ZOLIMA CITYMAG
Laura Cheung Is Giving Japanese Obis New Life In Hong Kong
by L’ÉCOLE School of Jewelry Arts, supported by Van Cleef & Arpels, August 24, 2017
“People have collected beautiful things for thousands of years, but the most exciting collections have always been built around a real passion,” declares Hong Kong-based interior designer, collector and self-described “magpie” Laura Cheung. In her eclectic, colourful world, instead of secreting her treasures away, she uses them to create something new and exciting. Mid-century hand-painted ceramics mix with colourful contemporary lacquered boxes; pearl-embroidered and hand-painted wallpaper mingle with antique Rosewood.
Trained as an artist and raised in a family steeped in love for the crafts and arts, the designer says she has always been happiest when finding or working with something handcrafted, so a great deal of what she collects reflects these skills, including amazing hand-painted wallpaper collection. Cheung’s grandmother was her earliest influence, she taught Cheung about the skilled workmanship that lies behind the intricate designs of traditional Chinese decorative arts. Cheung later went on to study at New York’s Parsons School of Design before completing a master’s degree in fine and decorative arts at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London. In 2010, she returned to Hong Kong, where she founded the home furnishings boutique and interior decoration studio Lala Curio.
Among her favourite collectibles are Japanese obis, the often intricately embroidered and woven sash that Japanese men and women wind around their waist when they are wearing kimonos. Cheung first became interested in obis in 2007, when she visited Nagoya with her industrialist father and was introduced to Japanese family friends who have a large collection. Cheung draped her obis over windows and across tables at home so that she could see their elaborate colours and patterns, but as her collection grew, it inspired her to think of new ways to live with them. She had already integrated other antique collections into her family home on Kadoorie Hill in Kowloon, from Chinese Ming dynasty blue and white porcelain, Qing period Cloisonné urns, and mid-century Japanese ceramics. She was inspired to do the same with the Japanese textiles. “I believe that we should live with our most treasured pieces. They need to be seen and experienced,” she says. For Cheung, it is the “colours, textures, patterns and the poetic scenery that tell stories” that she finds most intriguing.
Source: Zolima City Magazine; https://zolimacitymag.com/laura-cheung-is-giving-japanese-obis-new-life-in-hong-kong/
Founder and interior designer, Laura Cheung Wolf’s house is an art itself. This place is a combination of love, family, and her view of art. Laura decorates every corner precisely by using refined decorations, chinoiserie furniture, and hand-painted wallpaper.