With summer well and truly upon us and the Hong Kong humidity worse than a gorilla’s armpit, a few friends and I decided we needed a wardrobe change.
After two hours in Causeway Bay with its rows and rows of shops, but with very few offering anything unique- the Chocolate brand which always had SOMETHING cool was particularly drab despite its Batman Shops Here poster- we found ourselves at g.o.d- Goods Of Desire and its shop in Soho.
The reason for being there was to see what uniquely creative product has recently come from the fertile mind of Founders Douglas Young and Benjamin Lau.
Young is, without a doubt, the only creative talent in this town worth talking about- inspiring in what he manages to create, passionate in his beliefs and who has taken the history and culture and soul of Hong Kong and made it contemporary, cool, cutting edge and fun.
It’s been a long trip from Delay No More, the “14k” t-shirt controversy and g.o.d’s moon cakes to where the brand is day.
Though its mall in Causeway Bay failed to attract enough traffic, the work of g.o.d would, for myself, find its best home in Hong Kong at the old Central Police Station which is being turned into a cutting edge cultural hub and not, as way too many who rushed last week to get their tenders in for new venues, be another LKF, Wyndham Street or SoHo- all awash with unoriginality.
As we looked around g.o.d. and snapped up a dozen jackets and eight shirts- what the hell were we doing shopping for clothes in Causeway Bay?- we also noticed how Douglas and Ben have taken the usual Hong Kong marketing suspects and postcard tourist destinations and made them their own.
As truly creative people, they have that innate ability to take the usual and make it unusual and have a definite sense of pride in Hong Kong- the good, the bad, the quirky- and with an unabashed respect for this city’s history.
If the old Central Police Station is going to become a welcoming beacon of culture and almost a Hong Kong Greenwich Village where one can spend an entire day walking around a new and different experience far removed from where the army of dudes and dudettes hang out, then having g.o.d present would be a perfect addition to this location’s Big Picture plans.
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