PEOPLE POWER
If there’s an essential theme to this June issue of Prestige, it’s about power – less the more traditional blunt-edged version that employs armies, police forces and other instruments of authority and coercion to inAEuence the behaviour of other, but more the softer variety, whose roots lie in culture and vision, and which aims to attract rather than coerce. And in pursuit of that objective, we’ve assembled a cast of luminaries, each devoted to transforming the way we live our lives – and all by gently leading us in the proposed direction.
Our cover personality this month, interior architect and designer André Fu, burst into the public consciousness some 12 years ago when his first major project, The Upper House, changed almost single-handedly the way we think of a city hotel, replacing bland and cookie-cutter notions of opulence with interiors that induce calmness and repose, and with subtle nods to reference the culture that lies beyond the building’s walls. Fu’s thriving design business follows a similar approach to its projects wherever in the world they may be – and at the moment the locations are as diverse as Hong Kong, Japan, London and the French Riviera. With his fourth André Fu Living collection of supremely taseful furnishing, lighting, homeware and decor about to be released, he’s also seeking to change the way we live in the private worlds we create for ourselves.
If businessman Allan Zeman needs no introduction to readers in Hong Kong, that’s probably because, almost 40 years ago, his development of a tiny backstreet area above Central not only helped turn Hong Kong from a socially dreary colonial city into the lively cosmopolitan centre it is now, but has also served as a blueprint for similar entertainment zones across Asia. Equally, architect, designer and inventor Thomas Heatherwick looks at the various environments that we inhabit, from the buses we ride in to the parks and public spaces in which we unwind, in an entirely different way – one that’s aimed at bringing soul, emotion, joy and a sense of discovery back into our lives.
In their own ways, all our interviewees this month – from Hong Kong artist Leelee Chan and fashion entrepreneur-turned sustainability champion Veronica Chou to groundbreaking jewellery designer Feng J and the great British Pop Art pioneer Sir Peter Blake – have demonstrated a remarkable ability to see and do things differently, so that we can all do the same for ourselves. Call it power, call it inAEuence or call it whatever the heck you want, that’s something this world needs more of – so more power to them!