Has living in Hong Kong influenced your style in design?

Hong Kong is a beautiful city! I’ve been to different cities and many Chinatowns, but Hong Kong has captured my heart. Living in Hong Kong truly is “east meets west”. Growing up with two cultures that are total opposite of each other, Hong Kong really is the perfect city for me to live in, as I continue learning about my cultural roots.

Personally, I love going to the era where my parents were young. The 1980s. I look back, and I learned about Hong Kong culture with my dad, as he would play pop songs from the “Golden Age” (1980s-1990s) in his car. I grew up with Cantonese food, and hearing the language with the Chinese community in Venezuela. I wouldn’t change it for anything!

I love exploring around the city and going to little shops or stands, people sell all kinds of things! Many are thrifted products, which it makes me very curious of where they were found or who the original owners were.

Lately, I’ve been able to design with Chinese characters, and it is a whole new way of laying things out. Sometimes it’s challenging, but it helps me think of new ways of using space. These are some pieces I found online that have helped me with layout when it comes to bilingual design.

Design is not only found in print or digital, but also in food! This is a simple dessert called Tofu Fa (豆腐花) which means silky tofu pudding. So simple, yet it was served in metallic mugs and spoons. I really enjoy the simple things in the city :) Food is a big deal here!

There are fascinating buildings in the area of Kowloon. Many buildings have been painted with pastel colors. More modern buildings use color schemes with neutral tones.

In many ways, my design eye in Hong Kong has continued developing as I observe things around the city – advertisement from big agencies here is very clean and direct, yet other kinds of advertisement can be quite overwhelming with a lot of big typefaces and crazy layouts and color choices.

I’ve enjoyed growing in my illustration skills as I’ve taken more creative projects involving digital and traditional art. The city uses a lot of reds, blues, and whites. A lot of bright colors!

I’m excited to continue meeting more artists and designers in Hong Kong to further expand my knowledge in design.