Cover The Tatler community including Ed Tang and Sabrina Ho showed up in full force at the Design Trust Gala on March 22 (Photo: courtesy of Design Trust)
The Tatler community including Ed Tang and Sabrina Ho showed up in full force at the Design Trust Gala on March 22 (Photo: courtesy of Design Trust)
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The excitement surrounding Art Week is always palpable. On March 22, Hong Kong welcomed the region's most influential creatives, art and design connoisseurs and captains of industry to celebrate the Design Trust’s 10-year anniversary with an A-list gala dinner at the Palace Museum
Who? Marisa Yiu, Jonathan Cheung, Tina Leung, Kamsen Lau, Vivienne Tam and Sabrina Ho
Where? Hong Kong Palace Museum
When? March 22
Here’s what you missed:
Themed The Art of Doubling, this year’s gala celebrated dynamic duos and dualities in art, to honour the Design Trust’s double digit anniversary, marking 10 years of the charity in Asia. Held at the Palace Museum, the evening benefitted design and creative communities in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area and honoured key art and design patrons in the city. Yung Ho Chang and Lijia Lu, founders of architecture firm Atelier Feichang Jianzhu, were on hand to receive the Design Trust Legacy Award for contributions to contemporary architecture design practice and education; Tatler Asia’s Most Influential honouree Rocco Yim received the Design Trust Heritage Innovator Award for his architectural design contributions and as lead architect of the Hong Kong Palace Museum on the West Kowloon Cultural District. Five pairs of creatives—which included Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves; Warren Leung Chi Wo and Sara Wong; Michael Young and Xavier Tsang; Julie Progin and Jesse Mc Lin; and Bob Pang and Kevin Mak—were announced as the co-recipients of the Design Trust Dynamic Duos Arts Prize.
Kamsen Lau, Rocco Yim and Marisa Yiu
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During dinner, co-founder, lead curator and executive director Marisa Yiu, made a passionate speech: “As we confront the ever-changing roles of the design process and the design discipline, we need to explore new ways that design can build even more positive impacts across fields. The Art of Doubling drives us to ‘double down’— to focus on priorities and re-commit collective efforts to our cause with action to support and stimulate design research, scholarships, cross-cultural collaboration and public programming in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. For all of you who have been part of this journey and our future, thank you for championing our creative and cultural purpose,” she said to applause.
The energy in the room reached its peak with the start of the live auction facilitated by Phillips Auction House auctioneers Jonathan Crockett and Danielle So. A total of HK$10.5 million was raised through the auction which featured exceptional and limited-edition pieces of art, furniture and decorative items including William Lim’s painting, An Urban Miracle; Henry Steiner poster designs and a unique oak chair from Zaha Hadid’s Design partnership with Japanese wooden furniture maker Karimoku, specifically for the Design Trust Decade Gala.
Inside the Design Trust Decade Gala
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This year, more than 28 specially curated lots were auctioned with items generously donated by designers, artists and friends of Design Trust, with fundraising proceeds going towards education, micro-parks, design development projects, and research grants for the Design Trust initiative.
The event scenography was produced by another dynamic duo: husband and wife team Victoria Tang-Owen and Christopher Owen. The pair and their creative agency Thirty30 Creative made poetic hand-painted panels as table tops and organza installations billowing from the ceiling. Later, another duo, musicians Ashley Lin and Eric Chong wowed the audience with special performances.
The organisation’s chairman of the board of directors Kamsen Lau and board members Jonathan Cheung and Ivan Pun mingled with other guests including Kristine Li and Ed Tang. Designer Vivienne Tam also made an appearance fresh from her debut at Paris Fashion Week in March. Afterwards, the party moved to The Continental in Admiralty, where guests got to let loose and toast to a successful night of fundraising until the wee hours. What a night of celebration it was.
Credits
Photography: Courtesy of Design Trust
As Content Director at Tatler Hong Kong, Tara shapes the brand's editorial vision across social, digital and print. She also drives the planning and execution of Tatler's flagship IPs. In her dual role as Head of VIP, she reports on Asia's most influential figures — from CEOs and leaders across business, style and the arts — curates star-studded events, and builds the relationships and communities that define the brand. Born and raised in the Middle East, she honed her craft in Dubai, crafting communication strategies for luxury brands across the Gulf. Follow her on Instagram @tarasobti.
