In September 2018, Super Typhoon Mangkhut (Ompong) battered Hong Kong with high winds and rain for hours. The Hong Kong government received about 15,000 reports of collapsed trees after the typhoon had passed through.
Most fallen and damaged trees end up in landfills or rot on the spot. Ricci Wong Cheuk-Kin felt he had to preserve those trees, that had stood for hundreds of years, instead of letting them disintegrate and disappear.
Wong decided to set up a social enterprise that would save and extend the lives of the collapsed trees by turning them into exquisite pieces of furniture.
“The universe has a plan for everything. I saw the collapsed trees as an opportunity. If it were not for the fact the trees had fallen, I would not have had a new turn in my career,” Wong said as he recalled the beginning of his tree-saving journey….