AvroKO, the architecture firm responsible for the redesign, spent months researching the elements that make vintage Hong Kong spaces feel unique, using their findings to create a space that is at once retro and contemporary, with flourishes like a two-storey chandelier inspired by the city’s ubiquitous bamboo scaffolding.

The Eaton is hardly alone. All across Hong Kong, new spaces and products are finding inspiration in the past, drawing from what is often described as the golden era of Hong Kong culture: when Cantopop dominated East Asia’s music charts and films by John Woo and Wong Kar-wai captured the world’s imagination. But it’s not just nostalgia. It’s a quest for meaning in a city where the pace of change has always been relentless.

‘Hong Kong has been grappling with its identity, and people are getting better and more nuanced at identifying certain objects or aesthetics as being emblematic of [local] culture,’ says Billy Potts, a Hong Kong-born designer. ‘Things that weren’t previously thought of as a style are now being recognised as the Hong Kong vernacular.’