The Dragon Collection is designed to usher in the Year of the Dragon. Photos provided to China Daily

Designer Millicent Lai welcomes the Year of the Dragon with an innovative collaboration between form and function. Rebecca Lo reports.

Millicent Lai will be the first to admit that appearances can be deceiving. Instead of a permanent tan from years of windsurfing or kayaking, the fair Cheung Chau (an outlying island off Hong Kong) native is more likely to be attired in a tastefully elegant white shirt as part of her smart casual look. "I grew up two minutes from the beach but I don't swim or even ride a bike," she admits, relaxing over a cup of coffee in the Nespresso boutique at Hong Kong's IFC Mall. As Shanghai Tang's chief designer for home for over a decade, Lai helped shape the company from a nostalgic apparel-based label to an all-encompassing lifestyle and fashion brand. Recently, Shanghai Tang extended beyond its usual comfort zone and formed successful partnerships with Puma shoes, Luxe travel guides and Moleskine notebooks. Its latest collaboration is with Nespresso, producing a series of coffee makers and cups infused with the DNA of both companies - a limited edition Shanghai Tang for Nespresso Dragon Collection to usher in the Year of the Dragon.

Nespresso has been aggressively targeting the Chinese market in the past couple of years, tapping into the country's exponentially growing coffee culture. Its concept that anyone can create a barista-level cup of espresso has been aided by the ah-shucks charm of George Clooney as its brand spokesperson.

With the Shanghai Tang collaboration, it hopes to reach connoisseurs who want to inject a little catwalk into their morning cups of joe. It is the first exercise in co-branding for Nespresso and opens up a whole new world for the company's strategic planning efforts.

"I was so excited about this project that I started submitting drawings from the very first meeting," recalls Lai. "We used the Citiz machine and the color red as our canvas, and then refined the design according to technical requirements. The dragon evolved consciously from feng shui principles and what 2012 represents. I particularly insisted on the use of certain colors: dark blue to represent water and brown for earth."

Lai knew that she wanted to be a designer from a very young age.

"I used to draw on the walls at home and really got my mother mad," she laughs. "Drawing and design were the only things I could do - I was horrible at math and science. My father is a traditional Chinese medical practitioner, and I would see the retail side of how he worked by hanging out at his shop.

"But my mom discouraged me from pursuing a career in design. She thought that I would never be able to find a job doing it, and instead wanted me to be a nurse like her."

Lai was accepted into the Hong Kong Polytechnic University at the age of 16 and got a degree in graphic design.

"Originally I wanted to be a fashion designer but my personality didn't match that glamorous life they lead. I think that PolyU is the best design school in Hong Kong. It really allowed me to be free to think. We studied art, history and film - the latter had a big influence on me."

After she graduated, she worked for Victor Azarte Design, a Hong Kong-based American designer who specialized in accessories and products for hotels.

"I became interested in product design at this company," says Lai. "Victor was passionate for table top wear - plates, glasses, candle holders and centerpieces. We went to many hotel openings and I got a chance to travel to exotic places like India."

She had always admired Shanghai Tang and eventually moved there to work as a graphic designer. As the internal design team only consisted of five people, Lai found herself working on product design as well.

"It wasn't an easy transition into products for me," she admits. "I had no technical knowledge of them but I learned a lot from the factories. We traveled with merchandisers all around China and got to see first hand how things were made."

Lai spent 10 years helping to develop the essence of the Shanghai Tang brand, from packaging and advertising collaterals to individual products. Products expanded beyond silver baskets and ashtrays to encompass linen, glassware and many other home items. She also helped to improve the quality of the products and filled in the blanks with merchandise missing from its collections.

Though Shanghai Tang's founder David Tang is known for his expertise on 1930s Shanghai aesthetics, Lai was the company's first in-house designer with a Chinese background.

"I feel that was my most important personal contribution to the company," she says. "I helped to inject meaning behind the symbolism. A lot of Chinese symbols are taboo. In art, everything has to have a positive meaning. It was my job to modernize the symbols."

Lai stepped back from her full-time role with Shanghai Tang at the end of 2011. She remains its consultant, but is now also concentrating on establishing herself as a brand in her own right. "The Nespresso collaboration gave me a lot of confidence," she states.

You may contact the writer at sundayed@chinadaily.com.cn.