Coffee Chan
Hang Seng Management College
Shirley M C Yeung
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This innovation emphasises on face-to-face human interaction in the digital age.
The establishment of K11 Natural combats the seemingly intimate yet distant relationship among people in the digital age. The first of its kind in Hong Kong, this brand new zone features a number of dining and retail brands promoting nature, wellness, and craftsmanship. The human-centred story-telling approach provides experience to customers, especially youngsters, to have more in-depth knowledge regarding handicraft in the area. Not only can they immerse themselves in the ambiance of art as they create their own, their participation in the face-to-face workshop also enhances interaction in the community.
Except implementing innovative ways in designing the layout of the mall, K11 pursues its core values, which are art, people, and nature, coherently in their management routine. For instance, A World in a Well by contemporary Chinese artists Song Dong featured an iconic art piece made of recycling materials like windows, lamps and doors, explored the concept of surplus value and encouraged the public to discover new ways of seeing the world during festive seasons. On a daily basis, food waste from the restaurants in K11 and the nearby area are handled to arouse the awareness of environmental protection and human impact on nature. This matches with the 12th goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development as producers are expected to educate the consumers/the community and producing products/services in a responsible way. K11 demonstrates this concept with a green common space for retailers to exhibit their products.
Inspiration is a double-layered concept - K11 is inspired by the idea of craftsmanship, then further turns it to inspire their customers to think of other ways to reduce waste for K11. On one hand, K11 is inspired by the idea of craftsmanship in 1940s as well as the mode of shifting between online shop and real stores. This stimulates the thought of creating workshops focusing on experiencing different forms of art, such as cooking, watch-making, and coffee brewing. The ‘scattered position’ layout implemented by the Brand Curation (Leasing) department also provides diversity of choice under the theme ‘nature’. Retailers can share knowledge of a particular product or concept to customers face-to-face instead of using digital technology. K11 inspires the community that innovations can be derived from the idea of back-to-the-basic and tech-with-human-touch.
Perceiving inspiration as a dual concept, K11 further inspires their customers to think. Since the trend of increasing environmental awareness is inevitable, art exhibitions involving usage of recycled materials triggers thought of reusing items creatively to reduce waste production.
The key pursuits of K11 generates impact on society. Instead of merely preaching members of society that action should be taken to change unsustainable lifestyle and attitude such as leaving tonnes of food waste when dining that cause environmental problems, the holistic step-by-step experiential learning method adopted by K11 can effectively provoke customers to reflect how their habits affect our environment. The empathetic nature of immersing in artwork and gaining hands-on experience helps educate the public directly and powerfully. This also contributes to spread the concept of self-awareness and sustainability.
The persistence of leaving space for art rather than advertisements or shops is worthwhile in K11 because art lovers will visit regularly to appreciate different form of art and get insightful ideas in their mind. Space is not solely reserved for visual artists, K11 also invites music performers for music shows, providing an open platform for local artists in the community. The footfall will increase and it is beneficial to the retailers.
An affordable and open platform is provided for many young artists to gain exposure to the general public. The idea of mixing marketing with art enhances the ecosystem of arts scene and room for incubation of young local artists. It is beneficial to citizens as the distance between individuals and art is shortened when participants take part in the exhibition and communicate with artists directly. Art will not be easily marginalized by the overwhelming thought of consumerism and materialism.
Less garbage is sent to the landfills thanks to the management policy of processing food waste in K11. Together with K11 Natural to promote green lifestyle and organic products, our environment is improved both directly and indirectly.
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Rebecca Woo, Operation Director
