COLOURLIVING, Hong Kong’s leading lifestyle concept store, played host to the recent unveiling of the luxurious FLUX light collection. The beautiful new designs were spawned from a partnership between design powerhouse AB Concept and Lasvit, the renowned Czech glassmaking company. We sat down with AB Concept co-founders Ed Ng and Terence Ngan to find out more about these unique creations.

           

How did AB Concept come about?

Ed Ng: Actually Terence is a trained architect and I am an interior designer. When we met over 20 years ago, we realised we shared a lot of common interests in terms of aesthetics and designs, so we decided to partner up and start AB Concept. As an architect and interior designer, it’s a natural partnership and with our skills seamlessly complementing each other.

Is there any underlying philosophy when you’re creating a new space?

Ng: I think the biggest tenet for us is to never repeat a design twice. It’s definitely a much more challenging approach than for other designers who have a signature style, but it’s also that much more rewarding for us creatively. It really allows us to build something wholly unique and unrepeatable for every client that we take on, and it’s a strategy that’s yielded huge dividends for AB Concept.

Can you tell us a little bit about the FLUX Collection itself?

Ng: The FLUX Collection is a series of lighting fixtures designed by us in partnership with Lasvit, the famous glassblowing company. It aims to express the beauty of simplicity through nature scenery, in this case to symbolise the light reflecting off ocean waves along a sandy beach.

Terence Ngan: FLUX is not meant to illuminate a room entirely. It’s intended to set a tone to your visual experience. It’s bright enough for you to be able to navigate through a space, but dim enough to please other senses beyond the eyes.

Ng: Right now we have three designs – a tabletop lamp, a stand-alone fixture and a wall-mounted light. But it’s just the beginning. We’ll be coming out with even more designs, so watch this space…

How did the partnership with Lasvit come about?

Ng: We’ve been working with Lasvit for quite some time on a per-project basis. They’re renowned for being a great design partner for site, brand or project-specific initiatives, and they’ve got such a wealth of experience in creating beautiful lighting products.

One day, [Lasvit founder] Leon Jakimič said: “We’ve been working together for a while, would you like to collaborate with us for one of our collections?”, and that’s was the beginning of what eventually became the FLUX Collection. The entire process was very eye-opening. Coming from different backgrounds, AB Concept and Lasvit were able to challenge each other and come up with something that is more than the sum of our separate experiences and specialties.

Were there any challenges you had to overcome in designing this collection?

Ng: I think the biggest challenge was the shape of the FLUX design. In traditional glassblowing, circular or rectangular shapes are much easier to work with, but ours was neither, which meant that a unique mold needed to be created, and each piece had to be crafted by hand. It’s a very time-consuming and intricate process.

What’s more, the FLUX lights feature a very thick glass, another challenging anomaly for the Lasvit craftsmen to create. Then, of course, there’s the layer of gold and platinum within and without the design. We had develop a special process to melt only the surface of the glass, and only just enough that the metals could adhere to its surface. I can definitely say we were pushing Lasvit’s glassblowers to their very limits!

Thank you.

The all-new FLUX lighting collection can be visited at the COLOURLIVING flagship store in Wan Chai (333 Lockhart Road).

Interview by: Tenzing Thondup