Simple Elegance

第一個印象:你認為這是什麽? 小說封面? 酒店目錄? 咭片? 請柬?.......她, 是一個小禮盒.

半光啞油黑色暗地紋, 配燙金商標及字體, 感覺很有皇室feel, 高貴又帶點神秘感. 估估內裡放了什麽東西? 又估估是那一個國家的產品? 男仕或女仕用品? 價值多少?

A novel cover? A hotel guide? A name card or an invitation card? what is your first impression to this image?....she is...a tiny gift box.

Semi matt finish surface with subtle graphic, plus gold foil stamping logo and typography, to create a royal feel, as well as a mysterious elegance. Guess what is the product inside? from which country? For ladies or men? How is the price range?

做個無奈的設計師

心中有 一堆永遠解答不到的問題, 也許各位可幫幫手.

點解咁多人鐘意入住有酒店式大堂嘅住宅? 但係其實番緊自已屋企!

點解要住有會所嘅屋? 但係自已日日番咗工, 要放工或者假期先可以同全幢大厦或屋苑嘅人爭用會所設施!

點解要將十呎樓底唔夠嘅樓變成歐洲式古典設計? 仲要大厦用緊鋁窗!

點解要買咁多唔同種類嘅名師家具系列放喺個廳, 攪到好似陳列室咁?

點解屋企嘅設計要追上潮流, 一定要用今年流行嘅物料同顏色? 咁下年點算!

點解主人房連擺張大啲嘅床都唔夠但係就一定要有主人房套厠浴室?

點解電視機後面幅牆一定要特別物料, 有"啲嘢睇"?

點解冇細路同狗仔貓仔地面都要舖瓷磚?

點解冇人煮飯但係啲廚房設備咁齊備同咁高級?

點解浴室有位都唔用浴缸要用企缸, 留番個窿做乜?.....

我想答案是, 只要我不是住客, 這一切也不是問題. 真正問題只是當我要為客人按以上要求設計時, 唯有........不要問,只要做!........

Next move...

These days, I move from one place to another, not only the place I lived, but also the place I worked. I am leaving the crowd, the groups of well known, the trend, the "network"... bird song replace traffic roar, wind breeze replace air conditioning, aroma of grass field replace ladies perfume, warmth touch of the sun replace halogen spots...just by chance, to take a break from melting into the "current flow", how lucky I am.

I bring along with my aged ishuffle and all my working document, catch the train / bus, listen to my favorite songs, hour after hours, traveling towards my working site; looking outside from window, it is so quiet & so peaceful, time freeze? - what a big contrast to my past working pace, how come?

Change - can bring you something out of your expectation, whether you want it or not, it can be a challenge, or a "dream" comes true. It seems my recent change brings me more time to think, to think deep, no hurry, no deadline. To me, I definitely need this refreshment before my next move, how about you?

上海街 Shanghai Street

一個夏午, 走進久遺了的上海街, 昔日繁榮不再, 只餘下寥寥幾間繡莊, 押店, 涼茶舖及麻雀館. 樓上茶居巳不復見, 上海食館, 百貨店皮鞋店也在逐漸消失.

曾幾何時這是一條十分有 "上海風"的街道, 不少洋貨及高品質的國貨衣飾也能在這裏找到. 每逢夕陽西下之後, 華燈初上, 踏進這條街, 總會有種走進異國夜市的感覺.紅紅黄黄的繡莊招牌, 店舖愈大招牌愈是搶眼. 洋傘也好, 綢緞也好, 甚至花式多多的暖水壺也是一些有質量而市民又能負擔的優良產品. 今天, 我們收入水平高了, 但一般人能夠負擔的貨品, 質量卻相對下降; 就連居住環境, 空氣質數, 生活節奏也隨之而改變, 或應說是犧牲.

對於從未有機會接觸過那個時代的80/90後來說, 每天只能擠進愈來愈沒有特式的鬧市街頭, 又或是千遍一律, 毫無生命的商場來說, 實在可惜; 不過, 也許至少比我們只能懷緬的人心理上活得輕鬆. 你呢? 會選擇做那一個年代的人?

Afternoon, in Summer, once I've been step into this street - Shanghai Street, in Hong Kong. Oops, what a colour tone of the past, the colour of wash out. Only a few fabric shop, ma-jong shop& Chinese herbal tea shop were found; Cantonese tea house up stairs, Shanghai restaurants, Chinese department stores, book stores were gone, ...all gone.

It was once a street full of Shanghai culture, lots of imported daily goods could be found here, well, in high quality of course, even though they were from mainland China at that time. Whenever the twilight falls, neon sign flash everywhere especially the red & yellow one for those fabric shop, which sale high quality silk, damask or tailor made wedding wear; the larger the signage, the larger the shop. I still remember, living in those years, we could buy affordable good daily stuff, like umbrella, thermal vase, black leather shoes, a "heavy" duty cotton blanket + salted Chinese ham to wait for the Winter to come. " A foreign night market" was the picture in my memory.

Today, we earn more, but our living standard drops, how come? not even we have to pay more of having an up to standard consumer product; we sacrify our living environment, air quality or even life pace.

For those who can only be part of the crowd in our liveliness district or shopping mall, the 80's & 90's, it is a regret; but compare with us who know the past and can only be a chase in memory, which era will you prefer to be?

夢幻收藏家 Collector of Imagination

香港是一個人囗密集的地方, 很多人也住在一個小蝸居, 空間的限制卻一點也沒有影響人們收藏至愛的嗜好! 毛公仔丶動畫角色手辨、香水仔丶漫畫書、CD丶模型車、飛機仔...等等, 各式其式; 可有想過收藏顏色筆?

有玩收藏遊戲的朋友可能也會定時定候到Felissimo逛逛, 這裏有按月從日本寄出的可供收藏物品, 由柸碟剪貼圖案, 衣物飾物以至雨傘裝飾繩簾等, 一般要三個月至一年才可集齊所有款色, 而想擁有這500支有名有姓的木顏色便要花上20個月, 每月收到25色...嘩!可真要有相當的耐性啊!

有趣的是每支顏色也配上一個美麗而引人幻想的名字, 如:"雨後的八仙花", "南極的黎明女神", "南非的紅鶴", "鯉魚飛躍的天空"...你能想像它們是什麽顏色嗎?

也許在家中擁有這幅"顏色掛畫"並不比一幅名畫或水晶吊燈來得豪華, 但擁有500個由顏色引發的幻想可不簡單, 你可曾有過到南極看黎明的夢想嗎? 夢想, ...我有,也許不止500個, 你呢?

What is so special of collecting color pencils? How about a total of 500 pieces? Or every month you've only got 25 nos. meaning you need to wait for 20 months? And how about they've got their own beautiful names.

"carp in the sky" "hydrangea after the rain" "aurora in the South Pole" " flamingo of the South Africa"... can you imagine what their actual color is?

All can be connected from Felissimo, you may think this "color wall" is nice but nothing compare with the famous art piece or chandelier in your house; but I will say the 500 imaginations that bring from them is nothing that can compare with. Don't you ever thought of one day you are relaxing next to a crowd of Flamingo in Africa? just enjoy the wild freedom under the unspeakable amazing scene from the nature...

Dream, I have too many, may be already over 500, how about you?

會說話的相片 Photo that speaks

Murray Darling Basin by Amy Toensing 

上月初曾在電視看National Geographic, 剛剛介紹十張由編輯們揀選的年度優秀作品, 也許節目是重播關係, 這巳是2009年的事, 但相片內容一點也不過時. 從來都知道National Geographic 的相片出色, 尤其以紀錄式的相片. 基本拍攝技巧巳不容置疑, 但他們的攝影師所拍出的照片, 總令人有點心動, 甚至乎震撼的感覺. 

上面一幅是由一位女攝影師Amy Toensing 在一個報道澳洲Murray Darling Basin 旱災時所拍攝的一幅照片. 相中的人物並非特約演員, 只是接載他們採訪的一個家庭, 一切就這麽自然地發生而在瞬間而被作者攝入鏡頭. 在節目中, 我們可以從評審口中得知多一點關於這幅照片優秀之處, 但其實相片巳把一切說明......其他內容留待觀眾自己去感受和聯想......這就是我們認為相片優劣的其中一個要素.

誠意推介大家登入National Geographic Photography 的網頁, 欣賞更多優秀的作品之餘, 也同時擴闊我們的攝影世界.

There was a National Geographic T.V. show last month, seems a replay of the Best Top Ten Photos of the International photo contest in 2009. A very good show, not only the amazing photos and photographers, but more detail analysis of the story behind. But truly speaking, neglect all of the technical know how that those photographers are familiar with, their photo tells story......that capture our heart and emotion.

The photo above was taken by Amy Toensing, who was asked to report the condition of Australia's Dry Run, there, is Murray Darling Basin. Everything in the photo was captured naturally happened at that incident, no actor, no props...but again, it tells the story,audience are free to explore within......we think, this is one major core of a good photograph.

If you have a minute, we highly recommend to click into the web page of 

National Geographic Photography

you can enjoy more brilliant photos and at the same time to explore in the photo world without boundary.

藍 Blue

從舊相片堆中找到它, 是遙遠的菲林時代拍下的一張照片, 令我着迷的藍.

自少也喜歡藍色, 天空的藍, 彩鳳雀鳥身上羽毛的藍, 深海的藍, 黄昏與入夜交替的藍, 邁亞美的藍...從來沒有一種令我失望的藍色.

這是一個在赤柱餐廳外的裝飾欄桿, 海浪圖案配上夏日的藍色, 很美,令人心情舒, 很想立即可以跳入海中暢泳. 今天, 它還保留着嗎? 也許巳變了沒有色彩, 沒有情感的玻璃組件, 我不知道!要是真的, 我仍會懷念着它昔日的美貌.

顏色牽引着情感, 尤其是自然界的色彩, 總令人讚歎! 下次, 當你要為自已的創作着色時, 不妨參考大自然所給你的提示, 也許你可以和我們分享你所戀慕的紅.

Blue - so attractive, can't run away from this lovely balustrade that was found ages in Stanley, H.K. I remembered, those were the days of 135 camera, what a good old days.

I love blue, any kind;  sky blue, feather blue, blue of deep sea, blue of twilight zone, Miami blue......"blue" a never disappointing hue.

Sea wave, sea shell, Summer blue...I wish I can dive into the sea right now. Is this balustrade still standing outside that small cafe in Stanley? I am not sure, or, it has been replaced by modular glass panel already? so cold & dead? If so, I will miss her "forever beauty".


Colour - a special link to your emotion, especially colour from nature. If you aware of it's existing, you can tell how amazing they are. Feel it, whenever you need a touch of colour to your life, may be you can share with us next time : how is your romantic red means so much.