Noble Sketchbook

Meet Noble, a Hongkonger who works in the IT industry and has a passion for sketching, with some of his art pieces travelling as far as Lectoure, in the southwest of France. If you happened to be in the areas of Wanchai, Sai Ying Pun or Sheung Wan during the Chinese New Year earlier this year, chances are you’d have seen the original paintings he did for some of the old shop shutters. Initially participating in the project as an artist, he never expected the appreciation of the locals in the neighbourhoods - among the oldest in Hong Kong. 

His reminiscence for the good old days of Hong Kong is by no means the only thing that many would find an emotional resonance with, but his decision to focus on the now, despite all the madness that is taking place in Hong Kong as well: “The rapid changes in society makes it feel as if this is no longer the city I grew up in. If I must be completely honest, I’m pessimistic about the future of hong Kong. But I try not to get bogged down in the negativity of it all. Things that I do, like sketching, hiking and jogging are helpful in relieving the pessimism pent up inside. There’s very little I can do with what’s happened already, why not focus on the good things that I can make happen?”

When and why did you start sketching? 

It all began in 2014. I’ve always been interested in drawing and I’ve been drawing since a young age. Three years ago, I did a portrait and the model introduced me to a group of sketching enthusiasts. It was nice to find a sense of belonging in that group, where everyone would motivate each other - there was a lot of encouragement going on, as well as exchange of skills and ideas. We were actively organising sketching activities, and that provided me with a way to further practise my skills. 

Tell us about the shutter painting project? 

Earlier this year, the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation organised a community project which asked artists to paint the shutters or door fronts of old iconic and independent stores in Sai Ying Pun, Sheung Wan and Wanchai. I happened to be among the artists they recruited. So we would have a chat with the shop owners, learn about their history and business, so that we would have a better idea of how to paint their shutters. The purpose of the project was to reinvigorate the community by introducing colourful elements to the shop shutters, which were rather rusty. 

I remember one of the local residents coming over when I was painting the shutter. They were extremely grateful to what we were doing to the community, giving it a new face, in a way. The Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation is planning to collaborate with the Conservancy Association to introduce a guided tour of said areas, now given a facelift. 

Which shops’ shutters did you paint? 

I was assigned the shutters of two shops: the long-established undergarments brand Lee Kung Man in Wanchai, and a goldfish shop in Sai Ying Pun; other artists were assigned to pain the shutters of tofu shop, grocery store, and a place that specialises in the bamboo steamers used for dim sums. 

The owner of Lee Kung Man was fairly specific with what he wanted on the shutters - it’s an esteemed brand, after all. He is from a younger generation, and he wants a more youthful image for the brand. So I incorporated the artistic concepts of Henri Matisse in my painting of a few dancers; the deer, joining in the dance, is really part of the brand’s identity as the ‘golden deer’ is the name of its line of high-quality undergarments. 

The greatest takeaway from this project?

I learnt a set of different painting skills from fellow artists, and it was gratifying to learn the extremely positive response from the locals and netizens, as the posts were uploaded and shared on social media platforms. 

What are the best things about Hong Kong in the eyes of an illustrator like yourself? 

Diversity: the juxtaposition of the old and the new in Hong Kong is simply amazing. The people as well - all these people in such a high-density city who have their own stories. There was this once when I was sketching on the street in Yuen Long. It was very crowded, but pedestrians were respectful to me, someone sketching the street scene, to the extent that they would leave space for me instead of bumping into me. 

In August last year, two of your sketches were displayed at an art gallery in Lectoure, in the southwest of France.

I got to know this French artist called Camille Levert, who has been based in Hong Kong for a few years. From her observation, Hong Kong, despite its hustle and bustle, also has a quiet, therapeutic, and rustic side. She wanted to show these sides of Hong Kong to the people in France, and so she got me and a few other artists to put in paint the lesser-known aspects of Hong Kong, to be displayed at an exhibition called ‘Hong Kong Lentement'. 

That time sketching in Kyoto, Japan? 

I was at Arashiyama, sketching a bridge, when an old lady approached me. We got into chatting - she with the few words of Mandarin she knew, and I with the limited Japanese I speak. We connected on Facebook, and she would comment on my sketches. I’m glad I’m able to show people the world over the various aspects of Hong Kong through my sketches. 

You have recently started food sketching - what’s that about? 

Among the sketching enthusiasts I hang out with, there are some who are interested in architecture, some are more interested in sketching food. Food sketch was never really my thing. I think it’s best to eat the food when it’s served hot and fresh! My friends who do food sketches would order an additional serving of food just to be used as the object of their sketches. But somehow I began to appreciate the beauty of food sketches, and onto the bandwagon I hopped! 

Food sketch is more challenging than environment sketch in the sense that extra effort is paid to portray the texture of the food. My most recent food sketch of a pizza was manageable, thanks to the contrast of colours enabled by the tomatoes and green peppers. 

What’s the best thing about being yourself right now?

There are many unpleasant things in the city we live in right now - urban sprawl, materialism, you name it. I often reminisce about the kind of life I had when growing up. It was much simpler, there was less everyday stress, and there were fewer constraints. Happiness back then was indulging in a bit of street food in Sham Shui Po, but most of those mom and pop stores are gone now; what was once easily affordable are no more. The rapid changes in society makes it feel as if this is no longer the city I grew up in. If I must be completely honest, I’m pessimistic about the future of hong Kong. But I try not to get bogged down in the negativity of it all. Things that I do, like sketching, hiking and jogging are helpful in relieving the pessimism pent up inside. There’s very little I can do with what’s happened already, why not focus on the good things that I can make happen? 

Alex Rodriguez: The Timelapser Who Loves the Dark Side

If you ever venture to the ‘dark side’, all the way to Sham Shui Po, chances are you’ll run into a Spanish bloke manoeuvring through the small alleyways, backpack and heavy gear on his back, until he disappears up a dilapidated building. His name is Alex Rodriguez, or ‘Alex Timelapse’, as he is known on social media. With a studio overlooking Nam Cheong Street and Ap Liu Street, Alex will gladly be your local pointer on the best place to get your wanton noodles in Sham Shui Po. 

But Rodriguez hasn’t always lived in Sham Shui Po. Until he came to Hong Kong in 2011, he was working at a local TV news station in Galicia, Spain, making occasional trips to Barcelona in search of better opportunities. Like many expats in Hong Kong, Rodriguez first settled down in Discovery Bay, until it dawned on him that D-Bay was “nothing like Hong Kong”. And so to Sham Shui Po he moved, and has been fascinated by the dynamics of the area since. 

As fellow Hongkongers, we have his relocation decision to thank, for it was in Sham Shui Po where the ‘DIY freak’ (in his own words) with a passion for photography and videography discovered the plethora of easily affordable equipment and parts, which would later enable his creation of spectacular time-lapse videos of Hong Kong and beyond. That his ‘Hong Kong Urban Tour’ won the Sony #NoLimits 2015 competition came as little surprise, for he was able to capture not just the metropolitan skyscrapers and dazzling skyline, but also quintessentially Hong Kong tidbits such as cardboard collectors, fishmongers at wet markets, a ride on the minibus, the locals’ favourite Cantonese barbecue, and bamboo scaffolding that has laid the foundation of the city. 

Readily confessing his love of Hong Kong, Rodriguez says he is grateful to the city for the endless opportunities it offers. “After my time-lapse video Hong Kong Urban Tour won the Sony award in 2015, I was contacted by many companies to work on different time-lapse jobs. I was even offered by the mayor in Galicia the opportunity to shoot a time-lapse video of my hometown, to be promoted by travel agencies in Hong Kong and China - Hong Kong Urban Tour’s winning of an award was in the local news there. The real prize of the Sony competition isn’t really the camera, it’s the opportunities that I’ve been given since. It’s crazy how one things leads to another, I still find it pretty unbelievable.”

1. Tell us a bit about yourself? 

I’ve been a professional videographer since 2005, and I’ve been living in Hong Kong since 2011. I started my career with a local news channel in Spain, for five years, but I also like to shoot action sports videos. It was after coming to Hong Kong that I discovered my new passion in time-lapse videography. 

I came from Galicia, in the northwest of Spain. My childhood was spent in the countryside, I’ve always had a lot of freedom to do what I wanted. I would spent whole days on the street doing whatever I wanted, and I think that contributes to my creativity and the way I see things in the world. I’m a guy who has never experienced something like the MTR until I came to Hong Kong. I came from a small city, with small thinking. When you’re from such a tiny place you’d want to go to the capital, to find work and kickstart your career in Barcelona or Madrid, even if you don’t have the ambition to go elsewhere in the world, to places like Hong Kong, for instance. 

2. What brought you to Hong Kong in 2011? 

I was on my way back home from one of the many trips to Barcelona, where I was looking to find a job, and then I met this girl from Hong Kong. She told me that she was coming back to Hong Kong, and I said to her to visit me in my hometown one day. Which she did, and we became a couple! 

She stayed at my home for a few months. When it came time for her to return to Hong Kong for work, I was already in love, and she convinced me - quite a silly idea at the time - to try living in Hong Kong. 

3. Your first impression of Hong Kong? 

It’s an extremely dynamic city. It’s very obvious that the city is among the most densely populated in the world, and it is very safe. I’d be out and about with expensive equipment on me, and I don’t feel the danger of being robbed anytime of the day, even very late at night. It’s different in Spain, you’d better not go out with such expensive equipment after midnight. 

I’ve lived a life of the biggest contrast ever. Coming from this small city in Spain, where nobody spoke English or have the intention of travelling abroad, to the international city called Hong Kong, offering me big opportunities with big companies and big clients. I’ve come so far that I wouldn’t have dreamt of even in Barcelona. 

I first had to learn the English language, now I’ve started learning Cantonese, so I can get myself something to eat here in Sham Shui Po. I love wanton noodles. I usually walk around the local area and see which shop has the most customers. 

4. Why did you decide to live in Sham Shui Po? 

At first I was living in Discovery Bay, but I had the feeling that I wasn’t living in Hong Kong at all. I love the real, local Hong Kong style, and so when I happened upon Sham Shui Po one day, I spent the whole day just walking around, discovering various Hong Kong elements. For someone like me, who makes a living with all these equipment and gear, Sham Shui Po is a paradise. I’m a DIY freak. At the beginning of my career as a time-lapser I used to make my own equipment, and living in Ap Liu Street makes it so much easier. 

5. When did you become interested in time-lapse videography? 

Around four years ago, I became interested in this fast-forward technique that is used to make time-lapse videos. I downloaded an app onto my phone which would allow me to make time-lapse videos. I discovered the different settings: for instance, for every five seconds I can record the beautiful movements of the clouds, every eight seconds I can record car movements. But my love of time-lapse videography is more than that, it is also that this city is amazing with all the different kinds of movements, making it easy to create a fascinating time-lapse video. 

When I wanted to create videos with better quality, I upgraded my gear from my mobile app to camera - you can’t get desirable quality if you take a time-lapse video with your phone at night. 

6. What was the main inspiration behind your award-winning Hong Kong Urban Tour time-lapse video? 

Because of my background in news production, I feel compelled to tell a story. It’s not just a nice time-lapse video with random music, it is very important to create a story board for the video to tell something. 

For instance, the Hong Kong Urban Tour is a tour of the real Hong Kong. If you’ve never been to Hong Kong before, the time-lapse video will give you a glimpse of the dynamics of the city. Many of the time-lapse videos of Hong Kong that I’ve seen seem to be created by people who don’t actually live here. My guess is that they are tourists who didn’t have enough time to discover the city, because their time-lapse videos cover mostly Hong Kong Island, while in my opinion, Kowloon is where the real Hong Kong experience is. I included many local elements with shots taken in Sham Shui Po, such as the cardboard box collector, noodle places, as well as shots taken on public transport, from the MTR to the minibus, bus and the tram. I couldn’t include clips taken on the ferry because that would be difficult to take, but I’ll include that in my next challenge. What I’d also like to include in my next Hong Kong time-lapse would be my new technique called ‘walk-lapse’, which is done by me hand-holding the camera, following another person closely. I think it’s quite cool because it works magic in transitional scenes, so one minute you’re at the Peak, and the next you’ll be in a restaurant. 

7. What are the pros and cons of shooting a time-lapse video of Hong Kong? 

Sometimes you may encounter issues with the security guards when shooting, but to be honest, you have more problems in this aspect in other countries. The air pollution is a problem, however. The air can be very polluted sometimes that you have to wait for the sky to clear to shoot - I had to wait two months just to get a shot of a clear - but not cloudless - sky. When shooting time-lapse I’ll need to show movements, it can be the motion of the clouds, the people, the cars. When I’m shooting the skyline, the buildings of course won’t move, so I’ll need the motion of the clouds. But if it turns out to be a fine, cloudless day, I won’t get a good time-lapse clip, and it gets stressful when I am not left with many days to finish the shooting. I’ve learnt to improvise: if there is no motion in the sky, look for places where there are motions. But since Hong Kong is a dynamic city, the resultant time-lapse video is amazing. 

8. How long did it take you to produce Hong Kong Urban Tour, from filming to final editing? 

I spent a week on devising the story board and checking the different locations, so that they would help the audience make sense of the journey. Once I’ve decided on the locations and the kind of set-ups I needed, I spent two weeks shooting, working 16 hours every day. I had only one week for editing because the deadline of the Sony ‘No Limits’ competition was approaching.  

9. Your favourite aspects of Hong Kong? 

I love Hong Kong. I like the transportation system. Despite being an expensive city to live in, the fares for Hong Kong’s public transportation are fairly reasonable. In Barcelona, if you want to travel the distance of Sham Shui Po to Prince Edward, you’ll have to pay around HKD20; in Hong Kong, I can go from Sham Shui Po to Central in around 15 minutes, and it costs me only around HKD11. If I speak better Cantonese, I can get around even more cheaply because then I can take the minibus and the bus. Sometimes I may need to take a clip of the sunrise and I’ll be working until 4am, I can always take the Star Ferry and then a minibus to get home, and it wouldn’t cost me much.

I like the fact that Hong Kong is a city that never sleeps. There were times when I was editing until 5am. I’d be hungry and there’d always be a good cha chaan teng open for breakfast service - I enjoy the food and the atmosphere of cha chaan teng in Sham Shui Po.

10. You were a volunteer with European youth exchange programmes from year 2003 to 2006 - how do you think that has influenced your life? 

That was the first time in my life that I got to travel abroad, meet people from other countries, and also to speak English. It was at that time that I discovered my passion for travelling. 

11. What’s the best thing about being Alex Rodriguez right now? 

I came from a place with very few job opportunities, not even if I wanted to work at the local supermarket. In Hong Kong, I’m happy because I get to make a living by doing what I’m passionate about - it’s incredible. Back in Spain, it took me four years to find a job at the local TV news production company. The pay wasn’t much, but I had to hold onto it because the economy is bad, and it’s better to have a job than not. 

When I first came to Hong Kong I worked as a freelance videographer, and as a hobby I started shooting time-lapse videos. After my time-lapse video Hong Kong Urban Tour won the Sony award in 2015, I was contacted by many companies to work on different time-lapse jobs. I was even offered by the mayor in Galicia the opportunity to shoot a time-lapse video of my hometown, to be promoted by travel agencies in Hong Kong and China - Hong Kong Urban Tour’s winning of an award was in the local news there. The real prize of the Sony competition isn’t really the camera, it’s the opportunities that I’ve been given since. It’s crazy how one things leads to another, I still find it pretty unbelievable.

Elizabeth Or: The Road from Kindergarten Teacher to Tattoo Artist

Bonhomie is how one would describe Elizabeth Or’s White Walls Tattoo Studio. For a change, there are no sketches of sinister-looking skulls or a temperature-controlled tank of exotic animals, though Godzilla figurines of various sizes are bound to put whatever speculation of yours in sightings of Hello Kitty dolls at bay. The truth is Elizabeth can almost pass for Miss Congenial, if you don’t rub her up the wrong way, that is. That you find an instant liking to her, and feel compelled to lay things off your chest despite being there only for a tattoo consultation, is perhaps to do with the fact that she was once a kindergarten teacher, or that she has been through so much that she knows how it feels to be branded as ‘inadequate’. If you come to White Walls with the intention of having your deceased pets inked on you, chances are Elizabeth will blubber away in grief with you, with the compassion and empathy she has developed as a long-time animal lover, and current ‘mum’ of four cats and two dogs, all rescues. 

It was a long time coming, with the technicalities of apprenticeship further complicated by the financial issue called ‘having scarcely little saving in your bank account’, and all the intricacies that are unique to Elizabeth’s reality. A little over a year later today, the proud owner of her own tattoo studio will tell you that all her convenient excuses were mere BS, and that there always is a silver lining. 

1. You were a kindergarten teacher before becoming a tattoo artist. What’s the story? 

I used to be quite self-conscious, constantly concerned about how other people saw me. I think everyone is a bit like that. Now I would remind myself that how other people see me isn’t as important as how I feel about myself. My parents have high expectations of what I do to make a living, but a point was reached when I realised that nothing I do would please them, because we have very different perspectives on life. 

I became a kindergarten teacher upon graduation. I enjoyed teaching children, because they reminded me of the innocence and many other things that I used to have, but somehow forgotten about while growing up. Every day spent with these children was a happy day, although there wasn’t a minute I didn’t feel a right hypocrite whenever I encouraged them to have faith in themselves, and to pursue their dreams.

The truth is I’ve always wanted to be a tattoo artist. I have immense respect for tattoo artists, who can turn a sketch into a permanent piece of body art. One day, in class, I asked the children what they wanted to be when they grew up. Some of them said they wanted to be a teacher, just like teacher Elizabeth. And I remember thinking, “Aw, that’s very sweet, but I don’t even want to be myself.” That was a wake-up call. It made me realise that I should really be doing something that my students would be proud of me for. 

Not long after that, I resigned and sent in my resume to a tattoo parlour to apply for apprenticeship. That’s how my career as a tattoo artist started. It was a drastic change for me, going from having a stable income to zero income. I wasn’t so well-prepared to have enough money in the bank to keep me going, but then I thought I’d given myself more than enough excuses - I knew I could always find a part-time job.

2. When did you become interested in tattoo? 

I got my first tattoo - a heart on my ankle - aged 21. But I remember being fascinated by those bubble gums with temporary tattoo wrappers when I was three years old. I would stick them all over my body, and my parents would scare me into thinking that I could get cancer from those! I also vividly remember my mum saying that she would never spend a penny for me to learn art, because I would only end up wasting her money. My parents are ‘traditional’ in the sense that they want me to work for the government or in the police force. Even my grandmother, when she sees me, she’d still ask why I didn’t apply for civil service jobs. My answer is invariably that that isn’t what I want to do. I can’t imagine myself in a uniform. Besides, I have issues with authority and I have the tendency to challenge it. 

3. The appeal of being the creator of the art form that you love so much? 

It’s a great feeling, despite people asking me weird questions like, “Why are you doing this to yourself?” - meaning having tattoos on my body. There are myriad reasons people want to have certain things inked on their body, and I’m happy that I get to be the person who can help them make that happen. 

It is important that people tell me what they want for their tattoos. Some of my clients aren’t very forthcoming about the ideas they have for their tattoo, at times they would need some kind of encouragement, because at the end of the day, I can only produce the tattoo they want if they give me enough materials to work with. 

4. Memorable experiences in your career so far?
I had a client whose sexuality was kept a secret, and I was the first person he ever confided to. I told him that I was very proud of him, but I also said that he had to tell it to someone - I was only his tattoo artist, I was nobody. Some time later, he told me that he’s come out to his best friends and some other friends. I think getting a tattoo helps you understand yourself.

Very often, people would come to me to have a tattoo done to honour their deceased pets, and just as often, I’d cry with them when they told me the stories of their pets - as the mum of two dogs and four cats, I know how it feels to lose your pets. 

I’ve got people coming here, initially to get a tattoo, but eventually telling me their life stories, setbacks and struggles in life, so much so that I often feel like a shrink. I think I should start charging them an hourly rate for that! (laughs) But really, it’s part of my plan for people to tell me more about themselves, so then I’ll have a better idea about the kind of tattoo to create for them. In fact, the studio is furbished with the comfort of the home in mind, precisely for this reason. 

5. The stories behind the tattoos on you? 

I have a half-sleeve of purple roses. On the first day of my apprenticeship, I made a mental note to get a purple rose tattoo when I become a tattoo artist. Roses are an ubiquitous element in the world of tattoo art, and since I don’t like the colour red, I chose purple. I had the half-sleeve done on the day I became a tattoo artist - that day when my dream came true still seems very surreal to me. 

6. What does it take to be a good tattoo artist? 

A passion for the art of tattoo. Being a tattoo artist isn’t just a way to make a living - it’s about embracing the art as a part of your life. Which is another way of saying that you’re crazy about tattoos, that you’d think about tattoos day and night. Take, for instance, when I go furniture shopping, I’d see a certain pattern on a piece of furniture, and I’d think, maybe I can incorporate that into my next tattoo creation! 

7. What was the greatest challenge when opening your own tattoo studio? 

That would be building my portfolio. I’m fortunate to have clients who remember me, and who trust me enough to come to my studio and have really cool pieces done. 

8. What’s the best thing about being Elizabeth Or right now? 

That my dream has come true! To quote a friend, I apparently have the semblance of a halo above my head, and I apparently exude a ‘glow’. I feel very lucky to have realised my dream, and along the way I realised that you should not let your own excuses get in the way, that there is always a silver lining. 

9. What’s next? 

I will be attending expos around the world to hone in on my skills, and I plan to write a book with a theme on the revelation of people’s perception of tattoos. 

Ryan the 7-year-old Eco Entrepreneur

Ryan Hickman from Orange County, the United States, is not your average eco entrepreneur. For starters, the seven-year-old founded - and became the CEO of - his own recycling company, Ryan’s Recycling Company, aged just three years old. His road to eco entrepreneurship and philosophy are straightforward: he likes “sorting the cans and bottles” and the idea of “getting paid to help the earth”. 

With the help of his father, Damion, and mother, Andrea, Ryan set up Ryan’s Recycling Company in 2012, and has been the CEO of a sustainable green business since. Four years on, Ryan’s business is as strong as his determination to help the earth, with approximately 49,000 pounds of waste recycled for 40 customers spanning over five neighbourhoods. With the revenue, Ryan has been able to save up around USD10,000 for his college tuition, with USD1,600 donated to charity - so successful and in multiple ways sustainable is Ryan’s Recycling Company that it puts many of us grown-ups to shame. 

We had a quick chat with Ryan, whose current long-term goal is to buy a real garbage truck and continue recycling through his adulthood, and his supportive father Damion, also the graphic designer behind Ryan’s Recycling Company’s website, business cards and flyers. 

1. Why did it occur to you to found a recycling company on that fateful day when you went to a local recycling centre with your parents in 2012? 

I don’t remember why since I was only 3 but I really like sorting the cans and bottles and getting paid to help the earth.

2. What were your exact wordings when you said you wanted to become the owner of a recycling company?
(Dad answers this one) Ryan said he wanted to start collecting recyclables from all the neighbors because he figured every hour could save cans and bottles for him.

3. Tell us a bit about the division of labour within Ryan's Recycling Company?
My mom, dad and I do all the recycling. Oh, and my grandma too. My dad drives me to the recycling center and my mom helps too. My dad lifts all the heavy stuff in and out of the truck.

4. What was the neighbours' response when you handed out plastic bags for them to save their recyclables for you?
Most of our neighbors save cans and bottles for us and they are so happy to save them for me.

5. How do you juggle your job as CEO and school?
I recycle a little bit at school too and I like to think about recycling even when I’m at school but I get my homework done and like hanging out at school with my friends.

6. What are the future plans for Ryan's Recycling Company?
I want to buy a real garbage truck some day and I want to continue recycling until I’m an adult.

7. Your advice for anyone who might want to start their own recycling company?
It’s hard work but it’s worth it. My mom says it’s important to wash my hands after recycling. Anyone can recycle and it’s good for the environment.

8. What's the best thing about being Ryan Hickman right now?
I’m happy to be cleaning up the world and it’s pretty cool that all people checking out my story are interested in my recycling.

http://ryansrecycling.com/ 

Marcel Heijnen: The Accidental Cat Photographer

You would have heard of Dutch photographer Marcel Heijnen, dubbed by the SCMP as the ‘cat photographer’, not least because of the buzz he created, unwittingly, with his Chinese Whiskers photo series depicting Hong Kong’s shops cats (IG: @chinesewhiskers). Heijnen and his newly acquired title as the cat photographer is all over the place, making headlines as far as the Guardian, the Metro, and Al Jazeera. 

Admittedly, cats in their effortlessly dignified, imperial posture are fun to watch, but amidst that oohing and ahhing, and the emotional resonance we draw from the photos, haven’t we forgotten to ask who is that man, often allowed nothing more than 10 seconds to press the shutter before the good-natured cats hopped over to him for attention? Who is that man that can be seen carrying a glass panel around, working on a series that tricked people into thinking it is nothing more than a photoshopped creation? And who is that man, who claims he does nothing full-time, because he believes that if you do things with a passion, then one thing will lead to another in this world, where opportunities abound?

On a quest to find out more about Marcel Heijnen, I had the Dutch photographer and visual artist sitting with me on a random flight of staircase in Sai Ying Pun, speaking about the power of a photograph that catches your attention for longer than half a second, Jeremy Irons and Irish potato farmer, the peculiar beauty unique to Hong Kong, and, well, cats. 

1. What was Marcel Heijnen like as a boy?

Quite independent, as my parents told me. I was alone for five years before my sister came along. My dad is a graphic designer, so I got interested in design quite early on. He was also an amateur photographer. We had a dark room at home, so that’s probably how I first got interested in photography. I was trained as a print-maker, so there was a lot of time spent in the dark room, lots of physical messing around with film. I came from the analogue era, and I did my last film shoot in 2004, when I was in Japan. But for the rest of the last 10 years it’s been all digital. 

2. What brought you to Asia in 1992? 

I used to work for Philips electronics as a graphic designer. I did that for three years in Singapore, another three years in Hong Kong. I took a sabbatical from my design job. I didn’t have a clear plan, but I wanted to work on music. I finished an album that year, I called it Residue. At the same time I knew that I wanted to do something with visual arts, and photography would be a logical step. I had a lot of nice photos, but nothing as consistent as a series that I could call my own voice, visually. 

I participated in a very intensive workshop in Singapore which was very instrumental in getting me started. There was a format of five days, full-on, with mentors, setting yourself with projects, shooting all day, meeting sessions at night. I did a little project that was kind of related to Residue. It became a project about interiors of houses in progress on the same stretch. The cool thing about that workshop is that you do that for five days, there will be a presentation, and a year later you do a reunion show. That’s actually very powerful, because during that year, you have access to one of your mentors, and you’ll have an exhibition that you work towards. That year inspired me to start thinking what I want to do.

3. Tell us a bit more about your Residue photography series? 

I had a Residue-like image that I shot of windows in France a long time ago. It had the building, the reflection, the textures, all the elements. I kept on coming back to that image, which was shot five years prior. I told my mentor that I wanted to do a series. Everyone seemed to like that image. I have thousands of images of textured walls, of reflections and bubbles, but that image was something special, so I wanted to do more. And then the problem came: I started meditating on how to do more of that? How am I supposed to find that stuff? You can’t go through the city to look for something that is textured and reflected at the same time. 

And then it occurred to me that I could bring glass around. I started just messing around, and later finding - just by experimenting - what kinds of textures work, and what time of day to shoot. I realised that I’m restricted to using just the last 10 minutes of daylight, because during the night it is too dark, and during the day, everything is so clear and bright that it will be a very obvious kind of image, and I want the merging of background and the reflection - I wanted the image to show as if the textures are eating away the buildings. That’s more or less the theme: the impermanence of cities. 

I started replicating it in other cities. The response was very positive from the start. Within a few months I had a solo show, I started taking it to art fairs and doing limited-edition things. I then met Sarah Greene, founder of the Blue Lotus Gallery, who suggested that I did a book, and the rest of the things just started snowballing, not as crazy as the cat series, but at least I got to know some publishers, so when I did the cat series everything became easier. The first edition of the book is very successful, it’s been sold out already. The Residue series gives me enough credibility with publishers, and created a path for me. The series defines me more as an artist - it’s more unconventional and unique - but I don’t mind that people now think I’m a cat photographer. I’ve been branded by the South China Morning Post as the cat photographer, I’ll take it just fine. It’s a different audience.

4. What were the surprising finds from when you were working on the Chinese Whiskers series? 

I went with a Cantonese speaker, who is also the translator for the book, to interview some owners to get a little bit more information. The belief, about why the cats were there in the first place, was to catch mice. But the cats looked very comfortable, and well-fed too because they’re a bit fat, which makes it hardly convincing that they are mousers. What I didn't know is the fact that the cats are there to repel mice. I never knew that story. If you put a cat in the store, and the mouse is in the back lane, it probably won’t go into the store because it smells a cat, and then it would go to the neighbouring store. It makes sense that there are so many stores with cats, because if your store is along a stretch, and all your neighbours have a cat, you’ll need to have a cat too, as otherwise all the mice will be going to your store! That was quite an eye-opener for me. 

I’m also quite endeared by the fact that a lot of the shop owners genuinely love their cats. To be honest, my perception of Chinese people’s treatment of animals hasn’t always been positive. I remember 20, 30 years ago, I was in Guangzhou and there would be dog meat in the markets; and there are still a lot of shops around here in Sai Ying Pun that sell shark’s fin, which isn’t particularly nice to animals either. But then there are these shop owners who are very loving towards their cats - they interact with the cats, they’re amused by the cats, they’re amused by the fact that I’m taking photos of their cats. 

The shop cats have it all figured out. They know that they don’t actually need to do anything. They do their job just by sitting there and getting fed, while the people around them work really hard. So the cats are the real shop owners. They are very ‘Zen’, very sedate and at ease despite the activities going on inside the stores, boxes being moved around. My only challenge was when the cats noticed me, they would come to me because they like attention. At times when I saw a beautiful spot, and when they saw me, especially when I lowered myself, they’d go, “Oh that guy is going to pet me!”, and they’d come over and I’d lost my shot.

5. Are you a cat person too? 

I’ve always had cats. Since I was about 10 my parents have had a cat, and I was crazy about the cat. When I moved out on my own at around 21, I adopted cats straight away. When I moved to Singapore, within no time, there would be a stray cat coming to my house and I’d let it in - I ended up having five cats. When I left Singapore, I left them with a friend. But I’ve just adopted a kitten here. On New Year’s Eve, someone found a kitten at a bar, and I took the kitten in. I’m co-sharing the cat with a friend because I travel quite a bit, I don’t want to be restricted by having a cat here, and I don’t have a social network so much to have people coming to my apartment to feed it when I’m away. Then I found this friend who lives just around the corner and wanted the cat. We’ll have the cat one week each, and when I’m travelling someone will be there to take care of the cat. 

6. What is photography to you? 

It’s about capturing change, capturing things that are disappearing or things that don’t exist anymore. I know it’s a cliché, capturing a moment, but in a lot of my works, such as the cat series and Residue, despite them not being visually similar (although you can argue there are textures in there), I was capturing things that are disappearing. The cat series isn’t just about cats, it’s more about the stores, it’s more about the environment. I’ve recently started a new series about dogs in garages, and with that I think I’m getting closer to my Residue series, because those textures are really raw.

7. Your definition of a good photography? 

In this day and age, a good photograph is one that makes you stop to look at it for longer than a half-second. When everyone is scrolling and it just stops you in your tracks, and you think about it for a little bit. A good photograph is a photograph that evokes response, whether it be sadness or happiness, such as how the cat photos bring a smile on people’s face, and that’s, for me, a really nice thing to be happening - at least my photos have done something for people.

8. What does it take to be a good photographer? 

Patience. Preparation. I think it’s very important to think in series and stories, not in individual images or simply the beauty of the image itself. I’m used to taking photos while travelling around, trying to take a nice shot, but at one point you’ll need a narrative, you’ll need a slight signature and consistency of your materials within a series.

9. Do you remember your first time in Hong Kong? What were the things that got you wondering? 

It was probably 1989, I was here for work. I was given a nice hotel room, I’d never stayed in a nice hotel room before. I had a view of the city’s skyline from the hotel room, it was just an overload of visual excitement. I had a nice Hong Kong colleague, who was adamant on showing me the city. He took me out almost every day, showed me the Walled City of Kowloon. I still have some slides of the outside of the Walled City. If I had known that it was going to be torn down, I would have taken more shots. 

10. What are the aspects of Hong Kong that intrigue you? 

Density, textures, contrast of city and nature. The water, the mountains, the high buildings, the density, the messiness - there’s no city quite like it. Hong Kong is an impressive city, especially for someone from Europe who is not used to this kind of scale. Take the hills and water out of the cityscape, then it would probably not be a very pretty city, but the fact that you always see green hills behind the buildings is just amazing. Hong Kong is beautiful, in a strange way. You have all these alleyways, staircases, that is just beautiful. I like the fact that Hong Kong is still very raw and messy. Even in areas with skyscrapers and glass-and-steel buildings, on ground level there’d still be a market, where people are cutting meat or cleaning fish, people doing things in back alleys…even Singapore isn’t like that anymore. Singapore is much more manicured.

11. Your favourite places in Hong Kong? 

I love the area around here. I’m right between Sai Ying Pun and Sheung Wan. I walk one way and I’ll be on Tai Ping Shan Street, with all the galleries along Hollywood Road; if I go the other way then it’s the more traditional face of Hong Kong. I also enjoy the fact that you can take the MTR, and within half an hour you’ll find yourself in areas like Sham Shui Po, which are still very raw and interesting. I went the other day to To Kwa Wan, and it felt like a totally different world - I could have been in China. It was industrial and messy, very different to Central Hong Kong.

12. What’s the best thing about being Marcel Heijnen right now? 

The freedom. The freedom of doing what I want to do, not needing to worry about things too much. I’ve got a few income streams so that I can start doing the things that I want to do. Very often, because I do things with a passion, they turn into another little income stream.

People who’ve known me the longest always ask me, “So now you’re doing photography, guess photography is your full-time thing?” And my response is, invariably, “I don’t do anything full-time!” just to annoy people a little bit. But the question is, why does it have be full-time? When people ask me what do I do full-time, my reply would be, “Depends on which day you’re asking.” Take today, I shot some portraits, I’m doing an interview, I’ll need to take my cat to the vet, and tomorrow it will be something else. I watched an interview with Jeremy Irons, who said this whole thing of work is just an invention. In the past, depending on where you lived, assuming if you were Irish, you would plant potatoes and then you would play music for a long time. You can have fun, and then you’ll get the harvest. That wasn’t a job kind of thing. You might have fewer choices in those days, but life was more relaxed and healthier and happier.

Apparently, my character profile according to some spiritual people is that I’ll start something, get it running for a while until I get bored with it, and I’ll go start something else again. You’ll figure out your weaknesses and strengths after a while. You’ll learn to trust the flow, that you’ll stumble upon new projects. This cat series is a total coincidence. I’d just moved to Hong Kong, a week later, I saw this cat in a shop. The photo became a series, and a year later the series became a book, and later there was an exhibition, and a lot of articles about it. It wasn’t a planned thing, it wasn’t like I planned to move to Hong Kong to shoot cats in shops. If you’re flexible enough, and willing to go with the flow and see what happens, you’ll start to see that things will actually happen. it’s a mix of doing the things you like to do, and responding to your surroundings.

*Hong Kong Shop Cats is available at all major bookstores and Blue Lotus Gallery. 

Motherly Love, Naturally (II)

As a parent, do you think about the nature of manufacturing practice that goes behind the products you buy for your child, or the environmental impact the products could cause, leaving indelible carbon footprints in the future that you hope your child will thrive? Victoria Chuard does, and she reckons many parents are in the same mind too. Her advice on starting a more sustainable lifestyle and parenting practice? ‘Shop locally when you can, choose handmade when you can, choose reusable when you can.’ Because changes in our consumption pattern can go a long way. 

Tell us the interesting stories of the brands you source from? 

So many of the brands we work with were borne of the everyday problems that parents face. NumNum and EZPZ mats were invented in the kitchen by baby-led weaning parents who came up with these innovative products to allow their little ones to enjoy food with less mess and more fun. Wrapsody's wraps are hand-batiked by women in Indonesia who are paid fair wages and they have such great wraps for HK's hot, humid climate. BlaBla Kids' dolls have such life in them - I don't know what it is about them, but it's the only doll that my son ever attached to and I've heard similar things from many other parents as well. They are hand-woven by village folk in Peru with the finest Peruvian cotton. All Things Jill's products are the epitome of handmade, wholesome skincare products that are both gentle and smell so wonderful. I use her cloth diaper-safe bum balm for nappy changes, but it also moisturises so well that I used it to heal my son's cradle cap, baby acne and irritated skin too. This one balm was useful for so many skin ailments - less really is often more!

Which is your favourite product? 

Oh that's hard. But if I had to pick one, I would probably say I've had the most fun with NumNum Dips. We wanted to try baby-led weaning, which means you try to avoid spoon-feeding when introducing solids, and instead give them foods of different flavours and textures for them to explore themselves and try as and when they are ready. When you start solids at five or six months old, you have to steam or bake or mash foods until they are mushy so that they can easily swallow (if it makes its way into their mouths!), but at that age they're not coordinated enough to perform the scooping motion needed for a spoon nor use their lips to empty the spoon in their mouths. You're more likely to get food flung across the room and plastered onto your wall than in their tummies! 

Our very first experiment with solids was a baked sweet potato that we then mashed, and we gave him the NumNum Dip to try it with. To my utter surprise, he stabbed at the sweet potato in his bowl, the sweet potato stuck to the NumNum and then all of that went straight into his mouth! Not going to lie, there was a bit of fumbling and some of it did end up in his hair when he missed his mouth, but he was using a utensil without any help or direction! It was amazing! I have been raving to other parents who want to practise baby-led weaning ever since, and we are so glad every day that we chose BLW over spoon-feeding. 

What is your definition of sustainable living and a sustainable future? 

Firstly, I think it's important to say that you should strive to do better, but don't beat yourself up if you don't or can't. Sure, there are people who can live and produce zero garbage, but you don't have to go to those extremes to make a difference in your life, in other people's lives or for the Earth. I've come across cloth diapering mums a few times who sought reassurance when they wanted to use disposables overnight because they have a heavy wetter who happens to sleep solidly for several hours (and if your baby does that, hallelujah, let the kid sleep!), and I say to them, you're already doing a great thing for the environment and your baby's health by using cloth diapers at all, don't beat yourself up because you can't use it 100% of the time. 

So, I think what I'm trying to say is, the small changes you make to your lifestyle has a bigger impact than you probably give yourself credit for, and you just need to keep pushing to make those small changes in a few different aspects of your life. My latest fascination is with essential oils and I've started replacing store-bought hand soap and the like with homemade hand soap in glass jars that I can reuse over and over again! 

Your advice on the first easy step towards sustainable, organic living? 

We have an increasing amount and variety of healthier, more sustainable options available to us today than we did half a decade ago, so it's really up to us now to choose better. We buy organic food for our babies, why shouldn't we care just as much about what goes on their skin, the quality of the materials of their clothes, what their food is stored in? Shop locally when you can, choose handmade when you can, choose reusable when you can. These are all things you can do in Hong Kong without compromising on convenience or safety or value. People often associate organic with 'expensive' or 'inconvenient', but it doesn't have to be the case, and that's something that we strive to help with at Petit Tippi! 

What’s the best thing about being the founder of Petit Tippi? 

I've met so many great parents, some really inspirational and talented mums and dads on my adventure with Petit Tippi, and that's probably the biggest take-away for me. So far, we've only ever gotten positive feedback from our fans and customers, and it really means so much to me to be able to connect, and in some cases help them. Starting this business has pushed me to test my personal and professional limits, and has also pushed me to meet people who have given me a lot of great support in my journey as a new mother and entrepreneur. I am an active member of the breastfeeding, cloth diapering, baby wearing, baby led weaning, baby sign language groups in Hong Kong, so if any of those areas interest you, I would love to give back and share my experiences, my door/inbox is wide open :)

Motherly Love, Naturally

Call it love or maternal instinct, as a mum, you'd naturally want the best for your baby, from the food she eats, the diaper she uses, the balm her delicate little bum is moisturised with, to the sustainable future she will walk into as a proud and responsible adult one day. Victoria Chuard is no different, except that she goes that extra mile to ensure that mums in Hong Kong are able to care for their little ones in a natural and environmentally responsible way, while contributing to a more sustainable future. And so Petit Tippi was born, on the same day Chuard’s son was born.

In a two-week series, we chat with Chuard on being an eco-conscious mum, which eventually led her to found the one-stop online shop for natural, organic and eco-friendly baby products. Read on if you’re a parent who celebrates cloth diapers, breastfeeding, and baby-led weaning, but find the availability of desirable products in this city rather dismal. 

When and why did you found Petit Tippi? Have you always been eco-conscious?

Not at all! I think that as a kid growing up in Canada, you're taught to "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" a lot in school, which is great, but I don't think I was any more or less eco-conscious than the next gal. When I was pregnant with my son in 2014, I did a lot of baby products research and I was frustrated with the very limited options in Hong Kong. The Millennial parents of today in Europe and North America are way ahead of the curve in terms of going back to basics in childrearing and what some refer to as "attachment parenting" - natural remedies, breastfeeding, babywearing, cloth diapering, baby-led weaning and the like (and we do practise all of the above in our household). 

I wound up in a lot of Facebook groups where mums would get together and group-buy products from North America or Europe, and I thought, if I'm doing all this research for the best products for my own baby, I'm sure there are parents here who are looking for the same things as me, and this group-buying that I was participating in was really my proof of concept. So, I started contacting all the brands that I had started buying stuff from for my own baby and that's how the ball got rolling. Our first brand to join the Petit Tippi family was AppleCheeks Cloth Diapers and we actually got our first order the day my son was born! It felt like I gave birth to two babies that day, but I also immediately started freaking out about how I was actually going to fulfil the order :D That's life!

Why did it occur to you to set up a one-stop shop for natural, organic and eco-friendly baby products? 

All the major retailers carry some natural, organic and/or eco-friendly products, but you really have to dig through what they've got to find the good stuff. There just isn't the same focus on those offerings in Hong Kong and I'm sure parents don't have time or want to trek across town for a bit of chemical-free bum cream, especially if you don't live on the island, and that's why we've put such focus on building a beautiful, usable and robust online retail space. I've done all the research already, so why not make it easy and readily available at the click of a button for other parents to make better choices? When I started buying products for my son in Hong Kong, I found myself feeling more often than not, that retailers here were only concerned about carrying the biggest, best-selling brands and even then only their flagship products that they knew would sell fast. That wasn't good enough for me, and it shouldn't be good enough for other parents.

How does Petit Tippi help mums and babies create a more sustainable future? 

At face value, using a lot of the products that we provide will allow each and every one of us to do a small part in saving the environment. Cloth diapers are a great example. Disposables take up to 500 years to decompose in a landfill, not to mention the poop that you're supposed to throw in the toilet but everyone throws in the trash that doesn't get treated properly. In two years a child creates up to two tonnes worth of dirty nappies! Those are crazy numbers! We don't cloth diaper 100% of the time, but just in comparing with my friends how much faster they went through their disposable diapers than in our household, I do get a warm fuzzy feeling about doing my bit, however small, in saving the environment. Not to mention saving my wallet, too! For new parents, we also make baby hampers, big and small, to set you on your way to a healthier, more sustainable path from the get-go! 

Who do you source from, and why? 

As much as we can, we source from the brands that we represent directly. In dealing with the company directly, I have built a relationship with the companies we retail for, and a lot of them are also start-ups by mums and dads like us, in search of what's better for our children. Some of them have also created really awesome communities amongst their customers and retailers (AppleCheeks's group called Peace, Love, AppleCheeks is one of my personal favourites on FB, so much love and support in that group!) which I think is really great. It does mean that I have to take care of shipping and transportation and storage and marketing and everything else on my own instead of with a distributor, but to me it's so much more than just buying and selling product, it's also about mutual trust and respect for what we are trying to achieve, and if I can get a better price at the end of the day for my customers, that's a great result for everyone!