Thursday, September 17, 2015

Hong Kong in Miniature: meet Vivian Lee

A woman standing next to a miniature model of a traditional Hong Kong Joyful Store.
Vivian is a professional designer who enjoys making all sorts of handicraft, but over the past few years has focused more on miniatures. She specialises in making miniature clay objects typically found in Hong Kong. In the exhibition, her pieces focus on a life in Hong Kong that is now vanishing due to modernisation. Vivian has a website with items for sale (alas for us English speakers, it's mainly in Chinese and Google translate struggles with it).

Four pieces created by Vivian were on display. My favourite was the joyful store: a traditional store that sells 'pocket money items' like capsule toys, shuttlecocks, kites, hula hoops, snacks and stationery. These stores are part of the childhood memories of most baby boomers who grew up in Hong Kong.
Modern dolls' house miniature Hong Kong Joyful Store
Photo courtesy of The Joyful Miniature Association
Corner of a modern dolls' house miniature Hong Kong Joyful Store, showing a drink fridge and an ice cream freezer.
Front detail of a modern dolls' house miniature Hong Kong Joyful Store,
Corner detail of a modern dolls' house miniature Hong Kong Joyful Store,
 There was also a roast meat shop (oddly enough I didn't take many photos of this one...)
Front of a modern dolls' house miniature Hong Kong roast meat shop.
Photo courtesy of The Joyful Miniature Association

 and a traditional grocery store.
Modern dolls' house miniature Hong Kong grocery shop.
Photo courtesy of The Joyful Miniature Association
Detail of the front of a modern dolls' house miniature Hong Kong grocery shop.
Photo courtesy of The Joyful Miniature Association
Detail of stock in a modern dolls' house miniature Hong Kong grocery shop.
Photo courtesy of The Joyful Miniature Association
Detail of stock in a modern dolls' house miniature Hong Kong grocery shop.
Photo courtesy of The Joyful Miniature Association

 The final piece Vivian had on display at the exhibition was a traditional stoneware and ceramics shop. These were common in the 1950s and 60s and many can still be found in Hong Kong today.
Modern dolls' house miniature Hong Kong ceramics shop.
Photo courtesy of The Joyful Miniature Association
Detail of a modern dolls' house miniature Hong Kong ceramics shop.
Photo courtesy of The Joyful Miniature Association
Vivian is one of the miniaturists who is giving demonstrations of their work during the exhibition. Here she is she is at the media preview, showing us how to make a miniature bamboo steamer:
(And I was lucky enough to be given one of her completed sets afterwards).
Miniature bamboo steamers holding dim sums and other traditional Hong Kong treats.
Vivian will be demonstrating how to make the dim sims to go in her bamboo steamer at 10.30 am today, 

The Hong Kong in Miniature exhibition is on at Westfield Pitt Street during trading hours until September 20.  The final demonstration is on Sunday at 3pm, when Li Loi Yun will showcase how she makes mini plants.

#HongKonginMiniature #MiniHongKong

3 comments:

  1. The dim sum made me really hungry. Might need to go find some.....

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  2. I had the same thought - those dumplings look so realistic that they are making me hungry! I love all her structures - great to see! Did she use a piece of plastic to make the bamboo steamer?

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  3. Yes, it was a piece of plastic sheet.

    ReplyDelete