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How the right furniture can transform a cramped Hong Kong subdivided home

Initiative sponsored by Post gets not-for-profit architectural firm to design custom-made furniture to ease clutter in tiny homes for poor families

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Mother Yan Nga-chi shows off her new-look furniture in her Sham Shui Po home. Photo: Dickson Lee

Four-year-old Vera Wong Zi-wei’s favourite possession isn’t the latest Disney princess doll, but her brand new study desk that fits into the 200 sq ft subdivided flat in Sham Shui Po she calls home.

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Wong’s desk, complete with a secret compartment for her stationery and toys, is a rare commodity for families that are squeezed into cluttered, shoebox apartments.

“She used to only be able to do homework on a folding table that had to be put away all the time, but now she can work and play in the same space. It’s the first place she goes to when she gets home now,” Wong’s mother, Yan Nga-chi, said.

Wong, who lives with her mother and grandmother, is one of 70 low-income families which have benefitted from a project that aims to transform the living space of tiny flats with custom-made furniture.

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Watch: Creating learning and living space for Hong Kong’s subdivided flat families

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