The spritely Filipino interior designer is barely able to contain his enthusiasm. "I am going to be the pioneer in Hongkong of these. Nobody else is doing it here so I am determined to start a trend," says Jun Alday. "These" refer to the spectacular arrangements of silk flowers bursting in a riot of colors around him.
His small Happy Valley flat is crammed with large porcelain vases holding hand-crafted fabric blossoms in every possible shade and texture. They could almost be real, except that these last for years and with very little maintenance.
In between hurried snatches of breath, Alday talks about a book he is working on, rushes off to fetch his prized collection of stamps which features only national flowers, and explains why he abandoned a sucessful career in interior design to carve out a niche for his business in silk blossoms.
A young Jun had arrived in the territory 20 years ago, soon after completing his training in the Philippines, and spent the early years at Ian Mclean Designs before moving on to Dale Keller & Associates.
Then, about a year ago, 42 year old Alday gave up interior design to concentrate full time on his silk flower business, Fleur East Collection. He admits it was a huge risk, having established an enviable reputation in international design circles.
The Filipino had designed the Peak home of reclusive entrepreneur and hotelier Adrian Zecha, worked on similarly prestigious projects in New York, Bangkok and Greek resorts; and his work has been fetured in
Architectural Digest and several Italian design publications.
But flowers -- in silk, velour, velvet, and poplin -- are now where the design scene is at internationally, and Alday is determined to let Hongkong people know it.
"Only now are artificial flowers being actively promoted. They are coming to the forefront of design, but more importantly it means that people have awakened to the economics of maintaining this so-called lifestyle," he says.
His main target, however, is luxury hotels with whom he hopes to work on a contractual basis.
Alday saw the light after discovering that it can cost up to $500 weekly to maintain one fresh flower arrangement in the average five-star hotel, which works out to $26,000 a year. Some hotels --the Grand Hyatt for example -- spend $400,000 a month on flowers alone, but so far, most hotel housekeepers have not batted an eyelid.
But in these days of falling occupancies and cut-throat competition, says Alday, hotels should be more wary about how they allocate budgets. The designer argues that artificial flowers make commercial sense, even for plush hotels which need to maintain an air of exclusivity.
"For most, it's a question of prestige. If hotels suddenly started using artificial flowers instead of the real thing, they fear that people would automatically assume they had fallen on hard times...But that is not what my business is about. It's about using high quality, beautiful designed floral arrangements instead of fresh flowers that rarely last more than a week," he explains.
Direct supply from Thailand have given Alday an edge over other companies in the same business, although he maintains he has no real competition.
"The others are so stereotyped," he says disapprovingly.
His is more than a business, he says. It's an art form.
"For me, it has become a form of artisitic expression as I get to experiment with color and texture. But it can be tedious work. After all, it may take more than half a day to get the arrangement perfect. "A high brow description would be sculpting, lowbrow would be hairdressing," he adds with a twinkle.
"But the satisfaction comes in giving life to a bunch of artificial blosooms, creating movement out of something that is static."
The worldwide flower industry is estimated to be worth US$20 billion annually, and Alday aims to win a slice of that trade for his sculpted blooms.
"But before I can do that, I have to first promote the idea of artificial arrangements as integral part of the Nineties lifestyle."
Alday concedes, however, that he has an uphill trek ahead of him.
Over the past few months, he has worked hard to convery his sence of aesthetics to local hoteliers, meeting with hotel housekeepers to offer proposals and show that there is a viable alternative to expensive fresh flowers. He is also in touch with local interior designers to get the message across.
This almost missionary fervor is a far cry from the days when the Filipino designer first started out his career; he had loathed the idea of having anything but fresh flowers to complement completed projects. But those, he says, where his purist, idealistic days. The years have since made him much more realistic.
"I expect resistance from interior designers as there is still a misconception that artificial flowers are cheap. I want to show people they can have the luxury of flowers, yet in an economical way."
As much as Alday is convinced that his venture will take off, he knows he has to be hard-nosed to persuade others of credibility.
"If I really want to tap the market, I need business backing. It is not my intention to supplant the use of fresh flowers entirely, but instead to encourage their use in areas that require finishing at lower costs.
The economics of the argument are relative. Alday's arrangements start at about $3,500 and average around $6,000 (including a porcelain vase), although the price can go up considerably, depending on the nature of the project.
He defends the prices, saying: "What can you get for $6,000 in terms of artwork? The materials costs very little, but a lot of time and attention goes into these arrangemetns. For instance, each individual flower has to be steamed and pressed before it is arranged, so nothing is out of shape."
When not trying to get hoteliers to look in his direction, Alday pores over his four black albums, which hold several thousand stamps depicting blooms from as far afield as Thailand, Mongolia and Vietnam.
"I use to collect them when I was in school, but five years ago I started looking only for ones with floral motifs. They are almost
microcosmic image of a country," he says.
Specimens may be found anywhere, from post offices to antique shops, but potential profit is never a consideration. "I don't care about the value. It's just for the pleasure of it."
For the silk flower business, however, Alday admits that his ambitions are enormous. And one local tycoon has inpired him to aim for the sky. He explains, half-jokingly: "I think of artificial flowers, and you know who I think of? Li Ka-shing. He started of selling plastic flowers, and look at him now. Thinking of all the possibilities gives me a lot of pleasure."
Interior designers often use displays of cut flowers to good effect. But in Hongkong, one successful designer has redirected his talents towards sculpting dazzling floral displays in silk.
