On Friday, I had a beautiful afternoon shooting, shadowing and talking about life and love with talented jewellery designer friend Hannah Ren. She recently designed a collection of signet rings for girls – with some badass quotes on them. And I just had to shoot something with her. So I visited Hannah at the factory where her designs are produced and we spent a lazy hutong afternoon wandering and shooting and talking about art and process. The photos turned out quite raw and unique to Beijing so I’m excited to show you guys in a later post.

That afternoon was a perfect reminder of why I’m doing all these ADD, OCD, and seemingly unrelated things. Talking with Hannah about her work and just hearing her share a portion of the vast knowledge she’s accumulated over the years, I realized that it’s this type of girltalk I love best. The world always needs more crazy talented people who just want to add some more meaning and beauty to the world, and I feel so so lucky whether one of these people let me in to see how their art is created.

Hong Kong was a flash, a wink, yet a decade ago. I think I’ve grown up a lot during and since that trip back in January. I stayed at Lanson Place in Causeway bay, which provided a peaceful retreat from long adventurous days.

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Love Pillowbook top, Stefanel blazer, Nike sweatpants, Nike sneakers.

Every time I’m walking into a hutong, I feel like I’m back playing Pokemon on my Gameboy Color and Ash is walking along those grassy areas and eek! a wild Caterpie appears. Except in a hutong, it’s more likely to be an elderly Beijinger shouting at you for being, well, you.

Anyway. What I’m trying to say is that you always end up finding something magical and unexpected. Even the faint whisks of toxic smog add some charm to these walkways. Yep, I just made pollution #romantic.

These photos were shot by Irene the other day outside her Hutong studio. I’m wearing a dudou top from her label Pillowbook. You can read more about it in the interview I did with her here. Also since I’m not allowed to wear anything but sneakers for the next half year because of my damsel-in-distress of an ankle, I might as well join the sneakerwear bandwagon officially and cop some new stuff. In the meantime, here are my Nike Air Forces, falling apart and all.

Nick and I arrived a bit too late to AOTU Studio‘s Christmas party, so the space was almost devoid of both people and mulled wine *sad emoji*. But we decided to explore and ventured upstairs to where the hairy activities of the collaborative hair salon take place.

Hawt clean minimalism featuring just wood, glass and the lonely cactus here and there. The salon space was elegant, clean and consistent in styling. I loved it. Founder of the studio, Ray Wu, was also there and chatted to us about how the two-week space is not yet finished, and his potential plans for making practical use of the open rooftop space come spring. Rooftop haircut? I’m down for that.

AOTU STUDIO
Beixinqiao Toutiao 67 Beijing