When it comes to interior design, what makes that all-important 'wow moment'? Ed Ng and Terence Nang share AB Concept's approach to creating a lasting impact.

When you go through a door and immediately stop and gasp as you look around. When you sit in a chair so comfortable you don't give it a second thought until you realise you've been there three hours. When you keep returning to those stores, hotels and restaurants that you love for the energy they exude, regardless of who else might be there. During the process of writing this book with the gorgeous and inimitable Ed Ng and Terence Nang, I had the privilege of studying these moments, and the task of putting their practice into words.

Since it was founded in 1999, AB Concept has cultivated an exceptional portfolio of work with some of the world's top hospitality brands, earning numerous awards and creating interior environments that inspire powerful emotions and leave a lasting imprint on the mind while also standing the test of time. From the iconic Four Seasons hotel in Hong Kong to the ocean-fronted W Algarve resort, via private residences – including Ed and Terence’s own private residence in the mountains of Karuizawa, Japan – and retail concepts such as the exquisite Lalique flagship in Shanghai and Hong Kong’s K11 Musea, AB Concept consistently applies their unifying concept that design must be "about being."

Theirs is a philosophy that aims to bring beauty and magic into the world, enhance our quality of life, and inspire those who use and inhabit their designs in meaningful ways.

(Image: Bangkok Residence)

While AB Concept is well known for the ability to create “wow moments”, their approach to design is both thoughtful and intuitive, akin to a chef carefully sourcing and exploring different ingredients. Awakening the senses and weaving stories that captivate and transport, the team combines tools and methods to create an experience that surpasses the sum of its parts, and their designs are deeply rooted in place and culture. Craftsmanship and storytelling run through every space and product, resulting in timeless designs that resonate with the human experience. 

“In every project we ask ourselves two questions: How do we want people to feel? What will be remembered from this experience an hour, a day, a week and a year later?”

(Image: Taipei Residence)

For some, design is about form and function. For others it’s about solving problems, making the world a more efficient, more attractive place. For Ed Ng and Terence Ngan, design at its best it has the power to transcend both these definitions – it is a means to bring more beauty and magic to the human experience – to enhance our quality of life.

From a box of artisan chocolates to the grandest global hospitality projects, AB Concept applies a single unifying concept – that design is about being. How our world is designed affects our ability and compulsion to be together, be ourselves, be more present in the moment. To be moved, to be inspired.

What does this mean? At a micro level, it might be a tactile material, the way the light hits the wall, or a detail that tells a delightful narrative. At scale, it might be the ‘wow’ factor, the experience of transitioning from one space to another, the pause required to take it all in. It might be the way a room encourages conversation, meetings and connections, or creates more evocative memories of its locale.

Another way to put it might be to say that AB Concept designs in four dimensions. As has become customary in the world of interiors, there are the all-important photo opportunities, but the designs on the pages of this book are so much more than an image, they exist to be experienced in person, and to build and reveal their layers over time. That could be over three hours and an immaculately prepared meal, it could be over the course of 24 hours, factoring in difference moods and views as we switch from day to night, or it could be over an entire year, with its changing seasons, views and light.

(Image: Waldorf Astoria Xiamen)

“We believe in the power of good design to shape our human experience and leave a positive imprint on the mind.”

AB Concept approaches every project with an open mind, a dedication to quality, generosity, humility and grace. This means that while it won’t be defined by a single aesthetic or style, the practice is able to partner more creatively and profoundly with its clients, the designers immersing themselves in the backstory and bringing the brand’s values to life. The resulting interior environments are less about AB Concept as designers, and more about the people who will experience the space. It’s a feeling: whether an exhale of calm, a sharp inhale of awe, an urge to look closer and ask questions, or an uplifting nudge towards creativity and play. Ultimately design has the potential to evoke all of these and much more, to bring people back to the here and now, and create more lasting memories.  

(Image: K11 Musea, Hong Kong)

“We bring our ideas to life in layout, materials, furnishing and detail, with simultaneously an acute attention to how spaces work optimally and feel special.”

 All this requires a particular approach: one that is deeply thoughtful as it is intuitive. Throughout this book, there are many examples of how Ed and Terence begin each project with a thorough investigation of a client’s history, as well as a full immersion into the places and the cultures that will form the basis of the storytelling. This rich sense of provenance becomes a thread that runs through every space and every product, big of small.

 The Viola fine-dining chair, for Poltrona Frau, is an example of consideration in action. A design that is not only aesthetically suited to its purpose, but that goes above and beyond in its functionality too. Taking into account the patron (how long they will be seated, where they might want to put their clutch and so on), the waiting staff (how easily can they pull it out when seating customers, how it can be maintained and moved), the owners of the establishment (longevity, storage, upholstery) and all the while with dazzling degrees of craftsmanship.

(Image: Viola Dining Chair, Poltrona Frau) 

For large scale projects, such as the W Algarve Hotel & Residences, the level of detail is no less – just multiplied to the nth degree. 

“For us, design is a valuable and evolving tool, a science and a craft combined. It helps us to understand who we are, to reflect how we live and to shape how we come together.”

 Ed and Terence often compare designing with cooking. Just as a chef will carefully source and explore different ingredients, tools and methods in combination so too does the AB Concept team in its mission to create an experience more powerful than the sum of its parts. At its best it is rooted in place and in culture; and awakens our senses in a moment. Rarest of all, the pinnacle of success, is the dish that leaves an imprint on our minds forever.

 As with cooking, design is a passionate pursuit and an expression of love. And as we all know, every chef worth their salt has a secret ingredient in their arsenal. For Ed and Terence, though we can only speculate, that secret ingredient might well be geometry.

 Take any space, any AB Concept design, and before long it will reveal itself across the entire project. From the simplest element – it could be the shape and proportions of a tile, a handle, a repeated motif on a textile or screen – to the grandest, found in the curve of an archway, or the sweep of a chandelier. So subtle and so integral, geometry is the foundation of everything. Once the designers have captured this geometry and identified it, it will guide the whole process, becoming the signature of the whole project. In the Conran Hangzhou, for example, it is the curved line of the river, repeated in every metal link in the vast curtain that greets visitors on entering, it is found in elements large and small throughout.

“We describe our mission as translating intangible emotions into tangible realities. We design for experience and memory together.”

(Image: Conrad Hangzhou) 

 AB Concept: The Art of Timeless Spaces, published by Rizzoli. $85.00 / £65.00 / €75.00 

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