Our Article ‘Hong Kong Outside In’ got published in the new issue of MONU, a great international architecture magazine. I wrote it together with Inge Goudsmit (OMA, Hong Kong).
If you’re interested: the complete magazine is about interior urbanism, a fascinating topic if you ask me. You can get your copy here.
I haven’t been able to post in a while due to a super busy summer with work and a trip to Europe in September. But I’m planning to make it up to you by posting about my summer projects every day for a week.
#1 – The summer issue of HN magazine came out; chock full of travel-stories in Asia. Loved to work on this!
#2 – I made this logo for an architectural firm in Shanghai. Lines become spaces…
An new issue of Hollandse Nieuwe is out. I loved this magazine’s theme: Urban Colours. So many bright, colorful images and initiatives that take place in Hong Kong. It made me work on the lay-out with a big smile:).
One of the articles that I liked most was the interview with Thierry Chow, Hong Kongs’ most creative, young Feng Shui master. Truly a brave lady that tries to modernize this traditional Chinese area of industry. She explained a lot about the the role of colours in Feng Shui. Read the interview here.
Orange, the Dutch national colour, apparently has a lot of positive qualities: warmth (it’s the colour of summer), compassion, positivity etc. If you use it in your house it can improve the relationships between family-members and it increases chances for financial succes. I can use some of that so will put this orange magazine on top of my magazine-pile:).
Yesterday my friend Kathleen had a surprise for me. Somehow she managed to get her hands on a hard copy of Opzij, the Dutch magazine that published my article on women’s languages in Asia. It was so much fun to see in print the results of a topic that I researched intensively for the past couple of months and… being able to browse through the actual magazine here in Hong Kong was awesome:)!
The article is about Nu Shu a Chinese language that was only spoken and written by women in a time when girls were not allowed to receive any education. This language was the only way in which they could express themselves and contribute to culture, history and society. It helped them escape illiteracy.
Opzij began in 1972 as a radical feminist magazine, but turned soon into a more mainstream/moderate newsmagazine for women. It’s content: women’s perspective on culture, politics, society and lifestyle. The perfect platform for an article on women’s languages. I just love how Asian women took faith in their own hands an created these beautiful monuments of resistance.
The new Hollandse Nieuwe is out, (a magazine for the Dutch community in Hong Kong). Again I did the design for this special issue about… design:). We featured a lot of interviews and articles about Dutch Design and the one-million-dollar question: do Chinese get the highly conceptual style of Dutch designers? I’m very curious… what do you think?
A new issue of Hollandse Nieuwe is out (magazine for Dutch community in Hong Kong), themed: images of neighborhoods. It was such a delight to work with great, colorful photo material this time. The cover-photo for example, is shot by Kees Metselaar a Hong Kong based photo journalist. He led a fascinating professional life portraying wars, uprisings and cultural changes in (South-East) Asia. Check out his other work here.
The new issue of Hollandse Nieuwe is out!. The magazine of the Dutch Community in Hong Kong has been printed and I got my issue yesterday. Since last winter I’m doing the lay-out and design of this magazine and I slowly started to change the look bit by bit (don’t want to shock the readers too much;-)).
This time I worked on the table of contents… to make it more visual. Also the cover and banners started to look more glossy and fresh. Do you like it so far;-)?
Kung Hei Fat Choy, Happy Chinese New Year! The Year of the Snake started last week according to the lunar calendar. We have to wait and see if it’s a good thing though, because many Chinese predict that a Snake Year will bring unexpected changes, instability and volatility. A threat to harmony and stability, the key-values of Chinese culture.
One success strategy of snakes themselves to cope with change: a couple of times a year, snakes shed their skin to be able to grow more. Maybe it’s the same thing for people, we have to change skins sometime. Because the minds that are not open to change, can’t grow either;-). My Chinese New Years resolution is to try and be more flexible and open-minded in this unpredictable Year of the Snake.
Pic: Since last issue, I’m doing the lay-out and design for ‘Hollandse Nieuwe’, magazine of the Nederlandse Vereniging in Hong Kong. The theme of this winter-issue was ‘Snake’;-).
Studio Refill Ltd 