A Time To Re-Joyce

Hong Kong’s sought-after interior designer Joyce Wang unveils the hidden delights of the luxurious Entertainment Suite at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental hotel in Hong Kong, and talks about the design process that guides her journey

- Jon Braun

Joyce Wang’s nomadic journey has led to a mature, informed portfolio that has garnered her numerous accolades – made all the more impressive by the fact that she’s still in her thirties. Born in Hawaii, Wang went to MIT, the Royal College of Art and Delft University of Technology; along the way, she also worked at Foster + Partners. After a stint in Los Angeles, she headed to Hong Kong to set up her own studio. In 2009, she got her big break – in her mid-twenties, no less – with a high-profile revamp of the Cabana Rooms at the historic Hollywood Roosevelt hotel in Los Angeles. This two-year project also coincided with work in Hong Kong at the Sift patisserie in Ap Lei Chau and the now-defunct Drawing Room in the Jia Hotel (since renamed J Plus).

It is remarkable how far she’s come in less than a decade. Wang now has a slew of acclaimed restaurant projects under her belt, including Ammo at the Asia Society in Hong Kong, Mott 32 (in Hong Kong and Vancouver), and Rhoda, Spiga, Isono, Vasco and Haymarket in Hong Kong. She also designed a lavish residential penthouse in Shanghai’s trendy Xintiandi area and oversaw a major overhaul of the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park hotel in London. Add to that her eye-catching Rare Table collection – marble tables that resemble giant slabs of raw beef atop cages of weathering steel – and you have to wonder how she ever finds time to catch her breath.

Today, operating her eponymous studio from offices in Hong Kong and London, Wang has earned heaps of international acclaim. With a dramatic approach often described as ‘cinematic’, she’s well known for her luxe meets-industrial-chic style and her employment of unique materials, though she’s made strides to avoid being stylistically pigeonholed.