LATEST ARTICLES

Going green on the final journey

Going green on the final journey

The robot arm zooms back and forth in the workshop of LifeArt in Hong Kong, shaping a sheet of thick, hard cardboard into a modern and environmentally kind cardboard coffin, or eco-coffin. Wilson Tong, chief representative of LifeArt, the only manufacturer of eco-friendly cardboard caskets and coffins in Hong Kong, believes they are the way …read more

It’s not so cut and dried

It's not so cut and dried

Ever-creeping climate change is spelling the end of the lawn as we know it. Environmentalists everywhere see the neat and weed-free grass lawn as an ecological disaster in an age of ever-increasing heat, shrinking water resources and increasingly scarce wild habitat.

Brews without the bruises

Brews without the bruises

Alex Metcalfe started experimenting with no-alcohol beer about five years ago. Originally from Britain, he now lives in Hong Kong’s leafy Sai Kung district with his wife and two small children and he works as a teacher in a Hong Kong school. “I started drinking no-alcohol beer because I wanted to reduce my alcohol intake,” he …read more

Kitchen sync

Kitchen sync

Grace Wu and Jenny Leung first met as twelve-year-olds at St Francis’ Canossian College in Hong Kong, and now the long-term friends are organising an international cooking class fundraiser through their popular online World Kitchen Club. Over the past year the Club has run private parties, corporate events, and a series of group and private classes …read more

Before it goes to waste

Before it goes to waste

Those loaves of bread won’t be fresh enough for customers tomorrow, so tonight they will be collected by a charity for distribution to the hungry. The containers of cooked soup won’t be ordered by restaurant customers for a set lunch today, so tonight they will go to a discount food rescue app for a flash sale. …read more

There’s a fashion revolution happening: made-on-demand clothes

There’s a fashion revolution happening: made-on-demand clothes

The dark side of fashion is a ravaged landscape of waste and environmental damage, but a retailing revolution could change that picture. On-demand manufacturing will eliminate oversupply and waste, proponents say, ensuring only those items that have already been paid for will get made.

Becky Li, Chinese KOL who sold 100 cars online in four minutes, on brands’ new tool to gauge influence: ‘They are cruel’

Becky Li, Chinese KOL who sold 100 cars online in four minutes, on brands’ new tool to gauge influence: ‘They are cruel’

With 20 million followers on social media, Becky Li is considered a top key opinion leader, or KOL. Her income depends on the sales she can generate, and these days her influence in China is directly measurable, she says. Luxury brands operating in China now give each KOL a different link to attach to a post …read more

Education key to breaking the poverty cycle

Education key to breaking the poverty cycle

When education expert Dr Sue Thomson first sponsored a child’s education through The Smith Family, she never dreamt that the changes would be so dramatic. Her student soared past a difficult and deprived childhood, went to university and now has a degree. Thomson was so happy with her first Smith Family sponsorship that she has …read more

Rolex winners, Swatch losers after Swiss luxury watch industry’s devastating year

Rolex winners, Swatch losers after Swiss luxury watch industry’s devastating year

Joe Biden chose to wear a classy US$7,000 stainless steel Rolex Datejust when he was sworn in as US president on January 20, giving the up-market Swiss watch brand a fillip after a diabolical year for luxury watches. Unlike a number of his predecessors who chose to wear utilitarian brands as men of the people …read more

How to lose our cool

How to lose our cool

Edwin Lau Che-feng sweated his way through last summer, trying to avoid using air-conditioning in his home. The Hong Kong conservationist, founder of environmental organisation The Green Earth, wanted to show that resorting to energy-guzzling air-conditioning isn’t always necessary, even on the hottest and stickiest of days.