I was thrilled to be invited to collaborate with an amazing group of creators in an exhibition during Hong Kong’s art month. Weave is a collaboration between The Fabrick Lab by Elaine Ng Yan Ling and Loupe Hong Kong, a jewelry incubator space funded by the Chow Tai Fook Art Foundation. As the sole photographer in this project, I documented the process and behind-the-scenes stories, and shot fashion and product photography to be displayed in the group exhibition.
Heritage Craft with a Modern Twist
The Fabrick Lab aimed to highlight the artisanal fabrics woven by village women in Guizhou, China, and to give the villagers a sustainable way of living through their heritage craft. These hand-woven fabrics were the basis of the designs by four Loupe designers, who incorporated textiles into their metal work, or used the textures and heritage story as inspiration.
The intention for the collaboration was to show how craft could be applied in a contemporary way. All the designs (including sneakers and sandals by The Fabrick Lab) were meant to be scaled and mass produced to provide the Guizhou villagers a longterm, viable income stream.
To complement the core idea behind this project, I got the photography displays to print on fabric with custom mountings to best fit the space. The fabrics moved beautifully with the touch of a breeze in the sunlit hallways, and helped draw attention to visitors passing by the space.
For the two display walls, the first one was used to show the fashion photography of all the designs. The second wall showed behind-the-scenes moments, juxtaposed with minimalistic product photography. Overall, a vibrant color block scheme provided much contrast and gave the craft pieces a modern look.
An International Effort
The four resident designers in this exhibition came from different corners of the world: Carrie Yang from China, ITing Hsieh from Taiwan, Mima Pejoska from North Macedonia, and Seth Michael Carlson from the United States. I enjoyed seeing their different approaches to the same creative brief – Carrie was inspired by the swatches from textile vendors, ITing fused whimsical little dogs with the artisan fabrics to produce elegant bookmarks, Mima highlighted the silhouettes of the village women behind the textiles, and Seth etched fabric patterns onto his versatile jewelry designs.
The final week of the exhibition is coming up. Stop by the space at PMQ to see the designs in detail!
Loupe Exclusive: Weave by The Fabrick Lab
Dates: 2019 March 23 – April 24
Location: Loupe, H410, PMQ, 35 Aberdeen Street, Hong Kong
