Night Time in the Studio
At the Commune there's plenty going on after most people go off to sleep. We're working overtime to get our bike ready for the Strida exhibition.
Representing
Joe is still at the wheel of the Handsome Taxi over in Berlin and he's just been flagged down to exhibit at the Creative Ecologies Exhibition. We're parked right next to Freeman Lau, Alan Chan, Michael Young, Danny Fang and G.O.D. The Creative Ecologies exhibition will be open to the general public from 25 March till 9 December, 2011, at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Berlin, at Jägerstrasse 33 (entrance at Oberwallstrasse), in Berlin-Mitte.
Enquiries about the exhibition can be made by calling +49 (0) 30 22 66 77 228.
Our TVB Interview 02/06/11
Here's our segment from 東張西望 on TVB last night- it was a great day filming and the crew worked really hard to get everything - so thanks to Ms. Fan and her crew! See the interview here!
Youtube for peeps outside Hong Kong
Or click on the photo:
Handsome in Berlin 31/05/11
Handsome has hit Berlin. We drove our taxi all the way to Europe. Prepare to receive regular blog transmissions! A sneak preview of the Handsomest spot in all of Deutschland:
New Home at the Commune
We had our opening party at the Zixag Commune on Saturday- it was great to see some of you there. Favourite part of the day was the audience's sigh of relief when I switched from English back into Canto for the presentation :D (Kent's idea to start off in English). Other highlights include HK trail running legend KK Chan buying a Melanie Messenger bag- now Handsome will be all the rage on the mountains. Also had a good conversation with Luisa Mok re what constitutes environmentally friendly design. Thanks to Jeff and Kit for helping to get everything together and to Jess, Athena, Yat, Davey, Eudora, Joey, Keting and Andey for coming to support. Big thanks to Julian, TC and Kent for making this possible- we're really going to enjoy our time working here.
Lecture at HKDI -23/05/11
Had the great pleasure of being invited to Hong Kong Design Institute to lecture on the business of design and local production. Slightly hampered by lecturing in a 3rd language (had to switch to English to explain 'Production Possibility Frontier') but on the whole it went well.
City Pictorial Magazine Cover Story
Big thanks to April for our 6 PAGE SPREAD in City Pictorial Magazine. This is massive! Also, I look a little dopey, but I don't care...
HNDSME CO-OP Singtao Daily
Thought we'd take this opportunity to introduce HNDSME CO-OP, the next level to Handsome Bag Co. We've gone to some amazing places with Handsome this past year and we've met many great people with a similar vision of bringing light industry and craft back to Hong Kong- this is why we formed HNDSME CO-OP. After existing for a month, HNDSME has its first full page feature article. Click the url for the article. http://www.singtao.com/yesterday/sup/0511mo01.html
and visit www.hndsmeco-op.com for more info on HNDSME CO-OP
TVB Filming at the Commune
A sneak preview of the TVB interview we gave at our new 'Handsome Headquarters', the Commune- more on this soon and opening party on the 28th! Photo Credits to Kent Wong
Top Young Asian Product Designers!
Last night we accepted our Perspective Magazine 40 Under 40 award, which goes to the top 40 designers under 40 years old. We're amazed and delighted- we can't believe we did this in just under 1 year and we have all of our supporters to thank- THANK YOU!
China Daily- 28/04/11
Thanks to Diego Laje and Eudora Wong for our new feature in the China Daily http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hkedition/2011-04/27/content_12400955.htm
Mystery Ad Filmed at Handsome Studio
Here's a sneak peak at Joe being filmed for an ad at our studios- can't say who it's for or what it's about but it may have something to do with creativity... and sports. Photo credits to Julian Chow
A Familiar Car at Tung Chow Sofa
I was down at Tung Chow Sofa to pick up seat covers and admiring all the cars in the garages (like the Roller pictured below) when I noticed a very familiar car being re-upholstered by Mr. Ng- familiar in the sense that It was my parents' car! Very pleased to see that their car has been re-upholstered by the pros who do HK's taxi seats :) Mr. Ng of Tung Chow Sofa with my Parents' car
Ascot Chang- Some Seriously Handsome Shirts
A couple weeks ago I was asked to help out with a video for Ascot Chang, I was happy to do it and it was very easy- smile, get measured, wear nice shirts. What I didn't expect was an order from Tony Chang, himself. Here he is with our new Melanie Messenger, we're making one for him now.
Ascot Chang is a family run business.
Melanie Messenger Bag
This is basically an update of the Chet Tote with an adjustable shoulder strap, pinched handle straps and a zipper but I've been finding it really really functional and I am most reluctant to pass it on to its rightful owner- but I must! I will make another for myself.
Kevin Messenger Bag
So yes, I promised to post pictures of the new models about a week ago and I realise I've been a little tardy- here they are: Kevin Messenger Bag - A large bicycle messenger bag that can hold a large laptop and most other everyday things. The prototype for this bag is now in New York- but we're making more.
Making Chairs for Rooftop Cinema
We've been at the Women Worker's Association helping Simon Roberts and James Fearnside to make these seat covers out of old rice sacks for Rooftop Cinema. The ladies at HKWWA did an amazing job sewing these together- averaging one seat cover every 4 minutes! AMAZING! The first screening is Zoolander on the 7th of April (Thursday) at the Fringe Club. See below for info or go to: http://rooftopcinema.hk/
Simon, James and Meilin from the HKWWA
Mystery of the Coins
I was cutting seats the other day while listening to David Attenborough and all of a sudden three coins fell out of the seat. Someone had deliberately sewn them, in a straight line, into the lining of the seat - the interesting thing was that there was one coin from each place in the Pearl River Delta area - 1 Macanese Pataca, 1 Hong Kong Dollar and 1 RMB. Can anyone explain?
Linda and Her New Site
Our good friend, Linda, has just updated her website and she included her designs for Handsome Bag Co. http://linda-huang.com/wordpress/?p=197