to visit, stay and work together with local designers and the public, with six rooms reserved for them to
stay on site and work on
their projects. In this sense, To thinks
that PMQ also plays the role of “connector” as well, linking both the
local and overseas design industries. “I think we set a very good example that the government can utilise an old site and bring new value to that site, rather than just fixing it and then reopening it to the public. We are bringing new use to the site and using it to nurture a new generation of talent,” he says. Besides offering support for local designers, PMQ also
provides co-working space for start-ups to set up their offices. Brinc, an IoT and connected devices accelerator and fund, moved its office to PMQ in 2015. “I think the best part about the space is we don’t feel like we’re working,” says Manav Gupta, Brinc’s CEO and founder. “You’ve got a blend of indoor and outdoor space, so it’s very fluid and open and free. You’ve got a lot of nice sunlight outdoors. “When you’re in something new and you’re in a new
promote the local creative and design industry. William To, executive director of PMQ, describes the role of the site as a “nurturing community” with a mission to help design entrepreneurs grow. “In PMQ, there are mostly young designers who are
ready to hit the market, but don’t have the capital backup to go into a real retail site. With the help of Musketeers Foundation and the land from the government, we have been able to create a site for them to move in to. We subsidise their rent, nurture them and help them grow,” says To. Young designers who want a place in PMQ must first
submit a business proposal, which is then reviewed and evaluated by a vetting panel consisting of 60 members from both the retail industry and the design community. Once their applications are approved, PMQ not only subsidises their rent, but also organises different kinds of workshops to teach them how to run a business, line up their products and put together their stories for press purposes. In addition, PMQ uses its connections overseas to
provide them with opportunities to be exposed in different markets; for example, PMQ brings them overseas to attend major trade shows and fashion weeks and subsidises those trips so that the designers and their products can get exposure overseas. There’s also a “Designers-in-Residence” programme that encourages international design talent
bus ine s s tr a v el ler .c om
ABOVE: The Hong Kong News-Expo (x2) OPPOSITE PAGE: PMQ; and Manav Gupta, CEO and founder of Brinc
industry, you want an experiential space to help you sell that industry. If we had gone into a traditional space, it’s harder for people to experience what we do and get excited by it,” he adds. Brinc rents out half the seventh floor and can use the
rest of the space on a pay-per-use basis. “It’s pretty much fully available and we use different parts of the floor as we need for activities, events, training, etc,” says Gupta.
FROM STREET MARKET TO NEWS-EXPO Next to Staunton Street at the back of PMQ stands another historic building – the Bridges Street Market. This was one of the first wet markets built after World War II. Today, this former street market has been transformed into a news-themed museum that opened in December last year. Te Hong Kong News-Expo (HKNE) is the first
“exhibition-cum-education” facility in Asia with news as the main theme. CK Lau, one of the directors of HKNE, says the idea of establishing a public museum using news as the theme first came from a study tour to the US organised by the Journalism Education Foundation in 2008. After visiting the Newseum in Washington DC, some of the members felt that they needed to do something similar in Hong Kong. While it may seem odd to relate a street market to
journalism, the market is actually situated in the area that was the birthplace of Hong Kong’s news industry. Some of Hong Kong’s earliest newspapers had their offices based in this part of Central, with many printers nearby, including Universal Circulating Herald, which was the first Chinese-
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