MILESTONES‘Kanye
gravitated
towards
my rough
drawings,
and I
realized how
quickly they
communicate
ideas’
2014
OFF-WHITE HONG KONG
The Kanye connection forged new frontiers
for Family in both set design and retail. ‘We
were working closely with Kanye and Kim
[Kardashian] on their houses. We even went
to their wedding in Paris – the most insane
event I’ll probably ever attend. Oana and I
were en route to the prenuptial celebrations
at the Palace of Versailles – as you do – and
[fashion designer] Virgil Abloh was our car
companion. We’d heard he was starting his
own brand [Off-White], and he asked us to
design his Hong Kong store.’
Abloh’s motive wasn’t necessarily to
sell clothes but to produce an ‘interesting
place’. When visiting Hong Kong, Wong was
overwhelmed by the concentration of com-
merce. Although his family is from the Chinese
territory, this was his first trip back in some
seven years – and the only time he’d viewed
the city from an architectural perspective.
‘Off-White’s site is in a buzzing shopping areaBased on its junglelike boutique
for Off-White in Hong Kong,
the studio became the firm that
offers ‘something a little weird’.that’s a few blocks from a large park,’ he says.
‘We wondered whether we could symbolically
take a piece of that park to make the store.’
Wong’s reasoning was that even passers-by
with no knowledge of Off-White might step in
for some respite from the retail world, which
is why the shop’s junglelike anterior space is
strictly devoid of merchandise.
The Hong Kong boutique generated
more projects for Off-White – and for other
retailers. ‘We could position ourselves as the
people who offer “something a little weird”.
And we could point to our portfolio and say,
look, it works.’
Family and Abloh conducted the
majority of their working relationship via
texting, a system that Wong continues to
use. ‘Texting is less formal and tends to make
things happen more quickly. Some people
love it, while others are put off. I try to figure
out what works best for each client.’ »69