A Touch Of Class

Designer André Fu’s eclectic portfolio has won him recognition far beyond the borders of his native Hong Kong. In this exclusive interview for Perspective, CATHERINE SHAW talks to him about the way he views the spaces in which he works, and his penchant for collaborating with innovators

- Catherine Shaw

Shortly after returning to Hong Kong in 2004 to focus on developing his design studio, having gained a master’s degree in architecture at Cambridge University in the UK, André Fu was awarded a career-defining project: to create the interiors of Swire Properties’ new The Upper House hotel above the city’s prestigious shopping mall, Pacific Place.

When the 117-room hotel opened in 2009, unveiling Fu’s fresh, bespoke take on relaxed luxury, the thoughtfully curated monochromatic interiors not only set a decidedly elegant new benchmark for contemporary hospitality, but also firmly placed the soft-spoken young designer on the world’s design radar.

Nevertheless, while some designers might have been tempted to continue delivering more of the same winning aesthetic, Fu and his studio AFSO have instead gone on to create an eclectic, evolving portfolio, including a glass teahouse-inspired restaurant and glamorous spa at Villa La Coste in the French countryside, a secret boudoir-style apartment for Louis Vuitton’s VIP clients, and an avantgarde, one-night-only, pop-up urban landscape perched atop a Hong Kong harbour-front pier for fashion house COS.

This summer, Fu completed the interiors and a series of landscaped gardens for Kerry Hotels’ 16-storey, 546-room waterfront resort in Hung Hom, created an intimate, by-invitation members’ lounge, Pavilion, at Pacific Place, and unveiled a gleaming new art gallery in Tokyo.

He has also turned his attention to products, launching his own lifestyle brand in 2015 with a second collection of sophisticated, urban-inspired carpets for Tai Ping; his first range, conceived in 2011, is the brand’s best-selling product line. He’s also developed an intriguing artisanal scent with Argentine cult perfumer Julian Bedel, as well as handmade, modernist, architectural-style lamps in collaboration with Czech glass specialists Lasvit.