Felicia Hung Is Lighting the Way for a More Inclusive Design World

In 2018, Felicia Hung launched In Common With, a Brooklyn-based design studio focused on lighting, with her friend and former classmate Nick Ozemba. The brand views collaboration – with artisans, with designers, with emerging voices – as a core value, a principle taken directly from Hung’s background in furniture design.

And last year, the duo opened Quarters, a Manhattan space designed as both a showroom for In Common With and a bar and gathering place for friends of the brand. Since then, the second floor space has hosted countless guests, magazine shoots and events for A-list brands. Although it appears to be – and could even be considered – an immediate success, Hung had a long road to get to this point. In our latest installment of Doing the Work, Charm I sat down with the founder and thought leader to dive into her process.

Charm: What time do you get up in the morning?

Felicia Hung: I usually get up around 7:30, 7:45. I would love to be an early riser, but I’m not.

What is your general morning routine?

I have a dog who is very excited about everything and really cute. There’s a lot of excitement in the morning for her, so it helps wake me up a little. And [then] just the usual: take a shower, put on my facial accessories and go out. I walk to work at the moment, which is really nice. My partner walks me with our dog. It’s a nice little slowdown before heading out on a crazy day. Usually I [get to the office] around 9 a.m. I don’t overdo it and I don’t eat breakfast. I’m not a breakfast person. If I eat breakfast, I feel hungrier throughout the day. So I don’t do it, which isn’t good for me, but I’m not a morning person.

How do you take your coffee?

I take it with oat milk and no sugar. I love tea, but I go through phases where I only drink matcha, and then phases back to coffee, because coffee gives me that jolt that matcha doesn’t give me. But for my health, I try to eat matcha. I also love a hojicha latte, and these days I’m drinking iced espressos.

What was your first dream job as a child?

I think I wanted to become a teacher simply because it was the profession I knew existed. I didn’t know I wanted to go into design or art until high school. I was interested in it, but I grew up in the Bay Area, and it was very tech-focused and not very artsy. I don’t want to be a teacher at all now, but I think it was like, Oh, that’s what people do. He’s an adult.