There are many things crafted with nature’s most beautiful textures, but one of the most enchanting is The Fabrick Lab’s hand batik birch wood furniture; the unique graphic patterns and the indigo hues are soulful on many levels. “This is not handicraft. We have applied hundreds of years of heritage into our products. Traditionally, batik has been applied to textiles,” says The Fabrick Lab’s founder Elaine Yan Ling Ng who founded her Hong Kong based textile consultancy in 2014. The company encompasses a design studio and weave and loom facilities that allow Ng to innovate across the nexus of science, craft and technology.

Another arm to the company is Un/fold that oversees sustainable production. “We want to bridge modern lifestyle with traditional ways of making to create sustainable ecosystems for the villagers by training them so that they might regain their heritage and pride,” she says. Traditionally, only 10% of crafts are passed onto the next generation, so when Ng discovered Batik artisans in China’s Guizhou province, where the indigo plant freely grows, her inspiration blossomed.