Vanessa Cheung, whose family founded Nan Fung Group, masterminded The Mills revitalization. The renovated complex is designed to be a hub encouraging experimental retail, start ups, and textile-related art and culture.
Nan Fung Group’s founding business was in textiles, reflecting how cotton was once a major pillar of the Hong Kong economy.
The Mills sits in the industrial neighborhood of Tsuen Wan.
In the 60 years since its founding, Nan Fung pivoted out of textiles and into real estate development and now operates across greater China, Singapore, and South Korea. Cheung, who oversees the Hong Kong portfolio noticed the company had three disused textile mills.
There are three pillars to the Mills–Fabrica, a start up accelerator and fund that invests in companies related to “tech” and “style”–a play on the word textiles; Shopfloor, a curated innovative retail and F&B experience; and the Center for Heritage Arts and Textiles (CHAT), a gallery with ongoing exhibitions and programs focused on the legacy of the Hong Kong textile industry.
One of the factory’s original front gates, dating back to the Sixties was preserved and now sits behind the reception desk.
The Mills purposely conserved some of the original industrial features, like the staircase and pillar, reflecting its former life as a cotton-spinning mill.
The Mills commissioned Made in Sample, a local artist group, to created a denim installation for the stiarwells, inspired by the materials the factory used to produce.
“I knew it was a big industry in the Fifties, Sixties, and even the Seventies but I didn’t know it was that big,” Cheung shared. “Every person I talked to, even government officials, has at least one relative if not immediate family member who was working in the factories in Hong Kong at the time.”
The Shopfloor section of The Mills. It encompasses curated independent retail concepts alongside cafes, eateries.
The atrium.
The Mills rooftop.