RE: Tai Kok Tsui - 'Iron Floral Scrolls - Community-based Craft Education Programmes'
Venue: Tai Kok Tsui
Date: 2024.05.22 - 2025.09.16
Funded by: 
Organised by: 
Artist in Residence: Dr. Ho Siu-Kee
Programme Collaborator: 
Supporting Institutions:
RE: Tai Kok Tsui - 'Iron Floral Scrolls - Community-based Craft Education Programmes'
The public art and community art project ‘RE: Tai Kok Tsui’ includes an ‘Artist in Residence’ program that collaborates with Dr. Ho Siu Kee as resident artist and Dou Chai Arts as Programme Collaborator for the 'Iron Floral Scrolls - Community-based Craft Education Programmes'. This initiative aims to pass on a traditional iron craft often seen in various life settings, promote craft education, and explore the history and culture of the hardware and iron industry in Tai Kok Tsui. It also seeks to discover the potential of 'Iron Floral Scrolls' in contemporary creative practices.
A total of 28 university students from the Academy of Visual Arts - HKBU, Department of Fine Arts, CUHK, Hong Kong Art School (Listed in alphabetical order) are participating in the project. The program will consist of three stages of workshops held from June to October 2024. These workshops aim to foster participants' innovative thinking, promote craft culture education, and apply and sustain the craft in community life.
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The project workshops are divided into three stages:
The first stage, the 'Iron Floral Scrolls Craft Workshop' will be held in three sessions at local hardware stores in the area (twisting, welding, and polishing/painting). Under the guidance of Dr. Ho and professional iron craftsmen, participants will design and create a small, practical 'Iron Floral Scrolls' piece for their home.
The first stage, the 'Iron Floral Scrolls Craft Workshop' will be held in three sessions at local hardware stores in the area (twisting, welding, and polishing/painting). Under the guidance of Dr. Ho and professional iron craftsmen, participants will design and create a small, practical 'Iron Floral Scrolls' piece for their home.
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The second stage, the 'Community Practice Workshop' will involve designing and creating practical objects for the 'Fortune Library' ('Jie Yeah') project at the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals' service point in Tai Kok Tsui. Students will use the flat iron twisting and welding techniques they have learned to make six 'Iron Floral Scrolls' umbrella stands. These stands will be placed in front of local shops in the area, allowing residents to borrow shared umbrellas conveniently and beautify the environment of the community stores, thereby applying their knowledge of twisting iron craft back into the community.
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Umbrella Stand Concept:
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Title: Tai Kok Tsui Connections Concept: The umbrella-sharing point visualizes the moment of connection and serendipity, linking those who leave and borrow umbrellas, weaving this neighbourly friendship further, and may even be a love affair. Whether sunny or rainy, the residents of Tai Kok Tsui will walk with you. May all lovers find their happily ever after, with connections starting in Tai Kok Tsui.
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Title: Jie Yeah (literally means ‘Borrowing Things’) Concept: The title "Jie Yeah" clearly expresses the vision of "Fortune Library," a community service point in Tai Kok Tsui under the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. The umbrella stands placed in diverse locations in the community, further promoting the idea of mutual assistance and sharing through Fortune Library's umbrella-sharing programme.
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Title: Waiting for You in Need of an Umbrella Concept: Using the basic elements of Iron Floral Scrolls, a simple umbrella stand is created, waiting for someone in need to borrow an umbrella. After use, it can be returned and borrowed by the next person.
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Title: Romantic Guardian: The Next • Stranger Concept: A single umbrella, hand in hand, spreading care. The umbrella stand is a relay point, embodying the spirit of sharing.
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Title: Luck Under the Umbrella Concept: Geometric patterns commonly found in traditional iron window grilles form a four-leaf clover, symbolising hope, confidence, love, and luck, combined with the shape of an umbrella, to convey wishes to every stranger who borrows an umbrella.
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Title: Embrace in the Rain Concept: The circles represent two heads, the arcs represent an embrace, and the twisted lines resemble raindrops. Embracing in the rain symbolises caring and the sense of security brought by mutual assistance.
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The third stage, the 'School Workshop of Iron Floral Scrolls' aims to encourage more primary and secondary school students to notice different visual cultures around them. Starting in September 2024, the program will be conducted in various primary and secondary schools inside and outside the district over 10 sessions. The university students who participated in the first two rounds of workshops will serve as instructors, teaching the related craft knowledge of ‘Iron Floral Scrolls’ using techniques similar to flat iron twisting.
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Through a series of workshops, students will not only learn the techniques of ‘Iron Floral Scrolls’ but also understand the connection between the craft and Kowloon Bay, blending regional craftsmanship with community history. This promotes the transmission of skills and cultural dissemination in craft education exchanges. To spark public interest in the art of twisting iron flowers, the final works from the workshops will be exhibited at the opening event of 'RE: Tai Kok Tsui' marking another beginning for local craft education.
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