Published exclusively in this site on 3 January 2012.
Last year, I went to an art auction for Clean Air Network, a local NGO dedicated in fighting our city's air pollution problems. All the pieces were created with environmental issues in mind, which were intriguing as well as inspiring. This year, they put their heads together and came up with a deal you simply can't resist - the Cut 咳 Cut 'Aircut Deal. Collaborating with Voi Voi Rakkaus, the latest Japanese hair salon in town, they are offering $1,000 haircut vouchers for any donations over $500. Ran by renowned Japanese hair stylist Ko Hasegawa, who has been in the field for over 23 years, his uber trendy and comfy establishment in Central will be offering a shampoo, cut, massage, and finish for half of the original price from now until Sunday, 22 January 2012, all in the name of charity.
Not only are you cleaning up Hong Kong's air, you are also getting an awesome new look for a new year, being spoilt with luxurious products delivered straight from Japan. So what are you waiting for? Donate online, by cheque, or by bank transfer, then email them or call them at 3971 0106, and you will receive the exclusive voucher taking you straight to the Loop on Wellington Street. Glam up now!
Tried blending some local factors into your Christmas dinner yet? Take your pick here!
Cheung Kee Food Shop (Tel: 2891 2696), situated right behind Times Square, is the traditional supermarket that has everything, only fresher and packed in the exact quantities you want.
Wanna see where else I would recommend for some Chinese delicacies? Read the rest of the article at Aroxta!
Old San Yang (Tel: 2891 1191) sells unique delicacies from Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Shanghai. Add some oriental flavour to your Christmas dinner with Ningbo sesame sweet dumplings, cooked with osmanthus sugar and fermented rice. Ying Kee Tea House (Tel: 2542 0038) provides a huge variety of tea, along with luxurious tea ware. Serve some Chinese tea instead of your regular Earl Grey for an Asian twist.
Not bothered to cook? Head over to 208 Duecento Otto (Tel: 2549 0208) for a hearty meal or even a mouthwatering buffet. Right on the antiquities street, you can pick out some Chinese décor on your way out.
Christmas is just around the corner, and it makes the best excuse for a long anticipated get together! I must say, it is lots more fun to host a house party for Christmas than going out for a meal, since it is more intimate and you get to spend way longer just lounging around than in restaurants. Having said that, we are all busy with our daily lives, so we other than our ah-yi's weekly cleanings, we might have just left our homes right there to deteriorate. As a perfect host, the atmosphere is as important, if not more, than the food and wine we serve and the company we keep, so why don't we take a look at what we can do to get our flats to ooze the warm and welcoming feeling!
Sitting Room
Some may argue that the soul of a living room is in its sofa, so how can you refurbish your soul to show that you are trendy yet caring? SofaSale has came up with this fabulous idea of turning your old denim jeans into a brand new comfy sofa, giving your old jeans a well deserved second life. Don't have that many pairs of jeans ready on hand? Ask your friends to chip in, and surprise them with the unique piece of furniture when they come over to your place for Christmas! Rest assured that the sofas are in tip top quality, since the frames are made of dried solid wood that has undergone steam drying treatment to meet European furniture standards, making sure your uber chic sofa will last more than a lifetime.
Now start decorating your new sofa with Makaron's colourful cushions and quilted quilts! The brand is a pet project of Belgium luxury brand marketer, Jenny, and French airline crew, Catherine. Their contemporary classic designs are inspired by macaroons, which are sweet and represents the happy moments in life. Their cushions combine colourful vintage patterns with a single coloured cloth, as well as mixing different fabrics in a single piece, just to make sure that their pieces are both practical and trendy. Quilted quilts, on the other hand, are uniquely French, which would be perfect if you have small kids coming to your Christmas party. Lay it on the floor as a super fashionable playmat! You can get your hands on these classy yet affordable pieces by ordering online from their website.
Have you thought of how to keep your guests entertained while getting dinner ready? John Hardy has provided a luxurious yet environmentally friendly way with a Balinese twist! Their comprehensive collection of handmade home and lifestyle products includes traditional games like dominoes, cards, and tic tac toe. Made of black palm wood, the set shows off their fine craftsmanship with modern designs, so lay it around casually to add a touch of class to both your home and your entertainment experience.
Dining Room
The best way to share dishes with lots of people would be using an Emoi salad bowl, which is made of bamboo for its lightness and health consciousness. The raw and bulky look makes it absolutely stunning, while the use of natural materials with no colouring treatment will ensure it is safe to put food in. Though it is a Christmas celebration, you are in Hangzhou, so why not cross it over a bit and share a good cuppa Longjing Tea with your friends? This glass tea set, also from Emoi, is blown individually, so your set is unique as your home is. Enjoy your Hangzhou Christmas and spend ages catching up over some decent tea!
Add a bit of the Mediterranean sunbeam onto your dining table with place mats from Les Toiles du Soleil. Made of an unique fabric manufactured exclusively in the South of France since 1860, it combines traditional Catalan weaving skills with contemporary interior designs. St. Laurent de Cerdans, though just a small village in France, had the charming powers to attract even the most celebrated artists, including Picasso and Dali, so see if these alluring place mats do anything of that sort for you and your guests!
Your silverware says a lot about your taste, so check out John Hardy's dining collection, which would translate your style as creative yet detail minded. From cups to napkin rings, the collection of contemporary classics in sterling silver, black palm wood, and crystal is designed to enhance your Christmas dinner, presenting a ravishing yet cozy feel to your home. Even the pickiest fine dinners among your company will be in awe of its smooth and elegant finish, having been entirely hand made in Bali.
Balcony
Sitting outside in the evening calls for candles, which add a touch of romance to the evening. Real candles can be a bit of a fuss though, since it can get blown out by the wind or the snow, and tipping it over can cause a real nightmare, which would be quite prone after a couple of eggnogs. So Philips is here to the rescue with their ambiance accessories, with a nice set of tea lights that flickers just like the real deal, and you never have to worry about when it will be out. The pack does come with its own stylish frosted glass cups, but since the artificial tea lights are actually the same size as wax tea lights, if you have any fancy candle holders you would like to show off, it can also fit in there snugly.
Decorate your balcony with the colourful strips of Les Toiles du Soleil! Not only do they supply sun chairs in over 100 styles of fabric, they also custom make cushions to whatever that takes your fancy, giving your balcony a contemporary and trendy look that has outlasted fashion trends after fashion trends. Offer you guests matching slippers, and show them to a world of versatility and style transmitted directly from southern France!
Do you have one of those boring ol' sundeck tables? Add a bit of colour to it with Makaron's table cloths and runners! They focus upon offering Western home linen items that aren't typically sold around the region, and play around with colour blocking, as well as obsessing over the quality of their fabrics and finishings, just to make sure what you have on hand is of superb shape.
If you get your act together quickly enough, you just might have your flat ready for an extra Thanksgiving meal! Gather your friends and find a prized turkey from City Shop!
Published exclusively in this site on 30 November 2011.
How can M.A.C. glam up their makeup kits even more? They have definitely found an unique way, through lending a hand to the World AIDS Day with their lovely Viva Glam cosmetics set, which is being supported by the outspoken diva Lady Gaga. M.A.C.'s amazing AIDS Fund has been donating 100% of their revenue from selling the special collection of lipstick and lipglass to fight against HIV/AIDS, which is obviously the most beautiful way of doing your makeup.
Other than stocking up on their lip gloss, what other ways can you participate to show how much you care? Join M.A.C.'s talented makeup artists, and volunteer with them at iSquare from 1:15pm to 2:15pm tomorrow, 1 December 2011. They will be putting away their makeup kits to dish out red ribbons and condoms in order to promote HIV/AIDS awareness. Ivana Wong, the ambassador of the Society for AIDS Care, will also be joining the event, tapping on her musical talents in performing with cool African drums.
If you work near Tsim Sha Tsui, I promise this will be the most meaningful (and fun) lunch hour you will ever have. Round up your colleagues and head over to iSquare for a lunch that will make you feel refreshed and recharged!
Cosmoprof Asia, the leading beauty trade show in Asia, just finished showing off their stuff in the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre earlier this month, and I was invited by Clara from the Scent Library to find out more about the perfumery and toiletries from MOR, a sensual Australian brand that provides scents as well as moisturising from their au naturale products.
I love MOR's packaging, with the Agent Provocateur-esque black/pink combo as well as the more angelic white/pink combo. I am rather lazy in putting on any sort of cream, so nice packing is essential to trap me into carrying it around and applying some of it occasionally. With its alluring front, I don't think anyone would be surprised to hear that the brand was created by Australian designers Dianna Burmas and Deon St. Mor. Together they created an innovative blend of old world holistic ingredients with modern technologies, putting in a dab of traditional apothecary and myths from the ancient civilisations.
So you want to stand out from the crowd? Bhavini Raval will help you come up with your signature scent at the comfort of your home with just an hour's time! Doesn't that just sound like the ideal girly get together excuse? The process is pretty straightforward. There are 18 essential oil based scents that you will be introduced to on its characteristics, and you will get plenty of time to sniff out before you decide whether it is a yay or nay. After which, you will blend the scents you like together until you find the perfect combo. It might be mixing six scents together, or it might just be the mere two, it is entirely up to you. The perfume will be whipped up in front of your eyes once you are ready with your pick, and you get to choose from a range of atomiser spray with crystals to make it look as pretty as it smells. You get to name your fragrance, and its details will kept securely by Bhavini, so that you can get a refill anytime!
Photato is not exactly the kind of name you would forget. This quaint one stop photography servicing shop with a cheeky name launched their first retail outlet in Miramar Shopping Centre on the National Day, providing high quality frames, canvas, and photo books printing; exquisite camera accessories from all reaches of the globe; as well as a selection of renowned artistic photography albums to the lucky crowd loitering in Tsim Sha Tsui. Jasmine and I caught up with their co-founders, Michael Lee and Jack Man, as well as their Creative Director, Benny Woo, who gave us some valuable insights as to what we can do with all the high resolution photos we have stored in our hard disk drives!
Why did you guys open a photo developing shop at an age where everyone just shows their photos to others on their iPads?
Michael Lee, Co-Founder of Photato: With the technological advancement in digital cameras, we are now able to produce photos in a quality that was only available to professionals with high-end equipment in the past. As a recreational photographer myself since my college days, I have lots of high resolution photos, which are quickly gathering dust inside my external hard drives. I turned to Jack, who is experienced in the digital output industry, for ways that I can appreciate photography beyond the process of taking photos, and extend it to the viewing of the end product.
The idea grew from there, and that is how we came up with Photato, where not only the professionals, but also photography amateurs and even proud parents can turn their photos from something on the monitor screen to a worthy piece of art. We want to create a total shopping experience, so we chose to be located in the lifestyle corner of Miramar Shopping Centre, with the setup of an American deli for a chill and welcoming environment. Our staff has superb product and photography knowledge, so you can be sure your priceless memories are in safe hands!
How does Photato distinguish itself from the neighbourhood photo printing shops?
Jack Man, Co-Founder of Photato: As Michael has putted it, we have more product as well as photography knowledge, and we put it into practice when we deliver our products. We make sure we personally adjust every photo that comes out of our studio, for example, the lighting, so that everything looks the best when it is printed. People nowadays have keen eyes for good photos, and they have stored many precious impressions of places that will soon be demolished. We hope to give these photographs a chance to be viewed the way they were intended to.
I was in the printing industry for years, and as an amateur photographer since high school, my intention of starting Photato was to channel professional technology to the mass market. Our digital framing services will give you the flexibility of having a photo ready for hanging after a cup of coffee, and you can even choose to email us the photos, then have it delivered to wherever you please.
We also offer Fine Art Canvas Photos and commercial grade Photo Books, both of which are made to order and delivered right to your doorsteps. For the canvas, we do suggest you choose a more abstract photo, which would look great as an art piece on your wall, while with the photo books, we are proud to provide the same quality as what you would get from professional publishing houses, with the flexibility of doing the layout whichever way you wish, with the aid of our specialist software. You can develop any of your photos from any medium, be it your iPhone, DSLR, or even good ol’ film. Just don’t compress the photos, or download photos from Facebook for print. We are good with everything else.
What makes the camera accessories and the photography books selection so special?
Benny Woo, Creative Director of Photato: In addition to creating prints, we believe the process of taking photos is equally important as the appreciation of the end result, which is why we introduced a wide collection of stylish yet functional camera accessories from international brands, as well as photography books ranging in different topics by world-renowned artists. By doing so, we hope that we could be of service to those who views photography as lifestyle rather than a mere hobby.
Our camera lifestyle accessories range from chic camera belts to funky fish eye iPhone lense. Whatever you style, we have something that would suit you. Are you a diver who loves taking photos of amazing underwater scenes? We have waterproof camera bags from Aquapac that you will grow to love. Are you an environmentalist, who cares about where we are living in? Our bags from Côte & Ciel are made of recycled material, yet they still make a stylish, eye-catching piece in its own right. Are you the girly type who likes everything pink? We carry camera bags from Hellolulu, which are as colourful as they are functional. We also display products from Ciesta, Manfrotto, Unit Portables, and Built, so I am sure you will find something you like from our wide range of collection.
As for our collection of photography books, they are mainly from Asia One, which carries one of Michael’s favourite photography books, Hong Kong Inside Outside, by German photographer Michael Wolf. Having lived in Hong Kong for over 14 years, his depiction of people in Hong Kong’s public housing is extremely intriguing. As a professional graphic designer, I tend to think that photos aren’t just for capturing beautiful things, but more on appreciating what you are surrounded by, like the Japanese photographer Rinko Kawauchi, who took a series of photos on her life’s daily hum dums. It was such a vibrant collection that I took a step back to ponder upon just how powerful still images make.
We aim to create a buzz on photography, merging it with as a way of life, so we will strive to update you with the latest photography events around town on our Facebook page. Like us to make sure you know what is coming up next!
Trailing spouses make up a significant part of Hong Kong’s social scene. A rather successful lot too, may I add, as they bring with them widespread wisdom from their home country, and adapting it with Hong Kong’s unique environment. Look at Christina with Beau Peep Boutique, and then glimpse upon Maura and Hester with Sassy Hong Kong! My mom and I were rather fortunate to have been introduced to Makaron, an online home linen store, by none other than their Director Jenny van der Straten, who flaunted her favourite items to us, as well as clued us in on how she and her business partner, Catherine, started with the entire concept. Have you got some young cousins who you just can’t figure out what you should buy for? Or an old auntie who is very peculiar about how she sets her table? Christmas shopping solved!
How did you and Catherine come up with the idea of starting your own business in home linen products?
Well, I am a Belgium luxury brand marketer, while Catherine is a French airline crew, and we met in Hong Kong where our husbands’ jobs took us. As we started building our homes in Hong Kong, a few handy items from home seem to have been missing. Home décor and baby items are either cheap and cheerful with tacky cartoon patterns on it, or they are chic but bloody expensive from designer stores. There just isn’t anything in between which is classy yet affordable.
Usually at this stage people would write home and beg friends and family at home to send some of the items over, but we decided to go one step further, and generate our own brand of products that are both elegant and unique. The name Makaron was inspired by macaroons, which are sweet and colourful, representing happy moments in life. When we first started, we sold handy items based on our personal experiences in private sales, and then we moved onto soliciting online sales and distribution points, where we groomed a list of products that are adjusted based on customers’ feedback. So far this has been working rather well!
What are you focused in producing?
We are focused upon offering Western home linen items that aren’t typically sold around the region, such as table cloth, runners, cushion covers, girl pockets, single bed and baby bed duvet covers, baby outdoor changing mat, baby play mat, baby changing mat cover, and small quilted quilt.
In our contemporary classic designs, we combine colourful vintage patterns with a single coloured cloth, as well as mixing different fabrics in a single product, to make sure that our pieces are both practical and trendy. Just because a baby is young doesn’t mean you can put them in dull, ugly duvets! Colour blocking plays a huge role in our products, but we are keen on the quality as well, so each of our items are hand-made and produced in a limited quantity to ensure that they are all up to standard.
Any tips on choosing quality linen products? Where can I find out more about Makaron?
The way we test our fabric is first by touching it to see whether it is soft and comfortable. After all, baby products make up a prominent part of our business, so how it rubs onto their skin matters a lot to us. We would buy samples of the fabric and test it in the washing machine to check how well it wears and tears. We also double check the linen or cotton fabric to make sure our products are of good quality, as well as giving particular attention to details, so that product finishing must be perfect before we put it to sale. We currently have a mix of Western, Japanese, and expat Chinese mothers stocking up our products, and we are planning to develop the local market as well as expanding across Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and China. Our proudest moments must be when we see familiar faces coming back for more, or when someone comes up to us and tells us that she was referred by a satisfied customer.
If you want to have a look at how we are doing with colour combinations, check out our website, which has been shipping consistently to across France, Belgium, Singapore, and of course, Hong Kong. We are currently offering HK$110 off on your first purchase! Our pieces can also be found on Baby Central’s website, but if you are the kind of person who likes to touch the real thing first before buying, come to Petit Bazaar for our baby products, Sidewalk for our home products, or book an appointment with us to visit our showroom and ogle through all our pieces at one go! Our new collections will be launched at our private sale on 6 October 2011 at Jardine's Lookout, and 11 October 2011 at Pokfulam, so follow us on our website and Facebook fan page for further details.
My series on grooms and what they can contribute to the wedding ends right here with this piece. I have talked about where you can get freshen up and where you would spot a monkey suit, now let me walk you through some of the nitty gritty stuff you need to think through before the day. And I don't mean saving up for the lai see money or writing a memorable speech.
Pen
Have you ever thought of what you will be signing "I do" with? I have seen imitations of goose feather pens, but what you really want is a lasting fountain pen that the two of you can treasure throughout the years. Go to Waterman or Montblanc with your fiancée for a luxurious pair of his and her pens! Remember to practice your signature a lot because not everyone is build for writing in ink. Oh and make sure you double check to see if you have actually filled the tube with ink. Don't want any hiccups on the day do you? Or rather, on the bit of paper you will have to be safekeeping for life.
Wedding Rings
Your wedding bands are probably something you are planning to wear on a daily basis, so be sure to go with your fiancée and pick out a pair that both of you can live with. The usual choices are Cartier, Tiffany, and Bulgari, so find a day when the two of you are in a good mood and have a few hours to spare, before you head in and decide on which of those beauties will be the destined ring.
Car
If you are hosting your banquet at Four Seasons, chances are they will be supplying you with a Bentley to pick up the bride. It is pretty much a similar case with the Peninsula and Rolls Royce. I am sure you know more about cars than me, but whatever you choose, if either of your family lives across the harbour, make sure you don't choose a convertible. Seriously.
Wines
Leave the girly bits like choosing wedding cakes to your fiancée and the capable hands of Mrs B's Bakery, while you set off to pick out the booze for the banquet! Unless your father is Li Ka-shing, it isn't very likely that you will be serving a free flow of Lafite '82. Even if he is your father, it probably isn't a good idea anyways, because both you and the guests will be pouring the stuff down like tap water, instead of appreciating it with the proper respect it deserves. Adelaide Cellar Doors specialises in distributing quality wines from down under at a reasonable price, and they have tasting sessions for the two of you to try out what you like best before getting the lot. Drop Jane an email to book a session, and enjoy your time getting intoxicated. Make sure you two decide on which ones you are getting before your judgment is impaired!
Music
Music makes up a huge part of the atmosphere. If you get the first piece right, everything else will fall into place. For a church wedding, I suggest 愛是不保留 (Cantonese) or 相信有愛就有奇蹟 (Mandarin), while for a non-church wedding I would suggest Lucky by Jason Mraz or You are so Beautiful by 側田. Listen to loads of songs together first and see which ones both of you like. I am sure you two have an "our song" you would love to share with the guests. If you have a huge budget, see if you can hire out Saturday Night Jazz Orchestra! They are amazing, just go to the Fringe Clubon an evening at a last Saturday of the month and you will know what I mean.
I did randomly ran into this series of painspotting humour books, and aren't I glad I did. Pains on Trains, Pains in Office, and Pains in Public take the piss out of all the nasty, shady, and just generally weird people you would encounter on a day to day basis. Subtle yet to the point, you would have thought that Andrew Holmes wrote the series entirely based on your personal experience.
Each book focuses on a specific environment (trains/offices/public), but all equally hilarious. The office one is more universally applicable, because you would find pretty much the same ensemble across the globe. The train one and the public one, on the other hand, have more factors in it that is uniquely Britain, or rather, uniquely London. Like the City Boys for instance, you kind of need to have been near the Square Mile to appreciate its meaning.
Go on, grab a copy from Paddyfield, and start painspotting to make your mundane daily lives just a tad bit more colourful!
Two of my favourite books are Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, a political satirical series by Anthony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Why? Because it tells the truth, and somehow, the truth is ironically hilarious. The books, adapted from a widely popular BBC sitcom in the 1980s, revolved around Jim Hacker, the accidental Prime Minister, Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Cabinet Secretary with his own agenda, and Bernard Woolley, the Prime Minister's Principal Private Secretary with a passion for linguistics.
The books were written as Jim Hacker's diary, being studied by students at Hacker College, Oxford (fabricated) in the 21st Century, which won't be another few years from now. Between his diary and the editor's notes, it is surprising to see how something that was written over 30 years ago can still be so relevant. Obviously nobody in Britain is thinking of the Russians as a threat right now, but other than that, the bureaucracy and the inertia is largely the same worldwide.
After so many years, and suffering from the death of its major casts, Paul Eddington (Hacker) and Nigel Hawthorne (Appleby), the writers decided to come up with a contemporary drama version of the story, which is now on tour around the United Kingdom. They updated it with current issues, such as equipping all the actors with a Blackberry. Reported as Lady Margaret Thatcher's favourite sitcom during her time as Prime Minister, the updated drama has received many positive reviews from the English media.
I have heard rather mixed comments about these books, which is something along the lines of either loving it or hating it. The language is subtle and you will have to appreciate the English humour to be able to take pleasure in reading it. I would imagine someone who stayed in Britain before, and is now part in Hong Kong's civil service, will enjoy these books the most, but the likelihood of that combination is... Anyhow, take a quick look at its sitcoms on Youtube before grabbing your very own copy of Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister at Paddyfield!
