This US$14 billion global beauty and skincare company carrying 25 distinct brands approached One Space to design and deliver a multi-phase, 44,000 sq ft reimagined workplace within their existing premises. Spread across 3 floors, the company’s Asia Pacific HQ and its brand-centric Hong Kong affiliates had outpaced their old settings, which had begun to hinder their growth and agility.

Working directly with the President and his project committee, we developed an all-new, core-value-reinforcing Workplace model, a multi-brand Staff Training Centre, Product Demo Rooms, Photo Studio, POS Systems Testing Lab, and a wide range of well-appointed rooms and spaces designed for meeting, socialising and ideation. We also exploited the building’s large structural columns to create quiet coves & confidential focus rooms within close proximity to every brand team and every corporate function.

Stylistically, we researched the brand’s unique post-war heritage, built effectively upon its founder’s reputation as a ‘before-her-time’ modern woman – a visionary who revolutionised the beauty industry. A wealth of black-&-white vintage photographs in the company’s archived inspired our design theme of creamy whites and neutral fabrics, natural timbers and velvety graphite metalwork. A key technical challenge was to build the offices in several phases around a live operating business environment, without disruption.