Early year’s passion for design and quest for innovation saw local designers ascent to popularity.
With strong passion in arts and drawing, Ken Lui set his heart on being a designer in his early years. A bachelor of social science from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, he majored in sociology, and minored in fine arts and history.
The four-year training in the university sharpened Ken’s critical thinking, sense of aesthetics and honed his sensitivity towards humanity. It also deepened the influences of Chinese cultures on his future designs.
Building the Future
Ken started his career as a designer when he took up a part-time job in a famous designing company during his studying in the university.
His subsequent work with designing companies upon graduation had groomed his comprehensive understandings towards design and project management. Having great enthusiasm towards design, Ken dedicated himself to work round the year and developed his capacity in independently handling major projects, including those large-scale clubhouses, restaurants, commercial and residential buildings, locally as well as in the Mainland China. His quality designs, commitment in work, and customer-focused missions soon saw him promoted as a partner of a design company in 1998, and later even set up his own Stephen & Ken Design company in 2001.
Skill Vs Art
Upon completion of hundreds of apartments, houses, offices, shops, etc., Ken began to receive coverage of his innovative ideas on interior design, unique beliefs in project management and humanistic designs in many leading newspapers, magazines, and on television programmes.
He was also invited as a vetting committee member for design competitions. Being recognised as outstanding designer and company, Ken and Stephen & Ken Design had been respectively awarded in the “Top 10 Interior Design Award 2016” and “Hong Kong Dominant Interior Designers 2010, 2014 & 2017”.
“The design industry provides an accommodating environment for the development of different style designers. Stephen & Ken Design makes itself famous by integrating cultural and historical elements with modern designs,” says Lui.
Moreover, he promotes “reverse thinking” in designs, especially to remove any unnecessary elements in a design. For instances, to minimise the use of feature wall, false ceiling, and excessive “hardware” construction. In contrast, “software” such as plants, artistic fabrics, artworks, and furnishings related to family history and experience, are tactfully adopted to illustrate the moods and feelings of a design.
Fresh Approach
He says: “It is increasingly difficult to have good craftsmanship in Hong Kong. In order to encourage the pass-down of craftsmanship, I focus on maintaining a good working environment for craftsmen.”
His distinctive sense of interpersonal relationship actually applies to both internal as well as external customers.
Amidst computerisation in the design industry, Ken trusts that designers should be responsible for keeping the basic techniques of design, including sketching, artistic drawing and colouring, which are essential in nurturing the artistic senses of a designer. Otherwise, the whole industry would rely too heavily on machines, taking the risk of losing the basic and artistic accomplishments. A balance of computerisation and human repertoires, thus, should always be reached for.
Unique View
Ken’s plans for growth are more than expansion within his company but the community as a whole. With great passions about his career and missions to spread the use of arts and cultures in design, he sets his goal to cultivate a community that embraces artistic and cultural designs. He hopes to motivate designers having the same vision to promote the idea of “Artistic and Cultural Design is our Living”, and strongly believes that it is not only everybody’s right but also intrinsic nature to enjoy artistic and cultural designs.
Ken views interior design as a life-long learning. Although he has already attained exceptional achievements in the field, he humbly considers there is no secret of success. He believes designers should have an enthusiastic understanding and interest for everything around them, and through their retrospection and experiences they would be able to move on continuously. Thus, he always reminds himself to be in touch with people, happenings, environments, as well as his own thinking and feelings.
For additional information:
STEPHEN & KEN DESIGN
24471923 | 94118766 | 98406829
Ken Lui design director
www.skdesign.com.hk
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