Hong Kong Patterns, Part II: Silk City

Billy PottsJanuary 31, 2023

The arrival of Japanese department stores led to a boom in silk manufacturing – and some strange cultural blends...

DesignFashionHistoryProduct DesignSmall Stories & Secret StoriesWhere To Go, To Play, To Rest0 Comments195 views 07 min read

Hong Kong’s Vintage Treasures Are Overseas

Christopher DewolfDecember 23, 2022

The fruits of Hong Kong’s industrial history can be found in second-hand shops around the world...

DesignHeritageHistoryProduct DesignSmall Stories & Secret Stories0 Comments409 views 09 min read

Hong Kong Patterns, Part I: Daimaru’s Distinct Style

Billy PottsDecember 22, 2022

When the Japanese department store opened a flagship branch in Hong Kong, its gift wrap became a local icon...

DesignExhibitionProduct DesignWhere To Go, To Play, To Rest0 Comments405 views 04 min read

Hong Kong’s Industrial History, Part X: How Plastic Flowers Built a Global Metropolis

Christopher DewolfJanuary 16, 2020

Hong Kong once made plastic products that were shipped around the world. What's left of that history?...

DesignHeritageHistoryProduct Design0 Comments241 views 08 min read

Hong Kong’s Industrial History, Part IX: Locally-Brewed Beer

Christopher DewolfOctober 16, 2019

Hong Kong has been awash in beer since its very beginnings as a British colony. ...

CultureFood0 Comments1487 views 012 min read

Hong Kong’s Industrial History, Part VIII: The Ill Fate of Rennie’s Mill, AKA Little Taiwan

Christopher DewolfSeptember 4, 2019

The story of an unlucky Canadian who opened a flour mill – and how it eventually became a bastion of support for the Kuomintang...

Big StoriesHistorySmall Stories & Secret Stories0 Comments2709 views 011 min read

Hong Kong’s Industrial History, Part VII: The Rise and Fall of Local Milk

Christopher DewolfJuly 17, 2019

Hong Kong's dairy industry launched a multinational business empire – but don't try finding any local milk in the supermarket....

CultureFoodHeritageHistorySmall Stories & Secret Stories0 Comments6148 views 09 min read

Hong Kong’s Industrial History, Part VI: Indigo

Christopher DewolfJune 27, 2019

Indigo dyeing is making a comeback decades after the artisanal industry died out....

CultureDesignFashionHeritageHistoryTraditionWhere To Go, To Play, To Rest0 Comments913 views 06 min read

Hong Kong’s Industrial History, Part V: Incense

Christopher DewolfApril 10, 2019

The trees that gave Hong Kong its name fuelled local industry for centuries – but they are now at risk of disappearing....

CultureHeritageHistoryNatureSmall Stories & Secret Stories0 Comments2142 views 08 min read

Hong Kong’s Industrial History, Part IV: The Rock That Built Hong Kong

Christopher DewolfMarch 6, 2019

How generations of Hakka quarry workers and stonemasons provided the granite that built the city as we know it....

HeritageHistorySmall Stories & Secret Stories0 Comments3667 views 011 min read

Hong Kong’s Industrial History, Part III: Squatter Factories

Christopher DewolfFebruary 6, 2019

Hong Kong became an industrial powerhouse thanks in part to informal factories run out of shantytowns and residential flats....

CultureHistorySmall Stories & Secret StoriesUrbanism0 Comments2955 views 08 min read

Hong Kong’s Industrial History, Part II: Mining

Christopher DewolfJanuary 2, 2019

Hong Kong was once home to dozens of mines. What happened to this overlooked part of its industrial history?...

HeritageHistorySmall Stories & Secret Stories0 Comments2751 views 08 min read

Hong Kong’s Industrial History, Part I: A City That Made Things

Christopher DewolfOctober 11, 2018

A group of amateur historians is investigating Hong Kong's long and diverse industrial past....

HeritageHistoryUrbanism0 Comments3289 views 07 min read