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WELCOME TO THE CITY MADE BY BAMBOO
Hong Kong has a habit of overlooking what has always been there.
Bamboo is everywhere. It climbs skyscrapers, shelters opera singers, steams dim sum, becomes lion heads and lanterns, frames rituals and inspires artists and architects.
It is one of Hong Kong’s defining materials — and one of its least understood.
Today, bamboo scaffolding is facing increasing pressure. Traditional crafts are losing apprentices. Knowledge that has shaped Hong Kong for generations is becoming more fragile.
Yet this isn’t a story about disappearance or nostalgia.
At the very moment many people assume bamboo belongs to the past, it is being rediscovered in unexpected ways. Architects are testing it as a sustainable building material. Artists are using it to explore memory, identity and place. Designers are uncovering new possibilities in one of Hong Kong’s oldest materials. Younger Hongkongers are beginning to see what has always been in front of them.
That is why we created The Bamboo Metropolis: to look closely at bamboo before it is reduced to nostalgia and to ask how it can continue to grow.
Led by Christopher DeWolf and the editorial team behind the Zolima Culture Guide The Bamboo Metropolis brings together a multidisciplinary team of writers, architects, designers, artists, researchers and photographers who have spent years exploring Hong Kong’s culture, architecture, heritage and creative life.
DON’T MISS OUR BAMBOO EVENTS
We’re marking the launch of our third Zolima Culture Guide volume, The Bamboo Metropolis with a series of events in November and December 2026! We’re assembling craftspeople, scaffolders, artists, architects, curators, filmmakers and scholars to share their experiences working with bamboo — and their thoughts on its future in Hong Kong. Some events will take place in English; others in Cantonese. See below for details.
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BOOK LAUNCH
Making The Bamboo Metropolis
Join us for the official launch of The Bamboo Metropolis! Zolima Culture Guide editor Christopher DeWolf will chat with writers Billy Potts, Daniel Szehin Ho, Raffaella Endrizzi, Sue Ng and Molly Grogan about their experience of exploring bamboo’s long history and cultural significance in Hong Kong. You’ll hear stories about the scaffolders who build Hong Kong’s iconic bamboo theatres, contemporary artists using bamboo in their work, bamboo being used in theatrical productions, thoughts on the future of bamboo scaffolding — and more.
When: Tuesday 17 November, 18:15–20:15 (talk starts at 18:30)
Where: Bookazine Landmark, 3/F, shop 314-315
Language: English
Speakers: Daniel Szehin Ho, Raffaella Endrizzi, Molly Grogan, Billy Potts and Sue Ng
Moderator: Christopher DeWolf
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THE HARI CHRONICLES
Designing Bamboo
Is there a future for bamboo in design and architecture? Join Zolima Culture Guide editor Christopher DeWolf as he speaks with industrial designer Dennis Cheung and architect William Lim about the surprising ways they are using bamboo in their work, from innovative design to monumental installations for WestK and other institutions — and how they’re collaborating with traditional craftspeople to forge a new path forward for bamboo.
When: Tuesday 24 November, 18:00 – 19:30 (talks starts at 18:30)
Where: The Hari Hotel
Language: English
Speakers: Dennis Cheung , William Lim
Moderator: Christopher DeWolf
By invitation only
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ARTIST TALK & THE AFTER
The Art of Bamboo
Bamboo has a long history in Chinese art — but how are artists moving forward from tradition? Join curator Eunice Tsang as she talks with arts writer Daniel Szehin Ho and artist Louis To Wun about the intersection between bamboo crafts and contemporary art. The talk will be in Cantonese, followed by a casual gathering over drinks, open to everyone — Cantonese speakers or not!
When: 25 November 2026, 18:15 – 21:00
Where: Current Plans, Wong Chuk Hang
Language: Cantonese
Speakers: Daniel Szehin Ho, Louis To Wun
Moderator: Eunice Tsang
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BAMBOO CRAFT & CULTURE
How to Keep Bamboo Traditions Alive
Join Zolima Chinese editor Sue Ng, filmmaker Cheuk Cheung and bamboo scaffolder Daisy Pak one of Hong Kong’s few female bamboo scaffolders. You’ll hear about the significance of bamboo to Hong Kong, the future of bamboo scaffolding and the surprising ways bamboo has made its way into contemporary art and culture.
When: 5 December 2026, 15:00 – 16:00
Where: Eslite (Causeway Bay Store), 9F FORUM
Language: Cantonese
Speakers: Cheuk Cheung, Daisy Pak
Moderator: Sue Ng
More events to be announced soon, watch this space!
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SPEAKERS & MODERATORS
Billy Potts
Billy Potts is a Hong Kong-born writer and designer whose work offers a unique perspective shaped by his lifelong immersion in the city’s cultural landscape. As a writer for Zolima, he has explored the city’s hidden stories and design heritage, including traditional crafts, calligraphy and more. Potts’ in-depth design and research study on defunct and abandoned signage, Hong Kong Ghost Signs, has been backed by both the Design Trust and Lord Wilson Heritage Trust. Through his design studio Handsome Co., Potts has worked on projects involving Hong Kong’s iconic trams, the classic Camel flask and other renowned local brands including Cathay Pacific, Ascot Chang and more. Potts has a Chinese-English background and is fluent in English, Cantonese and Mandarin. He is also partner and creative director of Hong Kong design firm Steiner&Co.
Cheuk Cheung
Born in Hong Kong, filmmaker Cheuk Cheung’s work spans both fiction and documentary. He has directed three documentaries about Chinese opera and he was named Artist of the Year at the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards. He was nominated for Best Documentary at the Golden Horse Awards and Best New Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards for his 2019 film Bamboo Theatre. His latest work includes the drama series The Floating Generation and the documentary The Path of Soul.
Daniel Szehin Ho
Daniel Szehin Ho is executive editor of CONG, an annual journal published by Serakai Studio exploring ideas, art, and the urban imagination across East and Southeast Asia. Previously, he was editor-in-chief of Ran Dian, a bilingual magazine based in Shanghai that critically engaged with contemporary art in China. From 2017 to 2024, he worked at Tai Kwun Contemporary in Hong Kong, where he led the museum’s publications programme as senior editor. He also co-founded and directed BOOKED: Hong Kong Art Book Fair, which served as a key platform for independent publishing and exchange in the region.
Daisy Pak Pik-ki
Daisy Pak Pik-ki is one of Hong Kong’s few female bamboo scaffolders and a registered skilled worker in both bamboo and metal scaffolding. Since entering the trade in 2021, she has been committed to promoting the century-old craft. She founded HK Bamboo Art in 2024 to engage the public through talks, events and collaborations. In 2025, she was named one of six recipients of the Construction Industry Outstanding Young Person Awards.
Dennis Cheung
Dennis is a Hong Kong registered architect and founding partner of Studio RYTE, focusing on sustainability and material innovation. His multidisciplinary work has earned the Architizer A+, AIA Sustainability, Dezeen and SaloneSatellite awards, with pieces in the permanent collections of M+ and SaloneSatellite Permanent Collection. He is currently senior lecturer and deputy programme director of the Design+ programme at the University of Hong Kong.
Impromptu Projects
João Ó and Rita Machado are founders of the Macau-based multidisciplinary studio Impromptu Projects. The practice operates across architecture, ephemeral structures, interior design, public space interventions, curatorial services, and community-oriented projects, while critically examining their social and cultural relevance within contemporary urban contexts. The duo’s work has been exhibited internationally, notably representing Macau at the 53rd Venice Biennale of Art (2009) and the 14th Venice Biennale of Architecture (2014). Their practice has received several international distinctions, including the German Design Award (2025), Macau Architecture Award (2024), Muse Design Awards (2024), Architizer A+Awards (2024) and many more.
Louis To Wun
Louis To Wun is a Hong Kong contemporary artist whose work spans painting, sculpture and traditional sugar and bamboo crafts. Emerging in the 1990s, he won three consecutive awards at the Philippe Charriol Foundation Modern Art Competition (1992–94), exhibited at MoMA PS1 and the British Museum, and held his first major solo exhibition in 1998. He co-founded the arts and music venue SENSE 99 in 2004. A self-taught sugar sculptor known as Hong Kong Sugarman, he has also reinvented traditional bamboo sculpture for Cheung Chau’s Tai Ping Ching Chiu Festival, theatre productions and contemporary exhibitions, including Art Central.
Sue Ng
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Sue Ng is a bilingual journalist passionate about community stories. Before joining Zolima as staff writer and Chinese editor, Ng worked for major English-language media outlets in Hong Kong, specialising in local affairs, culture, environment, and education. In addition to her professional endeavors, she co-founded the Chinese online publication Stories Not Far, which is dedicated to sharing intercultural and humanitarian issues from around the globe with the Chinese-speaking world
Rafaella Endrizzi
Raffaella Endrizzi is an architect, photographer, educator and writer based in Hong Kong. She holds a master’s degree in architecture from ETH Zurich and studied photography with Hélène Binet. She is co-author of Lochergut – Ein Portrait (Quart, 2019), a social and urbanistic study of Zurich’s Lochergut housing block that won the 2019 DAM Architectural Book Award. Her research explores the knowledge and stories held in making and in buildings: Scaffold and Memory documents Hong Kong’s bamboo-scaffolding makers, and Blöck – Geschichten aus der Rigistrasse traces a prefabricated housing ensemble from the 1960s in Switzerland and their inhabitants’ stories before demolition. She has taught at HKU, CUHK and ETH Zurich.
William Lim
William Lim is a Hong Kong architect and artist who studied architecture and photography at Cornell University. His award-winning practice, CL3, has received honours from the Hong Kong Design Centre. Working across large-scale installations and oil painting, he has exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Hong Kong–Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale and Art Basel Hong Kong, where he presented Ode to the Wandering Son (2023). A Cornell trustee and arts adviser, he received an honorary doctorate from SCAD in 2018. In 2019, he donated 90 works from his Living Collection, predominantly by Hong Kong artists, to M+.
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《竹藝之都》: 切別錯過我們的新書，以及一系列精彩活動！
點擊進入我們的網店購買《竹藝之都》
歡迎來到這座由竹築起的城市
香港總是習慣忽略那些一直存在於我們身邊的事物。
竹子無處不在。它攀附於摩天大樓之上，為戲曲演員搭建舞台，蒸製點心，化作獅頭與燈籠，建構儀式場所，並激發著藝術家和建築師的靈感。
它是香港最具代表性的材料之一，也是最不為人所知的材料之一。
如今，搭棚技藝正面臨越來越大的挑戰。傳統工藝難以尋覓接班人，這項世代以來塑造香港城市面貌的知識與技術，正逐漸消逝。
然而，這並非一個關於消失或懷舊的故事。
就在許多人認為竹子屬於過去的時候，它卻以意想不到的方式被重新發現。建築師正在探索它作為可持續建築材料的可能性；藝術家正用它來探索記憶、身分和場所；設計師則在這項香港最古老的材料之一中，發掘嶄新的可能；而年輕的香港人也開始留意到那些一直就在他們眼前的事物。
這正是我們創作《竹藝之都》的原因：在竹子被簡化為懷舊符號之前，重新凝視它，並思考它如何繼續生長、延續未來。
不要錯過我們的新書活動！
為慶祝《竹藝之都》正式推出，我們將於 2026 年 11 月至 12 月舉辦一系列精彩活動！我們邀請了竹藝大師、搭棚師傅、藝術家、建築師、策展人、電影工作者及學者，分享他們運用竹材的經驗，以及對竹在香港未來發展的看法。部分活動將以英語進行，其他則以廣東話進行。活動詳情如下。
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新書發佈會@ BOOKAZINE
《竹藝之都》的創作歷程
與《竹藝之都》的作者及編輯一同探索香港城市景觀背後的故事，
日期及時間: 2026 年11 月 17 日（星期二），18:15–20:15 (講座由18:30開始)
地點: Bookazine，置地廣場 3 樓 314–315 號舖
講者: 何思衍、吳麗瑩、博之俊、Molly Grogan及Raffaella Endrizzi
主持: Christopher DeWolf
語言: 英語
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THE HARI CHRONICLES
竹材新設計
建築師與設計師如何為這種傳統材料開拓新用途。
日期及時間: 2026 年11 月24 日（星期二），18:00–19:30 (講座於18:30開始)
地點:香港夏利酒店
語言: 英語
講者: 張凱琨及林偉而
主持: Christopher DeWolf
僅限獲邀人士參加
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藝術家對談及聚會
竹與藝術
了解竹子如何融入香港及大中華地區的藝術創作，
日期及時間: 2026 年11 月25 日（星期三），18:15–21:00 (講座於18:30開始)
地點： Current Plans，黃竹坑
語言： 廣東話
講者: 何思衍及杜煥
主持: 曾智愛怡
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竹藝文化
如何讓竹藝傳統延續下去
從建築用棚架、戲棚到舞獅舞龍，
日期及時間： 2026 年12 月5 日（星期六），15:00–16:00
地點： 誠品銅鑼灣店 9F FORUM
語言： 廣東話
講者： 卓翔、白碧琪
主持： 吳麗瑩
更多新書活動即將公布，敬請期待！
《竹藝之都》創作團隊
《竹藝之都》匯聚了一支跨領域團隊，由作家、建築師、設計師、藝術家、研究者及攝影師組成。他們多年來一直探索香港的文化、建築、傳統與創意生活。
本書由 Christopher DeWolf 及 《Zolima Culture Guide》編輯團隊主導，收錄何思衍、吳麗瑩、陳倩雯、博之俊、黃美榆、Raffaella Endrizzi 及 Molly Grogan的文章，並由 Kevin Mak 負責攝影，林雪姬設計。
他們共同帶來一場深入研究、精心呈現的探索，重新理解香港其中一種最具代表性、卻最不為人所了解的材料。