Bringing Japanese Commercial Space Design to Hong Kong

Space Co., Ltd. (Space), a commercial space design company, has been demonstrating its wide capacity in commercial design over the years, including interior design for shopping malls, retails, department stores, hotels and other commercial facilities in Japan., . Founded in Nagoya in 1948 and its headquarters now in Tokyo, Space is listed in the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The company emphasises consistent and continuous communication with its customers, providing a holistic one-stop service.

In 1986, one of Space’s major client UNY opened its store in Hong Kong, the company also took this opportunity to launch its services in the city in the same year as it has steadily expanded business with UNY and other tenants nearby. Due to the economic downturn at the SARS outbreak in 2003, the company decided to retreat from the Hong Kong market.

In 2011, the company was awarded a revamping project for UNY, so they placed staff in Hong Kong again. Currently, as business operations have expanded, the staff has grown to a team of seven, with three Japanese employees and four from Hong Kong. This recent growth is dues to steadily expanding business from specialty stores in addition to UNY and thanks to taking on business for Japanese customers in step with headquarters, projects with Uniqlo and other apparel sellers have been on the rise.

Local Hong Kong companies currently represent close to 10 percent of Space’s business, as recently there has been an increase in requests to see Space’s interior design work and for work to be done.

According to Koichi Nishimura, General Manager, there are three core strengths that contribute to the expansion in the Hong Kong market. ”We bring Japanese space design to Hong Kong which excels in its balance of ‘finely detailed design’ and ‘simplicity’. Also, the high quality materials we use for our projects are from Japan. Last but not least, we offer Japanese standard of service that not only reflects in Space’s detailed approach, but also acknowledge and incorporate the culture of Hong Kong.”

Riding on the existing projects with Japanese companies, Space would like to further expand its business with more local Hong Kong companies and establish a strong local footprint. “Hong Kong is a place full of opportunities with ongoing design business in town. That’s why we come back with a stronger and bigger team now.” Nishimura enthused. In addition, the company is planning to tap into restaurant design and will expand its Hong Kong team and hire assistant designers in operations, who will be mentored by senior designers from Japan.

Support services for Invest Hong Kong

“We received sincere advice on employee recruitment and business expansion information in the Hong Kong market from Invest Hong Kong when we re-started operations there. We look forward to building a long term and fruitful relationship with the team,” Nishimura concluded.