiar with so I cannot take things for granted, and this helps me know what is really essential. Travel takes me out of my comfort zone, which heightens my senses making me more aware of architectural and creative details.
(f) How do your designs obtain a “subtle luxury”?
(EN) In our projects, we focus on the details and only use the highest-quality materials. This way, luxury is achieved without the need to be ostentatious. For us, each project must be bespoke and we never cut and paste. Our designs are unique and we believe that luxury can be whispered in this way.
”Subtle luxury” is not just about visual opulence but also about something that you can feel and touch. Luxury should be a discovery, like when you touch the quality of the leather or hardware of a door handle, that is something that is beyond visuals.
(f) Do you believe the definition of luxury changes between the various industries you have worked with?
(EN) In all cases, luxury must be comfortable. A lot of people give luxury a monetary value, but to AB Concept it is more about the character of a design and the comfort of a space. Luxury is expressed in unforced elegance and simplicity, adding bespoke items such as handcrafted fabrics and furnishings. Rather than ornamental overkill, we prefer classic, timeless designs that represent exceptional quality, and this translates in all instances.
(f) How does the design market in Asia differ from the rest of the world?
(EN) ‘Design’ is a relatively new vocabulary in Asia. In Asian markets, people tend to look at something that is quite obviously being designed but in reality very good design is something that does not feel like it has been designed. The appreciation of effortless design in Asia has allowed the market to become much more sophisticated. In the last few years, Asia has been the laboratory for design. People have so many opportunities to see design, which opens their eyes to more choices and preferences.
(f) What have been some substantial changes in the Asian design industry over the last decade that has impacted your practice?
Chinese tourism is booming and hotels are continuing to create new experiences for their customers. As consumers grow more sophisticated, they are more willing to try something new, to move away from the tried-and-trusted brands and seek out hotels that offer individual service and can cater to their interests or personality. As a result of this, we have been able to be more creative and daring in our designs than perhaps we would have been in the past. And as the result of the rapidly growing industry in China, AB Concept has had the chance to work on some truly exciting and challenging projects – such as the Shangri-La Hotel in Qufu – that, in a sense, are changing the landscapes of the cities they are built in. That is very exciting to be a part of.
Ten years ago before the boom, Asia was looking a lot at the West to learn about design and now it has become a powerhouse of ideas. Design in Asia is now very sophisticated and new design talents in Korea, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan and Singapore are all being noticed on the international stage. We are lucky that the economy has been agreeable and has continued to boom over the last decade, which has given Asian designers so many opportunities to materialise their design. The more this happens the more the public gets educated about design, and this pushes the whole industry forward and catalyses the sophistication of design in Asia – so it is a loop, and makes the market more demanding about design.
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Ng and AB Concept are currently working on The W Beijing, their major project for 2014, which will open mid-year on ChangAn Road, Beijing, China. The Luxury Collection in Hangzhou and the first Indian Conrad Hotel in Prune are other hotel projects the duo and their team are working on. A number of exclusive residential projects will see Ng work on Frank Gehry’s Opus, Hong Kong and another in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat.
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