Asian design celebrated in Hong Kong architect’s vivid new book that offers an insightful discourse on Eastern aesthetics, culture and heritage
- William Lim, founder of CL3, is marking his firm’s 30th anniversary with a book highlighting how Asian design has become an established style in its own right
- It includes conceptual sketches, original drawings, paintings and floor plans of Lim’s own work to offer a deeper insight into his creative process
When award-winning architect and artist William Lim set up his multidisciplinary studio CL3 in 1992, he says he positioned the firm as “being good at doing East meets West – combining Eastern aesthetics with Western comfort”.
Fast-forward three decades and Asian design has become an established style in its own right – which is what Lim’s new book, East Meets East: Contemporary Asian Design, sets out to highlight.
“I am Asian and most of our clients and users are from Asia. We design in the East, for the East, and that’s how I came up with the title,” says Lim, who settled back in Hong Kong in 1987 after studying architecture at Cornell University in the US.
Visually arresting with a fluorescent orange cover and royal blue pages, the new book is a vivid pictorial celebration of Asian design; an insightful discourse on Eastern aesthetics, culture and heritage and their place in contemporary architecture; and a comprehensive record of projects to mark the 30th anniversary of CL3.
Although the book is published by Rizzoli, renowned Italian purveyors of stunning photographic tomes, Lim stresses his title isn’t a coffee-table book. He was adamant from the start that it should be meaningful, both in Asia and in the rest of the world, and not be a typical hardback book with glossy pages.
