In response to the “Project HK-UK” initiative by the Hong Kong Furniture and Decoration Trade Association (HKF&DA), Aedas Chairman and Global Design Principal Keith Griffiths and Welsh Designer Brand Freshwest’s Marcus Beck and Simon Macro co-designed a portable folding stool named “CLIX” to celebrate the rich cultures of the designers’ shared origin and varied working bases, Wales of United Kingdom and Hong Kong of China. It’s recently showcased at DesignInspire in Hong Kong and Keith attended the “Innotalks” session at the exhibition to share the making-off stories.
The “CLIX” is a simple yet stable timber structure derived from Chinese typography and ancient Celtic symbols of Wales. Wood members are streamlined and in contrasting colors, reinterpreting distinctive outlooks in the two cultures into a modern, minimalist design. An effortless “grab-and-lift” folding mechanism is realized with Chinese style hinges, which creates a pleasant “CLIX” sound as the stool folds. The resulting furniture piece is one that Keith imagined an architect could take out on site – one can sit down and draft whenever needed. The three different sizes, designed for outdoors, desks and bars respectively, explore broader functionality.
The design extols the importance of culture, history, geography and mythology. “Written languages and symbols are at the core of a culture. We draw motifs from Chinese and European Culture to create a modern piece of work. The re-organized lines and patterns connects the two cultures and inspires the users with a sense of rejuvenation and empowerment,” shares Keith.
Project HK-UK is a multi-cultural and multi-discipline collaboration between six pairs of Hong Kong and British designers. The six British furniture design studios welcome their Hong Kong partners, designers from fields of architecture, fashion, jewellery, automobile, typeface design and visual communication, to bring in fresh perspectives and synergies to create unique furniture designs. The spirit of openness, multiculturalism and innovation in Project HK-UK coincides with Aedas’ corporate value. This is Aedas’ first crossover design collaboration, which inspires Aedas to continue creation of inspiring works as a global and local architectural design practice.
Resulting furniture pieces of the crossover were launched on 5-7 December 2019 at DesignInspire, an inspiring platform in Hong Kong for global creative elites, design brands, design associations and institutes to showcase their creativities. They will move on to Salone del Mobile in Milan, Italy, the furniture design industry’s most prestigious annual event, in April 2020.
