Back to the office, in style: for Casetify’s new Hong Kong HQ, Crosby Studios designed a vibrant Gen-Z-ready workplace complete with amphitheatre, Blackpink boombox, Nodi baristas and a karaoke room

Apr 13 , 2023

Casetify founder Wesley Ng commissioned Crosby Studios to come up with a brash Gen-Z feel for his company’s new headquarters in Kwun Tong, Hong Kong. Photos: Jonathan Wong

For the phone case manufacturer’s new HQ in Kwun Tong, founder Wesley Ng commissioned designers who have worked with Balenciaga, Valentino, Nike, Hypebeast and Architectural Digest

Crosby pop-ups include one at Paris Fashion Week with jewellery designer Gaia Repossi, with New York AR tech firm Zero10 and with 3537, a Parisian mansion/cultural space by Dover Street Market

The Romans had their Colosseum, a brick and stone structure built to host audiences of 80,000 for spectacles from gladiatorial contests to mythological dramas, still standing almost 2,000 years on.

Casetify, the Hong Kong-based maker of those colourful phone cases you see everywhere, may not be as big as the Roman empire – yet – but now they too boast an amphitheatre of sorts. Made out of mobile phone cases, naturally.

Who wouldn’t want to work here? Vivid display presentation areas offer hyper-colourful inspiration at Casetify.

This 21st-century show-stopper is the centrepiece of Casetify’s new corporate headquarters in the city’s Kwun Tong neighbourhood. It was designed by the very of-the-moment Crosby Studios, which besides being responsible for Casetify’s retail stores, is the mastermind behind spaces virtual and physical for Balenciaga, Valentino and retailer Dover Street Market, as well as a furniture collection for Nike, and covers for Hypebeast and Architectural Digest.

I wanted for people to enjoy coming back to the office

Wesley Ng, founder, Casetify

The brief Casetify founder Wesley Ng gave Crosby top dog Harry Nuriev was rather simple: “I wanted for people to enjoy coming back to the office, because we had a period when we were working from home. The second thing is I wanted the space to be very collaborative – because we’re about creativity, so collaboration is important. And the third thing was, we wanted the space not just to look cool, but to really speak of the brand. If we could do these three things right, I’d be happy.

The brief for the Casetify offices stressed they should be enjoyable, collaborative and cool.

“And Harry got it straight away. The rest was a no-brainer. As long as the production company could make it happen, it was a green light from me. I don’t think I rejected any of the designs in the project – I loved it at first sight.”

The amphitheatre is ideal for company town halls but also proves popular for breakout meetings and small gatherings – being fun, functional and singing the brand’s values regarding sustainability, self-expression and simply being, well, cool. It’s Ng’s favourite spot (beating, it would appear, even his sea-facing private office decked out in plush millennial pink). “It’s made out of 20,000 used phone cases, so you’re sitting on a piece of history, with stories,” he adds. “Sometimes it’s emotional, because it’s [literally] your supporters.”