LATEST ARTICLES

Tsunami of plastics trashing the oceans

Tsunami of plastics trashing the oceans

June Wong So-kwan picks up plastic takeaway cups and boxes, plastic bottles, and supermarket plastic wrappings and containers on her regular rubbish collection trips to Hong Kong’s beaches. “When I do beach clean-ups in Hong Kong I find a lot of these kinds of wrappers, the pre-pack containers,” she says. “This is what you can …read more

Eco-jewellery for the rich and conscientious

Eco-jewellery for the rich and conscientious

A diamond ring can signal joy, love, commitment and, maybe these days, environmental awareness. The global demand for ethically-sourced and environmentally-sound jewellery is steadily growing and big names, from the world-famous Tiffany brand to the massive Asia-based Chow Tai Fook group, have developed deep sustainable jewellery policies. 

Eco-babies and the vexed generation

Eco-babies and the vexed generation

A production stage manager at a theme park, Helen Wu is in her 40s and she is both childless and a committed environmentalist. Since her wedding last year, her friends and colleagues have repeatedly asked her when she will have a baby, but her answer doesn’t change. “No,” she says. “As I grow older, more …read more

Some women just like it complicated

Some women just like it complicated

Lung Lung Thun is one of the rare breed of women watch collectors. She researches the history of individual watches. She discusses watches, she understands watches and she buys watches – often larger men’s watches with complicated mechanical movements. She recently bought her first vintage Patek Philippe – the 3970 – a wildly expensive perpetual …read more

The suit is not dead

The suit is not dead

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought Hong Kong’s world-famous tailoring industry to its knees, says Stanton Ho, co-founder of the local menswear establishment Refinery. Dressy social occasions have been lost in the dust of lock-downs and social-distancing rules. Nine-to-six office rules and dress codes have changed, perhaps forever. 

Brands heed call for sustainable changes

Brands heed call for sustainable changes

As plastics horror stories pile up, consumers across the developed world are turning away from the modern convenience of plastic bags and plastic packaging, or at least trying to avoid single-use plastic as much as they can. There have been too many dead whales found with bellies full of disposable bags, boxes and bottles; too many …read more

Hong Kong’s expanding forests

Hong Kong's expanding forests

Over the centuries, Hong Kong’s lush subtropical woodlands have been burned, accidentally and deliberately – cut down for fuel, slashed to make way for agriculture, flattened by typhoons, replanted to stabilise hillsides, cut down to make way for development, devastated by insect plagues and replanted again. Whatever happens, they keep coming back.

Beam of inspiration

Beam of inspiration

Tebello Nyokong, a South African chemist, is developing nanomaterials containing photosensitive dyes for use with lasers to attack certain types of cancerous cells. Photodynamic therapy is a non-invasive, low-toxicity method of causing cell death used to treat a wide range of medical conditions, including several forms of cancer. Dye particles are ingested, injected or applied in …read more

Silk journey stays on a greener path

Silk journey stays on a greener path

Transforming fluffy white silkworm cocoons nurtured on Chinese mulberry trees into high-fashion silk shirts, blouses, jackets and other garments is a long, multi-stage process of harvesting, washing, spinning, weaving, dying and sewing. One privately owned Hong Kong company will soon own and manage every stage of this silk journey.

Neither hide nor hair

Neither hide nor hair

Pineapple leaves, fungus fibres, sugarcane, cactus: all botanical elements used in the production of various kinds of plant-based leather. Inspired by the environmentally-sustainable thinking now sweeping the world, these so-called “vegan” leathers have become increasingly popular alternatives to hide leather.