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Wong
Obsolete Expressions: Metal Craftsmanship in Hong Kong
Part I: Research
2021-22 RCA | ADS12 Take-Away | Obsolete Expressions: Metal Craftsmanship in Hong Kong
Master Ho Interview
Film
The Infection of the Hipster Cafe
Animation [Unreal, Adobe Premiere Pro]
The Memory Box
Master Ho is in his late-70’s – one of the last few hand-crafted sheet metal artisans left in Hong Kong. His metal workshop is one of a few metal workshops in Hong Kong, most of which now use electrical tools and machinery. He has been in the same industry for more than 40 years, where he followed in the footsteps of his father’s craft and continued Fuk Li Metal Workshop, a shop business that has now been running for nearly 70 years.
Sheet Metal Craftsmanship is a laborious specialty and a part of traditional Hong Kong culture. Metal Artisans use thin but durable sheets of galvanized steel metal to make anything by hand since the 1930’s.
The use of this inexpensive material was commonly seen in Hong Kong restaurants (shutter doors, kitchen accessories), farming (buckets, watering cans), domestic spaces (mailboxes) and open air food stalls/sheds. In particular, steel is part of Hong Kong’s quintessential aesthetics for the classic letterboxes and folding shutter doors since the 1940’s. Unfortunately, the demand for galvanized iron decreased due to the introduction of plastic and stainless steel and standardized manufacturing processes in the 1960’s.
In the 1980’s, the revival of Hong Kong’s economy saw an increase in modern glass skyscrapers, replacing countless old buildings and local businesses. The employment of a centralized heating and ventilation system in these new modern buildings requiring ventilation ducts opened a new market for the Metal Artisans. However, the increasing standardization of building parts shifted from locally hand-produced to mass-produced machine manufacture. Today, metal artisans now mainly make their income making tailor-made spare parts for old air conditioning units that do not have a standard module.
Master Ho continues to handcraft everything with his bare hands, relying on just a few steel cutting tools and a hammer to cut, hit, bend/fold, twist, turn and shape his objects. Safety equipment or gloves are not needed, the craft is imprinted in his body, a master who has sharpened his profession to machine-like efficiency. He has no apprentices nor predecessors to his craft and does not intend to retire; a living entity of Hong Kong history.
Till death do us part
1/7
Traces of Master Ho’s words describing the craft is engraved into the memory box, a tangible means of preserving his words and actions.
Handcrafted & hand-engraved memory box
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Traditional metal letterbox
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