HKDI Atelier
HKDI Atelier is a centre of excellence at the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI), a member institution of Hong Kong’s Vocational Training Council. HKDI Atelier fosters the close collaboration between industry, academia, and research. Through feature projects, HKDI’s designers, creators, and researchers bring together innovation, aesthetics, craft, culture, as well as technology to augment Hong Kong’s standards in craftsmanship and applied research in design. It endeavours to set professional benchmarks of design locally, in the Greater Bay Area, as well as nationally and in the Asia Pacific Region.
Facilities
HKDI Atelier brings together a range of specialized resources for creative research and inspiration. It includes the Comics Library, Fashion Archive, Graphic Archive, Material Lab, and V Music Library, each offering valuable references for different design disciplines. From visual storytelling and fashion history to graphic expression, material exploration, and music-related resources, these archives support learning, experimentation, and new ideas. Together, they preserve creative knowledge while encouraging cross-disciplinary discovery. Whether for study, inspiration, or professional development, the Archives provide a rich environment for anyone exploring the many dimensions of design and culture at HKDI Atelier.
Read more FacilitiesIP Strategy
The IP Strategy category at Hong Kong Design Institute focuses on building and managing intellectual property through creative design. It covers a wide range of applications, including Virtual Idol development, Fashion Brand identity, Character Design, and Packaging Design. Participants explore how original concepts can be transformed into marketable IP assets with strong visual storytelling and commercial value. This category encourages innovation, branding, and cross-media development, helping designers create distinctive characters, products, and experiences.
Read more ServiceCraftsmanship
Craftsmanship at Hong Kong Design Institute emphasizes the mastery and innovation of traditional and contemporary making techniques through design. It encompasses a wide range of practices, including jewellery making, metalwork, material experimentation, and heritage craft techniques such as embroidery in fashion garments. Skilled handwork and deep material knowledge are translated into refined and meaningful design outcomes with cultural and artistic value.
Read more ServiceImmersive Design
Immersive Design at Hong Kong Design Institute focuses on creating engaging and interactive experiences through the integration of digital and physical environments. It covers a wide range of applications, including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), spatial design, interactive installations, and experience-driven storytelling. This category encourages innovation, technological exploration, and cross-disciplinary collaboration, enabling designers to create compelling environments, narratives, and user experiences.
Read more ServiceExperience Design
Experience Design at Hong Kong Design Institute focuses on creating holistic and user-centered experiences through the integration of design, technology, and real-world applications. This category encourages innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and human-centric thinking, enabling designers to create meaningful interactions, environments, and systems that enhance everyday life.
Read more ServiceOur Services
Aerial Video
Aerial video offers a dynamic bird's-eye perspective, empowering designers and creators to capture expansive cityscapes and transform spatial storytelling through innovative drone cinematography and design thinking.
Artisan Techniques & Textile Mastery Collection
Spotlights exceptional craftsmanship through exquisite embroidery, embellishment, and textile techniques. It emphasizes hand-stitched motifs, luxurious threadwork, material quality, and skillful execution.
Character Design
Character Design is a specialized creative category at HKDI, dedicated to the development and shaping of original characters across diverse media. It covers character concept development, visual storytelling, personality crafting, and the process of transforming unique characters into marketable IP assets. Applicable to animation, gaming, publishing, advertising, and merchandise, among other fields.
Cheongsam / Qungua / Denim (Heritage Couture Collection)
Features timeless historical and ethnical pieces, including cheongsam, ornate Kwan Kwa wedding attire with symbolic motifs like dragons and phoenixes, and regional ceremonial wear. These preserve cultural traditions and inspire modern reinterpretations.
Fashion Brand
Showcases modern fashion evolution with iconic branded pieces from renowned designers and labels (e.g., Chanel, Christian Dior, Alexander McQueen, Jean Paul Gaultier, Comme des Garçons). It focuses on garment construction and design, highlighting fashion legends from different eras who have redefined silhouettes, tailoring, and aesthetic innovation.
Future Living
Pioneers Future Living through human-centered design and material innovation. Fostering inclusive co-living prototypes for dense urban contexts, develop sustainable hybrids materials, and create ergonomic, adaptive spaces. Blending well-being, sustainability, and advanced prototyping to address global challenges.
Live Show Design
The integration of digital media, stagecraft, and interactive technologies to create unforgettable live experiences. By blending virtual elements with real-time performance, we craft innovative shows that captivate audiences with immersive visuals, dynamic storytelling, and sensory engagement.
Location-based VR
An immersive experience that blends physical environments with tailored virtual realities through the integration of spatial computing, motion tracking, and real-time interactivity. By designing interactive narratives and custom-built spaces, we explore the boundaries of storytelling, education, and entertainment.
Material Application / Exploration
Through the application of 3D digital technology, the project enables personalized refinement of craft products in areas such as ceramics, jewellery, wood, and glass. It aims to expand design possibilities, promote innovation, and enhance user engagement through the integration of creative craftsmanship and advanced digital processes.
Packaging Design
Packaging Design is a focused creative discipline at HKDI that centers on crafting innovative packaging solutions for a wide range of industries. It encompasses structural design, visual communication, material exploration, and the integration of branding elements to enhance product identity and user experience, transforming functional packaging into compelling design assets. Applicable to retail, luxury goods, food and beverage, cosmetics, and e-commerce, among other sectors.
Prototype Design
Prototype design makes ideas tangible, bridging imagination and reality through hands-on models for user feedback and iterative refinement.
Silver Economy
With design innovation and empathy at its core, this initiative drives interdisciplinary research and development in the field of aging society. Through human-centered design and evidence-based exploration, it pioneers creative solutions and future care models that enrich the lives and well-being of older adults.
Spatial Video
An immersive 3D video format that captures depth and spatial information, allowing viewers to experience content with a sense of presence and dimension. It can be viewed on devices like Apple Vision Pro, allowing viewers to enjoy a realistic playback experience.
Video Wall Motion Graphics
The creation of large-scale, synchronized visual displays that bring motion graphics to life on video walls through high-resolution LED/LCD arrays, real-time content rendering, and multi-screen synchronization technologies. By designing dynamic animations, interactive visuals, and immersive content, we expand the possibilities of public spaces, branding, and experiential marketing.
Virtual Idol
The development of digital performers brought to life through real-time motion capture, facial tracking, and lately Generative AI technologies. By exploring virtual character creation, performance design, and audience interaction, we redefine the boundaries between reality and digital presence in entertainment.
Virtual Production
A revolutionary filmmaking workflow which adapts state-of-the-art media technologies such as extended reality, real-time rendering, optical camera tracking, pixel mapping, etc to lively create realistic moving images.
Volumetric Video
A groundbreaking media technology that captures real people, objects, and environments in three dimensions, enabling creators to freely navigate, view, and interact with dynamic scenes from any angle. By combining advanced imaging, spatial reconstruction, and immersive rendering, volumetric video transforms storytelling into interactive experiences.
Our Facilities
Comics Library
The Comics Library is a dynamic hub for comics education, bridging academia and industry and nurturing emerging talent in an inclusive, creative space. We welcome students and the community to read, discover and enjoy diverse comics, with screenings, recommendations and artist-led workshops fostering cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary collaboration and industry connections.
Fashion Archive
The HKDI Fashion Archive supports the use of real fashion products as teaching and learning tools, boasting a newly renovated 360 square metre space that houses around 1,500 historical fashion items. Visitors can access the iconoclastic fashion items to understand the design, culture and history behind them via the interactive platform made available by the HKDI Fashion Archive.
Graphic Archive
The Graphic Archive at Hong Kong Design Institute is an applied research and consultancy hub dedicated to the advancement of knowledge in all areas of graphic communication. It acts as a knowledge exchange platform between staff, students as well as external organisations, tightly integrating practice, research, teaching and outreach activities.
HKDI Desis Lab
As part of the global Desis Lab network, HKDI Desis Lab is a hub for social innovation and sustainability, empowering students and designers to co-create impactful solutions for social, environmental, and cultural challenges in Hong Kong and beyond.
Material Lab
Material Lab is a comprehensive material archive and interactive learning platform designed to facilitate the exchange of material knowledge and associated applications amongst students, faculty, designers and manufacturers.
HKDI Atelier Shop
HKDI Atelier Shop serves as a multi-disciplinary retail knowledge exchange hub for academics and retailers locally, regionally, and internationally, with a vision to build business strategies and design solutions for future challenges by synergising the latest developments, innovative ideas, and best practices. Its services comprise the four areas of big data analytics, e-commerce, design incubation, and technology-driven in-store experience, bringing design innovation, creative ideas, and business solutions under one roof.
V Music Library
It engages students and the public through hands-on experiences that celebrate vinyl culture, fostering collaboration among music, visual communication, fashion, and image design. By promoting the cultural significance of vinyl records, it creates opportunities for knowledge sharing and creative expression, centered around the V-hive—a vibrant hub for music lovers.
Our Achievements
iF Design Award
Nov 2023
Germany - iF International Forum Design GmbH
V Music Library / Department of Communication Design
V Music Magazine is a bi-monthly music publication created through the collaboration of students and faculty from the Hong Kong Design Institute, with renowned local DJ Dr. Wong Chi-Chung serving as an advisor.
Paper Presentation (SIGGRAPH)
2025
Hong Kong, China - SIGGRAPH Asia
Media Lab / Department of Digital Media
Red Dot Award 2025 : “Best of the Best”
Nov 2025
Germany - Red Dot
Material Lab
Project Kontemp
HKDI and Project Kontemp Ltd win “Best of the Best” at 2025 Red Dot Design Award
Red Dot Award 2023 : Design Concept | Concept | Service Design
2023
Germany - Red Dot
Graphic Archive
To Buy Or Not To Buy
Red Dot Award 2019 : “Best of the Best”
2019
Germany - Red Dot
DESIS Lab / Department of Architecture, Interior and Product Design (AIP)
Tri Cane
For elderlies and people with physical ailments, mobility in an urban environment is greatly limited