Nothing sparks collective nostalgia quite like Hong Kong's historic "ding ding" trams . But could you imagine rekindling those memories in your own living room?
Designer Eugenia Yiu did, upcycling waste glass from old carriage windows into an elegant piece of designer furniture.
Incanto di Hong Kong, the drinks cabinet produced by Yiu, co-founder of Bill's Design, is one of 10 bespoke pieces selected by the Hong Kong Interior Design Association to showcase the city's design and manufacturing prowess during Hong Kong Interior Design Week (HKIDW) 2025. The curated exhibition, titled "Urban Reflection", will debut in Milan, Italy, this month, and return to Hong Kong in June.
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According to Jao Cheuk-ming, co-chairman of HKIDW 2025, the collective concept explores the significance of The unique cityscape of Hong Kong , where dense populations and towering skyscrapers create a complex dance of illumination and darkness. He explains, “This dynamism mirrors the lively spirit of the city and underscores the sophisticated connection between urban existence and its natural setting.”
A focus on sustainable materials ranked highly among the selection criteria.
Jao explains, “Furniture that includes environmentally friendly finishes demonstrates a dedication to equilibrium and reverence for nature.” He adds, “Designers strive to create items that are not only aesthetically pleasing and long-lasting but also ethically sound—by employing sustainable resources, we can expand the horizons of innovation.”
Yiu’s creation employs two distinct manufacturing technologies. Initially, train window glass is ground down into tiny fragments before being mixed with a specialized combination of minerals and polymers created by CycleCore. This composite mixture is subsequently shaped to create the main body of the bar cabinet, which is currently in production and available for purchase at HK$18,000. After setting, curvaceous wooden doors coated in metallic paint are attached to the front, blending classic Chinese woodworking aesthetics with contemporary materials to refresh the overall look.
“Designers invariably aim to create things that you adore and treasure,” Yiu remarks. “Being a native Hong Kong designer, I recognize the significance of maintaining our cultural legacy and traditions. Given that trams are such emblematic symbols of our city, I believed that infusing new vitality into items previously considered waste and highlighting their beauty could serve as an excellent means to narrate our tales.”
Certain displays include notable Asian features, with a specific emphasis on Chinese elements like the craftsmanship involved. Max Lam Designs 'coffee table alongside the symbolism of traditional paper fans within modular seating created by Craft of Both.'
The O.N.N.O. (Old New New Old) coffee table, created by designer Max Lam and constructed by Hong Kong craftsman Twenty One from Eight, merges traditional mortise and tenon joinery with modern design elements. Made of American maple wood, this distinctive piece includes a sleek slim drawer equipped with a roller shutter door along with an understated curved pull, supported by graceful almond-form legs.
"It's important to keep these techniques going so that more people can understand the traditional way of timber construction without using screws or nails," says Lam. "It's a beautiful and smart way to build modern furniture."
Christina Stand aloft, who co-founded Craft of Both describes their Moon Series chair as a "combination ofurniture, fan, and design."
The chair, made in collaboration with manufacturer MADE, is crafted from solid oak with detachable mesh "fans" embedded on each side that can be folded or unfolded at will.
"The paper fan is a geometrically pure and robust form, but also has lineage and heritage, particularly in China, as a tactile, expressive device that can inform privacy, movement, air, colour and texture," she says. "The Moon Series is the product of these wonderful frictions and dialogues."
Jay Jordan, Craft of Both's other co-founder, adds that the process, motion, sound and sensation of snapping on fan modules "has been carefully engineered to create a tactile experience for the user".
Interpreting the significance of bamboo in a different way is Dennis Cheung Hoi-kwan, of Studio RYTE. His Benboo lighting trio comprising table lamp, floor lamp and wall lamp "has the connotation and meaning of bamboo", depicted in copper.
"In Chinese culture bamboo is associated with prosperity, growth and strength ," he says.
Actual bamboo wouldn't be stable enough for this lighting design, so Cheung teamed up with Ricardo Lighting, a manufacturer specialising in copper, a recyclable material that can be crafted in tubular segments resembling the form and texture of the plant's stalk.
In a collaboration between O&O Studio and Radd, designers Eric Chan and Suzanne Li recreated the beauty of a Chinese scholar's study room with their Yi Si desk and bench.
In a hexagonal design representing "six directions", symbolising harmony and completeness, the desktop is suspended on outwardly folded hexagonal legs, while the bench design is reversed - embodying, Chan says, "the philosophy of yin and yang complementarity".
"The streamlined wooden strip on the desktop, paired with rattan cup holders on both sides, creates simple undulations, allowing people to feel the flow of ink fragrance with each stroke," adds Li. "The bench, with its rattan surface, is both comfortable and breathable, showcasing the perfect fusion of traditional craftsmanship and modern life."
Also with sustainability on his mind, Stepan Gudev, of Gud Gud Studio, crafted his two Aeon Chair exhibits using remnants of upholstery textile scrounged from fabric shops in Sham Shui Po. He hand-cut the cloth into thin strips before weaving it around a metal frame in a colour-coordinated pattern.
"Hong Kong's economy has been highly influenced by the garment industry and with sustainability now a business imperative, I thought this could be an interesting bridge between the past and the future," says the designer, who collaborated with One Production.
While his handcrafted process ensures every piece is bespoke, Gudev's vision is to make each one even more personalised by using items from the user's own wardrobe or home furnishings.
"Giving second life to fabrics you've disposed of to create your own chair is an expression of your life, and keeps the connection ongoing," he says.
Two exhibits explore the possibilities of 3D printing for furniture.
The Clover Collective, by ARTA Architects, is a set of stools designed to fit together as if segments of a four-leaf clover.
"When we approached this design, my partner, Wong Tat-lai, and I wanted to include a communal element. We decided to create modular furniture that you can enjoy with friends," says Arnold Wong Yok-fai, co-founder of ARTA Architects. "The four-leaf clover is a historical plant many people love - we thought it symbolised hope, faith, love and luck."
Designed in five layers of elegant curves, each stool is completely 3D printed, using ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), a material made from recycled - and recyclable - plastic.
"Compared to traditional production methods, the process is low waste, time and labour efficient," says Wong, who collaborated with Starz Origin on this project. "Also with marketing in mind, we wanted to design a piece that can be mass-produced, at an affordable price."
Starz Origin is a 3D-printing start-up established by Starz Pasha co-founders Jay Leung and Maggie Mo in 2023. The couple's exhibit for Milan takes sustainability a step further by incorporating coffee grounds and recycled plastic into the manufacturing process.
The coffee table in the three-piece It's Caffeine is set on a metallic-look, eco-friendly T-ABS 3D-printed base. To make the top, coffee grounds are mixed with a resin-like substance and poured into a mould. "Once dried, we do the sanding and polishing, leaving the coffee's natural brown colour intact," Leung says.
Two chairs in different designs are also 3D printed, clad for seating comfort in either synthetic leather or fabric, both from Kinland.
"We wanted to do something that combines thoughtful design with eco-conscious materials, offering both beauty and responsibility," Leung says.
Mo adds that the current set - coffee table retailing for HK$4,650, and the chairs for HK$5,050 and HK$6,250 - is "just the beginning" in an It's Caffeine range that will feature tableware, accessories and other homewares.
Bean Buro founding directors LorEne Faure and Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui aimed to bring the calming essence of nature into the living room through their Stoneflow sofa, manufactured by Decca.
"The curves and forms are intended to evoke a sense of sensuality and comfort, inviting users to take a moment for themselves," Kinugasa-Tsui says. "We see the Stoneflow not just as a sofa, but as the starting point for a whole collection that embodies our vision of nature's beauty and comfort," adds Faure.
And for a multisensory experience in the home or workplace, Joey Ho, design partner at PAL Design Group , conceived the Egg-citing rocking lounger for his exhibit.
Inside an egg-shaped metal frame, a high-density foam bed is sculpted to cradle the human body. Behind the head rest are two small speakers, and above it a transparent LED screen.
Ho's idea is that the audio and visual elements would be wirelessly connected to meditative apps on the user's phone, so that you climb in, recline and gently rock, being lulled by, say, bird song, or scenes of a forest or ocean.
Manufactured by Profilia of West Germany (Far East), Egg-citing is definitely not intended as another way to catch up on work emails.
"I hope it would help us to dream more," says Ho.
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