A passionate pursuit of creating timeless design
Patrick Fung is design director of Wilson Associates Shanghai Office
Who is he?
Patrick Fung is design director of Wilson Associates Shanghai Office. As a design director on the project, Fung has the responsibility to conceptualize the overall design project direction and interpret the owner’s requirements to create a holistic, integrated, timeless interior that reflects the client’s vision and operator’s brand standards, and responds to the specific nuances of the target demographic as well as the project’s location, history, culture, budget and schedule. He is involved in each stage of design, working closely with the project team to ensure consistency and conformity with the agreed design direction. He is a primary point-of-contact along with key members of his design team.
Tell us some of your works, and name the one you are most proud of?
I am working with my team in the Shanghai studio developing designs for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Two properties will be used in the Winter Olympic village for the athletes and the third property is at a third Olympic Games’ site in Chongli, known as China’s skiing hub.
Are you currently involved with any project?
Aside from the Winter Olympic projects, I am fortunate to be doing an amazing triplex penthouse in the Armani Residence tower in Manila. And we are about to open a hot spring resort hotel in Yongtai so the team is involved with a very wide range of amazing projects.
Describe your design style.
Throughout my professional and educational life I have been aware to use the term of ‘design style’ in a very considerate manner.
Rather than claiming to have a certain design style, which can often be caught in fashion. I would like to think that my ethos in design is to be open and aware of historic, contemporary and future trends, and the amalgamation of those elements to suit the project to enrich the users and engage in an inspiring timeless space.
Where are you most creative?
From the moment I meet and engage with clients. I believe a major part to the success of a project comes down to the understanding of the client/project needs and then the creative ideas will come from a source which is relevant and specific to that project to give its identity.
Creative identity is for me very important to give each project its character and identity.
What does your home mean to you?
My home is the property I own along with the pieces of furniture, books and personal items which makes the house into my home.
What do you collect?
One of my secret guilty pleasures is that I collect vintage Hi-fi. I currently have my eye on an immacculate 1953 Garrard 401 where back in the day the plinth of the turntable was built and sat on real marble.
Where would you like to go most in Shanghai?
It has been almost two years since I moved to Shanghai and in this vast city there is so much to see. I still have a long list of places and buildings that I would like to visit.
During my days as an art student I built a series of fine art paintings of church architecture so I still have an interest to do plein-air drawings of Cathedrals.
So my next place to visit is the Ignatius church in Xujiahui: Roman Catholic Cathedral designed by William Doyle in 1906.
What will be the next big design trend?
This is a question that we designers get asked on a regular basis and each time we consider the reply to this question and the thoughts on how the answer evolves.
So for me, trends come and go over time, some may last for longer or evolve to something else but a trend is an essence fashion. And as my favorite quote, “fashion passes, style remains.” Fashion is synonymous with trends. Style is identifiable as a timeless identity. So the next big trend to not go out of fashion for me is style.
