If creativity knows no boundaries, then why is Hong Kong’s creative industry still struggling to make a name for itself, asks Winnie Chau.

Anyone could be forgiven for thinking that Hong Kong lacks creativity. After all, what kind of visible homegrown art and design culture do we really have? But the problem lies not in our lack of talent—there are a host of internationally recognized creative types who are proud to call Hong Kong home. No, our problem lies in how we nurture our local talents and enable the creative industry to flourish.

In 2005, the government took a firm step in the right direction by investing $250 million into the “DesignSmart Initiative” (www.designsmart.gov.hk) under the Innovation and Technology Commission. And in 2007, they initiated a plan to develop our cultural and creative industries over five years, a plan that includes setting up more exhibition spaces, creating a Creative Industry office to promote the trade, and to explore the feasibility of developing Lok Ma Chau into a hub for higher education, research, cultural and creative industries.

But in spite of their best intentions, the industry is stagnant, and artists and designers are either enjoying an undeserved anonymity or turning away from Hong Kong to quietly make a name for themselves in the international market. So what’s keeping the industry from achieving its potential? According to Siu King-chung, assistant professor and program leader of the School of Design of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the industry itself needs to better appreciate talent, as does our society as a whole. “Hong Kong lacks mediators to identify and pick up young, unknown talents,” says Siu. “We need support not only from the government, but from society as a whole.”

Take 26-year-old product designer Keikko Lee, whose eco-friendly innovation—the sticker lamp—won her the top prize at the Seoul Design Olympiad 2008 (sdo.seoul.go.kr/eng/). Made of electroluminescent material, the lamp absorbs sunlight during the day and glows at night. But whether Lee’s concept can be realized into a truly made–in–Hong Kong invention depends on the interest of the government and the market. So far, however, the government and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council have shown no response to Lee’s success. The designer herself has received congratulatory e-mails from CEOs of design companies in New York, Malaysia and India. “I don’t really know where in Hong Kong to look for resources, references and subsidies,” says Lee, who is currently a toy designer but would like to specialize in homeware design. “Passion and dedication is very important for a designer; It’s not that easy to turn your passion into a career.”

The overwhelming pressure for students to undergo a traditional education does little to encourage creatively minded people to turn their talents into a job. Take Kay Wong, who received an “F” in her HKCEE art exam for her unconventional painting style. Nevertheless, she completed her higher education in the UK and is now a fashion designer who, together with her brother Jing Wong, founded the fashion brand Daydream Nation. Their collections are currently being sold all over the world. The pair says there is a certain kind of ostracism against daydreamers these days. “This is especially true in Hong Kong. You will be discriminated against if you do something non-mainstream,” says Jing “In the UK, there is no pressure on people with ‘alternative’ jobs. Hong Kong has yet to accept that. Working in creative fields still gives people the impression that you’re just fooling around.”

However, this may soon change with the HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity (www.creativehk.edu.hk). “Creativity is more than innovation. It’s the ability to solve problems in a creative way,” says May Fung, creative education director. Founded in 2006, the school is Hong Kong’s very first direct-subsidy secondary institution, providing comprehensive education in creative subjects. The school regularly invites artists and creative professionals to hold workshops and seminars. “Whether our students can become artists or designers in the future is beyond our control. What we can do is to help nurture their creativity and develop their critical thinking,” says Fung.
“The school helps me understand how to learn on my own and develop my independence,” says Helen, a Form Six student at the school who was transferred from a traditional secondary school two years ago. Helen’s classmate Po thinks so too, though she has some reservations about the unconventional mode of learning. “Studying here gives us the feeling that public exams are no longer important. But outside the school, society has a very different view,” says Po, who hopes to become an artist, but is worried about her prospects of getting into a university. Both, however, agree that studying here is a privilege.

And perhaps they needn’t worry about their future just yet. As Frances Kao of Imagi animation studios has proven, Hong Kong creative types can become extremely successful if they land a break. A longtime comic fan, Kao created an animated website for his family business: an artificial-Christmas-tree manufacturer. From this humble start, he transformed the company into Imagi in 2002. Since then, the company has been involved in animations such as “Father of the Pride” and the 2007 US box office hit “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” as well as upcoming Hollywood projects “Gatchman” and “Astroboy.” “I’m proud to have developed and built an animation studio with a Hong Kong headquarters, which is able to compete internationally, especially in the area of CG animation,” says Kao.

“Hong Kong is in fact a very creative place. Creativity doesn’t exist only at a design level, but it also affects our daily life,” says Siu. “Very often we are unable to identify it, but it can actually be something as trivial as introducing dim sum order sheets in a teahouse to get around the problem of cumbersome dim sum trolleys.” When asked if Hong Kong is a creative place, May Fung finds it hard to answer. “I still believe Hong Kong people have many clever ideas, given the fact that we have found ways to overcome different crises over the years,” she says. “Creative industries should be generating both wealth and job opportunities in the city. But so far the economy is unable to absorb our trained talents.” So while the present offers little to entice professionals in the creative industries to set up shop here, could the future bring Hong Kong into its own as a center for Asian design? Watch this space.

Creative College

Founded in September 2006, HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity is the city’s first senior secondary school that offers a comprehensive creative education alongside the public examination syllabus. Tailor-made for nurturing our future creative talent, the School’s Creative Profession-Oriented Program (CPOP) is a unique curriculum covering four areas: multimedia performing arts, design and visual communication, film and digital arts, and environmental and spatial studies. For conventional academic subjects, the school adopts Art-in-Education (AiE), an approach that integrates artistic elements into classroom subjects, such as studying history through films or learning English through plays. The school is also supported by a strong team of local and international educational advisors—among them are Edward K.Y. Chen, president of Lingnan University, and fashion designer Vivienne Tam, while the school’s current artist-in-resident is cultural critic Leung Man-tao. The school allows students considerable freedom, from encouraging graffiti on walls to mixing and matching their uniform. Students preparing to enter Form Four or Form Six with a strong interest in the arts are welcome to enroll.

135 Junction Rd., Kowloon City, 2180-9595
www.creativehk.edu.hk


Meet the Innovators
Four local trailblazers changing the face of Hong Kong’s design scene

Daydream Nation
Forgoing the opportunity to study law at the University of Hong Kong for a degree in textiles at Royal College of Art in London seems insane, but it was the best choice Kay Wong ever made. She established the fashion brand Daydream Nation in 2006 with her brother Jing Wong, a graduate of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.

Marrying the unique characters of the two siblings, Daydream Nation interweaves elements of fashion and theater in their collections. Their autumn/winter ’08 line “Good Night Deer” tells a story about a hunter being transformed into a deer. And that is just one of their poetic and surreal creations currently being sold in Paris, New York, Japan, Italy, Greece, Russia and Hong Kong.

“Being a designer in Hong Kong is very suffocating,” says Kay, who nevertheless decided to relocate Daydream Nation back to her hometown in 2007. “Still, it’s our home after all; there’s a sense of belonging. We’d like to see it become better,” adds Jing.
www.daydream-nation.co.uk

Rice 5
Rice 5 is a multimedia agency that specializes in everything from interactive design to motion videos. Frustrated with the restrictions placed on him as a design agency employee, Kevin Tsang finally set up Rice 5 with like-minded creative professionals to make things their own way.

Reflecting its humble origins, Rice 5 (or “ng dau mai” in Cantonese) is a local slang term for basic human needs, which is doubly relevant as the company was established in 2003, the year SARS arrived in Hong Kong. But from these inglorious beginnings, their creativity has attracted clients ranging from international big-name corporations, such as Sony and Adidas, to local institutions, like the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong.

“Many people have joined the field in recent years, but the industry is still not very developed. We need more talented people,” says Tsang. “Interactive media is a highly effective medium with which to bridge the communication gap between older and younger generations.”
www.rice5.com

Imagi Entertainment
Hollywood never used to come a callin’ for Hong Kong animators. It was a job usually reserved for Japan and Korea. That is, until Imagi CEO Francis Kao started making Christmas trees. In 1998, while working for his father’s artificial-tree business, Kao was put in charge of the company’s animated website. It was then that the idea hit him. “I was fascinated by the potential of CG, especially since I was already a fan of comics and animation.” Soon after, he started the animation studio Imagi, and after cutting his teeth on the little-seen show “Zentrix” and learning the ropes through DreamWorks’ TV series “Father of the Pride,” his studio was given a once-in-a-lifetime chance: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. “People were skeptical until ‘TMNT’ came out,” he says. Opening at number 1 at the US box office, and raking in almost US$100 million internationally, the film put Imagi on the animation map. But more importantly, it got them commissions to do two of the most high-profile animation gigs in Hollywood—“Gatchaman” and “Astro Boy,” ironically both remakes of Japanese TV shows. “Our development has been in sync with the transformation of Hong Kong from a manufacturing industry into a creative industry,” he says. “I’m proud to develop an animation studio that’s able to compete internationally with the Hollywood tentpoles.”

Milk Design
Simple, long-lasting and environmentally friendly are the key design elements of Feel Good, a homeware design firm under the umbrella company Milk Design. The Hong Kong–based design company was founded in 1998 by Lee Chi-wing, who graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University with a BA in industrial design, and later from Les Ateliers in Paris.

Last year, Lee collaborated with Cathay Pacific to design its in-flight tableware. Inspired by the Chinese-style rice bowls commonly seen in local households, the homegrown designer adopted a cutting-edge, double-injection color application system to create traditional Chinese patterns on his pieces, a design element that may have otherwise been too costly or time-consuming to incorporate.

“A designer should understand the needs of society,” says Lee, who believes sustainable and socially responsible designs that discourage excessive consumption are what we need. Most of Lee’s collections adopt a timeless, minimalist design and are made with a high proportion of natural materials.

“The industry requires people with a vision, and the market should be able to value design. Hong Kong is not exactly an easy place for the design industry,” says Lee. “But I’m still positive. The world is changing and we are changing too.”
www.milkdesign.com.hk, www.feelgood.com.hk

From Trash to Triumph

It’s not just the professionals that need support. One woman is helping former drug addicts transform trash into art.

Creativity is as much about re-creation as it is about creation. As they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and what we see as rubbish can easily be recycled into something useful or even beautiful. Take the group of former drug addicts from the Youth Gospel Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Integrated Training Centre. Encouraged by their teacher Telly Woo, the 10 young men became involved in the design project “Who Reclaim Who?” last February.

Noticing the parallel between the addicts who view themselves as “rubbish” and the shameful amount of perfectly serviceable items piling up at our city’s refuse collection points, Woo asked her students to turn unwanted objects into something useful in order to challenge their perception of trash. “These teenagers are labeled ‘rubbish’ by society and by themselves. I wanted to instill some positive values in them through the creative process,” she says.

With no previous design training and little confidence in themselves, the 10 participants went scrounging for materials to assemble their design. “I tried to be harsh with them,” says Woo. “I told them what they made would determine how people perceived them.” And they haven’t disappointed their teacher—the project’s exhibitions were well received, and some of their designs have even been compared to professional pieces. “I hope their designs, rather than their backgrounds, are what attract people’s attention,” says Woo, who is planning to launch similar projects with other teenagers needing a challenge to build up their confidence.