Ngan Lok

Em and Mr Ren, the proprietors, were a constant source of inspiration. Their lifestyles were closely followed and admired across China, and they had already built a loyal client base with clear distinctions between their different brands and lines. Developing the luxury proposition therefore began with understanding not only the customer, but the world, taste and attitude the founders themselves embodied.

We worked from my East London studio, presenting weekly to the team in China, while travelling regularly to Shenzhen for research, buying and sourcing. Those visits were essential to understanding the market at ground level — how women were shopping, how climate and geography affected product needs, and how supply chains could be developed to support the ambitions of the collection.

During collection development, we spent extended periods working directly with the in-house sampling floor. The team moved fluently between advanced digital systems and traditional craft: high-tech cutting software and large-scale print beds sat alongside sensitive draping and hand-drafted paper patterns. That dialogue between digital precision and analogue intuition gave the development process enormous flexibility and became an important part of how the product evolved.

Designing for China meant responding to a broad spectrum of climates, lifestyles, tastes and attitudes. Range planning, fabrication and cut had to be considered with particular care, while print and textile offered space for a more expressive language. Em had a strong appetite for variation, colour and detail, and our creative rapport allowed the collections to become both highly individual and commercially grounded — balancing instinct, market understanding and a distinct luxury identity.