East Meets East — William Lim: Contemporary Asian Design

The ideas, approaches and works that constitute what might be termed ‘Asian design’ are experiencing a moment. Hongkongers will know William Lim as the progenitor of some prominent architecture projects through his firm CL3, as well as a noted art collector and artist. As design writer Catherine Shaw describes it in her introduction, the book is

‘not a monograph’ but ‘a very revealing and characteristic reflection of the enduring cultural principles and aesthetics of the East that resonate in the spatial relationships, sequences, transparency, and tension of William’s work.’

Six chapters explore the elements most important to Lim’s work: heritage, craft, urbanism, lifestyle and the notion of utopia. Sketches, models, inspirations and completed projects comprise hundreds of full-bleed images in an idiosyncratic style developed by Lim and graphic artist Stanley Wong, aka anothermountainman, who also contributes a short rumination on what constitutes Asian design. Essays by Shaw, architecture and design curator Aric Chen, Swedish museum director, art critic and former executive director of M+ museum Lars Nittve and architect Lyndon Neri round out the absorbing work.