How interior designer André Fu is giving a sense of place to Hong Kong’s new St. Regis hotel
Designer Fu, who made his name with The Upper House in 2009, has taken on a new project – the five-star St. Regis Hong Kong
OCCUPATION:
Interior designer
WORDS OF INSPIRATION:
Luxury is intangible. It’s not really about look. The sense of luxury is triggered by memories – what a place can invoke in you. It escalates from physical to emotional: something that takes you out of your everyday [life]. It becomes an experience, which is what everyone wants these days.
Interior designer André Fu is very much Mr Luxury Hotel. Since he made his name in 2009 with Hong Kong’s The Upper House hotel, he has been in demand among high-end hospitality brands. He has worked on Hong Kong’s Kerry Hotel, Singapore’s Fullerton Bay Hotel, the Waldorf Astoria Bangkok, The Berkeley Hotel in London, Andaz hotel group’s first hotel in Singapore, and the Four Seasons Seoul. The designer also has numerous retail and art gallery clients.
The challenge for Fu is to keep it fresh. It helps that he does not really have a signature visual style, beyond a sense of relaxing, understated minimalism, balancing restraint and comfort in a way that makes his designs far more approachable than most that carry the minimalist tag. “I don’t really think that there’s a particular design language I follow – perhaps a sense of comfort and elegant scenography,” he says.
“Brands come to me to tap into [their] inner spirit but also create a bit of a twist to it. So it’s still truthful to the brand’s soul and spirit, but I’m infusing a new energy, trying to take the brand into the future. The trust level I get from owners has also empowered me to push a bit at the boundaries.”
