Behind the Design

“The narrow staircases of old buildings in Hong Kong hark back to childhood Sundays spent gathering with family at Grandma’s. Those long Sundays were marked by the memory of the incessant chatting between aunties and uncles, unbroken feasting and the clatter of mahjong tiles. The ritual of Sundays at Grandma’s always began with our climb up to the apartment, traversing a dimly lit and musty staircase. Tarnished tin letterboxes poked out from the walls. An overlapping pattern of two circles were punched out from their faces, and apartment numbers were painted across their front in white. 

Since Sundays at Grandma’s became a thing of memory, the oxidised letter boxes that still make an appearance in the staircases and receptions of old buildings stand out as a totem of what seemed like a short lived period in time.

Letterbox Mirage is about more than nostalgia; it’s where memory becomes inspiration. The distinct pattern from my memory is given a second life in this sumptuous piece.”

— Macy Chow, Tustin & Chow Designer