What was life like as a young man in Hong Kong?
I had a lovely childhood. I was born and raised here. My father is from mainland China and my mother is from Macau. I came from [nothing] and I didn’t have any family support. My father never went to school. My mother only had a primary school education. [My skills] are self-taught. I never really had a luxurious life, but I’m blessed. It’s because of [my upbringing] that I really treasure everything: the things I own, how I treat others and how they treat me.
How did your journey in design begin?
In the 1950s, my father owned a shop on Hennessy Road in Wan Chai selling imported fruits from the US, and I was his assistant. We lived behind the shop on the mezzanine floor [of the building]. My father worked hard and he was artistic
