SQUARE in Tsim Sha Tsui East

It's been a while not going to the Tsim Sha Tsui East district, until recently I was having a gathering over there.  So I've decided to go earlier, buy some time, hanging around to see if there is any big changes.

Actually not much, when I was standing on the footbridge looking towards this view, same feeling of the good old days as I was a student, still...a lot of "squares".  

Tsim Sha Tsui East is always a bit isolated and therefore even though it is a tourist + commercial zone, I feel more relax here compare with the Canton road section. 

 

Except this new building (to me) I've discovered near the harbour, I will say it looks nice to fit into the surrounding, subtle & decent; again square square square... 

 

Finally, I found "Square of the Day" in a dramatic colorway that attracted me. I thought the purplish shade was due to deterioration of the glass curtain material instead, but did create another unique scenario I love.

Looking into windows of the buildings from street in or after the twilight time is one of my "hobby", it's interesting, imaginative and even with surprise sometimes; I will always imagine the look of the peoples who live inside, what is his/ her job, what are they doing right now/ or waiting for someone may be...under the bright white or moody yellowish luminescent; weird thoughts, I know :P

What do you think?

Good Taste

"Hey, pal; this Black soy sauce is almost expire, can you help?"......one of my friend who traveled and returned from Okinawa, brought this souvenir to somebody and/ or due to whatever reason, it can't be delivered......"Well, my pleasure!"

Ha, ha! the real attraction to me of course is not the content inside, but the package outside. It's always an eye candy for those traditional products' packaging found in Japan; no matter the color, wrapping material used, typography or the "accessories",

Even though the taste of soy sauce is not too special, it was enhanced by the package which creates the favor and aroma of Ryukyu :  

colorful printed fabric of sunshine + 
dry sea weed from the sea under the blue sky + 
natural wood block printing like label and tag......
generations after generations.

Yes! the taste of freshness, pureness and uniqueness. 

The Magic of Packaging Design ! Thanks Kwan.



 

It's respectable

A soft touch of dignity and memorable.

Tone:  Cold
Fashion: Autumn, calm and elegant
Packaging:  gift wrap, card, stationery
Retail: floral boutique, gift shop, daily living
Residential: living room

我愛馬賽克 I love mosaic

Mosaic - 馬賽克, 誰不喜愛? 繽紛的色彩, 大大小時不同的形狀, 自由組合也可, 採用設計師悉心配襯的亦可; DIY 朋友的寵兒...不須要遠走意大利, 西班牙, 在澳門隨處可見.

還記得小時候跟家人往澳門遊玩, 最深刻的當然不是賭場或豬肉乾, 白鴿標檔排第二, 商店前面行人路地上的馬賽克 /瓷磚排第一. 我想當時店主是為了方便打理, 才各自在門前的行人路上貼上馬賽克 /瓷磚, 由於這不是"街坊會的安排", 所以大家並沒有互相配襯, 結果便漫不經意地完成了一條又一條自家製作而又獨特的"藝術街"!

現在? 以上情境不常見,卻在大街小巷發現不少上圖的馬賽克裝飾, 跟議事亭廣場的設計十分配合; 簡簡單單的圖形及色彩, 已為整個環境修飾得十分優雅; 更令又長又悶的階梯變得有趣味, 不消一會便走完. 所以, 至今, 馬賽克還是我的最愛.

Mosaic - all time favor ? so colorful, interesting shape and size, it can be created through your imagination, or by select a designer's choice...DIY lovers. What you don't need is to search them around in Spain or Italy, it's everywhere, just right next in Macau.

I used to travel with my family to Macau when I was a kid, the most remarkable memory in my mind was certainly not casino or BBQ pork. Something call 白鴿標 - first runner up (direct translate is "Pigeon Ticket" - a kind of lottery ticket, you won & get pay if you guess the correct Chinese character that are going to be randomly picked once or twice a week by the host), mosaic / ceramic tile laid in front of shops on the pedestrian is the winner. 

I think the original thought of the shop owners may just think of easy maintenance & therefore have this idea, and luckily without the master control of any committee, they created an unique street art by their own mix & match, one follow by the others. 

Today, it will be less likely to find the trace of the above, but something new like the one in my photo which can be discovered everywhere, seems they are a diversified "team member" of the major design found at Senado Square. By this simple pattern & color arrangement, it lift the whole atmosphere of the surrounding, more decorative and interesting, even shorter the length of long boring staircase, what a magic touch and that's why, mosaic is still my number one lover.

Latte 拿鐵

最近收到朋友轉寄給我的Coffee Chart,一看見便會心微笑，令我想起第一次與“拿鐵”相會在廣州．咖啡對我來說是西方玩意，所以沒有留意它們的中文／台灣名，直至有次在廣州一間Starbucks 尋找 Latte 的踪跡時，才發現它原來叫作拿鐵，真有趣！難得今次這張圖不單有齊各種譯名，更有清晰的製作份量，簡單的平面設計，實用之餘又有親切感，謝謝好朋友！

A friend of mine share a Coffee Chart to me recently, I saw an English version many years ago but not this, in a format with their Chinese name (actually I think there are Taiwanese translation). It reminds me the first time when I was looking for a cup of Latte in Starbucks at Guangzhou, if translate directly it called "carrying iron".......well well, of course it sounds in Chinese is good fit to match with the pronouncaton of "Latte", but nothing related to it's actual meaning. Same goes to Espresso Con Panna, no related meaning to it's 3 Chinese wording of "Health+treasure+blue". 

But no matter how, a simple graphic design which clearly indicates the proportion of different ingredients to make a cup of your favorite coffee...it's really a good idea and especially touchy in Chinese, thank you, my dear friend:)

Cafe e Nata, Macau

 

When you want to have a cup of coffee, which cafe will you choose to enter, base on what? 

 

it's degree of well known?  interior atmosphere? no. of customers inside? coffee menu choices? price range? or...? aroma ? 

                                                                     

This cafe is located in Macau, people's favor of...guess what, not coffee but their Portuguese egg tart.  The day when we were visited, very crowded, aroma of egg tart spreading in air, but the most attractive element was the shop itself and this signage, very vintage. Truly speaking it was not a fabulous design but it's eye catching, and created a perfect mood together with the tiny timber bench, stool and "tissue roll" setting in front. Well,  of course mosaic tile will always be the "green leaf" here in Macau.

It's interest to say that, people love coffee is more or less a bit sensational, even if this is not their usual act; but they are obsess to the feeling of freedom or wildness at that specific moment with a cup of coffee in hand. 

 

 

So, my conclusion and what actually did happen was, our internal sensation conquered the reality that leads us to seat down there, no coffee, just egg tart + watermelon juice ; no service, no atmosphere, no variety choice of coffee, no gimmick...but it's already free our mind as we were seating at the side walk cafe , enjoying our "special moment".

 

月亮忘記了

幾米﹣是一個頗多人熟識的台灣插畫家。認識他是由這個故事：”月亮忘記了”開始。一個寂寞的小孩把小月亮收藏起來，一起生活，互相倚靠，玩樂．．．開心的日子不知不覺間流逝。　　

小孩忘記了月亮應該掛在天空外面，更不知獨享月亮對其他人所產生的影響。

同樣，月亮亦忘記了自己應有的責任，只想愉快地伴著小孩。終於有一日，小孩發現了樹葉枯死，天氣變得很怪；　而且不知不覺間月亮的身軀亦已變得很大，大到不能返入小孩的家．．．最後，月亮返回夜空，小孩在星空下陪伴月亮甜睡！

故事簡單卻滿有童真，插畫是最精彩的部分，誠意推介，找一個月夜細閱，必定令你會心微笑。

 幾米﹣a well known Taiwanese illustrator. He wrote quite a lot of story, this is the one that attracts me most : (if translate directly from Chinese) it can be "the moon can't  remember...".

It's starts with a lonely small kid, who meet "baby moon" by chance, he hide it at home, play and live together...happy ever after?

Time fly, the boy forget the moon shall hang around up in the sky, he don't know there is a huge changes in the world outside without the moon. The moon also forget how to fly up into the sky, or what it's responsibility is; it only wants to be with him, any minute, any where.

Until one day, kid finally notice the fact is, the world can't survive without the moon, and at the same time, the moon has already grown up soooooo........big, that can't enter his home again. Finally, the moon fly back to the sky and the kid? have a sweet dream under the star.

Simple story from kid's angle of view, unique illustration style is the best that I highly recommend. Bring this story book with you and read it under the  same starry night together with the moon above, you will love it.

Amazing Paper Art

Although it's already New Year, this Christmas art work is still worth to be shared to you all. I kept these image in my file long long time, I just can't remember where I got it from, sorry ! I only knew I was so amazing by what the artist did in this paper art. Yes, they are created by colour paper, so beautiful.

Many years ago when I was studied in design school, I also had an assignment by using this technique, actually it's not difficult, but need a lot of patience plus some art sense to create an attractive scene. If by adding some lighting effect like this one, the overall atmosphere is even more realistic. Japanese artist are quite expertise in this field but I think this one is more likely created by European, just guess. No matter how, this is excellent and should be framed as one of my home's wall decor.

Let me show you another one, which is more wild but still, amazing !

Start from zero 由零開始

每逢臨近農曆新年, 總是無所事事, 突然心血來潮上網看"米報", 驚覺最近巿場竟然再聘請一些消失良久的職位, 單看設計行業巳有不少久未露面的空缺; 其中一個便是Visualizer.

嘩! 這是廣告設計達人必經的入行途徑之一, 此人不單要有良好的領悟能力, 更要畫得一手好畫, 把上司腦中一大堆概念用手繪(hand sketch)轉化為圖像.,不少美術或創作總 監前身也是visualiser. 但隨着電腦的出現, 有 hand sketch 能力的人漸漸被忽視, 對! 是忽視不是淘汰, 因為再好的電腦動畫背後仍得有繪畫基礎的美術師協助. 如果你們有看前陣子在香港的 Pixar 展覽便得知. 我們也曾在此介紹過 彼思動畫25年. 廣告創作也一樣, 要把訊息傳遞給用家, 必需要把意念轉化為圖像才行.

最後, 就讓我借用怪獸公司這兩位主角的手繪肖像向這群默默耕耘的專業visualizer致敬!


Christmas, New Year's Eve than follow by the Chinese New Year, what a holiday mood and quiet market these days; so I crawl over Jobs DB & accidentally discover a big change in the design market recently. It's not easy to find a design post from the newspaper ad. but usually through head hunter agency, especially for some specify post such as Visualizer - which has been vanished for years.


But in fact, quite a lot of the art director or creative director in the advertising field did worked as an visualizer from the very beginning. These guys have a good sense of visual communication, they can retrieve conceptual ideas from the art director, express them immediately through hand sketch for further delivery to the end users, therefore a good sketch/ illustration technique is crucial. 


When computer technique seems conquer the design field, we think there is no more visualizer in the world, but they are still the most important support even in Pixar now a day; together with artist, they assist most of the animation character to be created successfully. 

At the end, let us salute to all these visualizer who dedicate their professionalism in so many decade by these two famous Monster company characters.

夢幻收藏家 Collector of Imagination

香港是一個人囗密集的地方, 很多人也住在一個小蝸居, 空間的限制卻一點也沒有影響人們收藏至愛的嗜好! 毛公仔丶動畫角色手辨、香水仔丶漫畫書、CD丶模型車、飛機仔...等等, 各式其式; 可有想過收藏顏色筆?

有玩收藏遊戲的朋友可能也會定時定候到Felissimo逛逛, 這裏有按月從日本寄出的可供收藏物品, 由柸碟剪貼圖案, 衣物飾物以至雨傘裝飾繩簾等, 一般要三個月至一年才可集齊所有款色, 而想擁有這500支有名有姓的木顏色便要花上20個月, 每月收到25色...嘩!可真要有相當的耐性啊!

有趣的是每支顏色也配上一個美麗而引人幻想的名字, 如:"雨後的八仙花", "南極的黎明女神", "南非的紅鶴", "鯉魚飛躍的天空"...你能想像它們是什麽顏色嗎?

也許在家中擁有這幅"顏色掛畫"並不比一幅名畫或水晶吊燈來得豪華, 但擁有500個由顏色引發的幻想可不簡單, 你可曾有過到南極看黎明的夢想嗎? 夢想, ...我有,也許不止500個, 你呢?

What is so special of collecting color pencils? How about a total of 500 pieces? Or every month you've only got 25 nos. meaning you need to wait for 20 months? And how about they've got their own beautiful names.

"carp in the sky" "hydrangea after the rain" "aurora in the South Pole" " flamingo of the South Africa"... can you imagine what their actual color is?

All can be connected from Felissimo, you may think this "color wall" is nice but nothing compare with the famous art piece or chandelier in your house; but I will say the 500 imaginations that bring from them is nothing that can compare with. Don't you ever thought of one day you are relaxing next to a crowd of Flamingo in Africa? just enjoy the wild freedom under the unspeakable amazing scene from the nature...

Dream, I have too many, may be already over 500, how about you?

本地高清Local HD

每次經過深水埗, 總會被這個招牌吸引, 我們常說: 這間店舖老闆一定是很用心經營, 至少他很認真設計自己店舖的門面; 與我們現在在街上常見的大幅大幅banner 招牌, 即噴繪布板= "走佬檔招牌"有很大分別.

清楚易睇色彩分明的凸字店名, 一看便知賣什麽的天線樣辨, 大方對稱構圖, 再加精緻彩色燈泡串作裝飾; 即使算不上一流設計, 我個人認為絕對是有本土特色及誠意之作. 如果大家有時間, 不妨入內參觀, 售賣的電視配件並不過時. 如果遇上未開店, 不要緊, 趟閘上也有傑作, 姑且待你們自行發掘.

A really interesting shop found in Sham Shui Po in Hong Kong, I use to stay for while whenever I pass by, not shopping inside but the shopfront first. 

You can simply told by it's local DIY design that TV antenna and related parts are selling here.   The 4 texts above meaning "High definition electrical appliances", 麗光 : the large red 3D fonts is it's name, whereas those tiny colorful light bulbs....yes, not LED, but very traditional light bulbs are the eye of attractive. We have to give an applause to the owner, everything here reflects his dedication to his shop, sincere and creative; what a big contrast to those laser print banner type signage all around shops in Hong Kong recently, we call them " Come & Go signage".

If you have a chance to be there, have a visit inside,too; it's not old fashion, the product sole are quite update & practical. Or even if it's not the right opening time, there is still some interest for you to be discovered on their sliding gate, keep searching and hope you will enjoy.

曾幾何時 Somewhere someday...

從牆上撕下貼到發黃的一幅影印...很喜歡這一幅"直切面圖", 是什麽地方?想不到罷?卻又有點熟悉?....The Kowloon Walled City published by Iwanami Shoten, 九龍城寨是也!

有趣的是這幅圖畫是由日本人畫的, 很細緻, 值着繪畫出室內環境, 反映當時居住在這裏的居民生活上的點點滴滴. 雖然我不是住在那裏, 卻也令我對它的消失有點懐念; 令我憶起香港六、七十年代市民辛勤工作為一家大少奮鬥的景象, 為着的就是一小片瓦頂...辛勞卻很温暖. 今日, 九龍城寨巳清拆, 人們生活改善, 豪宅會所隨處可見, 心靈上是否亦可隨之而安頓下來呢?!

This is one of my favourite drawing, which has already fade out when I took it down from the wall surface. A very lovely "vertical section" of an interior, where is it? not familiar? ...The Kowloon Walled City published by Iwanami Shoten : a place in Hong Kong, famous in it's crowed living environment. It's complicated building arrangement incorporated varies kind of neighbourhood, all were low expenses local service like "one man band" salon, Chinese herb + Chinese doctor clinic, food store, local coffee & cake shop,...etc.

But the most attractive thing is, this drawing was published by a Japanese, the content is fine and very detail, it reflects what I've missed so much, the daily living of people over there, especially in the 60's-70's, people worked so hard for only a small piece of land for their family to live, to survive...nothing more but "warmth". Today, there is no more Kowloon Walled City, what left behind is a park and continue developing of  club house and "grand" residential, the living standard of people are improving without doubt, and how about our soul? is there a place to settle yet?!

Full image of the drawing.