characteristics from the original design.

Clement Li Ka-ming, a business student, did not appreciate this new concept. “I think these products (from Monewism) are merely playing on gimmicks. They are like pirated goods aiming to copy the concept or characteristics of the original design, but failing to bring the same outcome due to its poor quality and design,” he said.

Mr Tong admitted that it was hard to strike a balance between local elements and applicability.

Another difficulty concerns with the local element itself. Tong had a hard time looking for retail shops to sell Mark Six coasters and memo pads since Mark Six involved gambling element.

H o w e v e r , c o n c e r n i n g t h e market potential, miniature shops also changed their products from miniature Japanese food to local food.

Wong Si-chit, an undergraduate, welcomed the new force in the miniature food market.

“Siu-mei was Hong Kong’s signa-ture dish. Even foreigners know it originated in Hong Kong,” Katy Lee, creative and fashion designer of Uni-versal Models Limited (UML) said.

Miss Lee added they intended to popularize local food since it was special and full of its own character-istics, but the market was formerly dominated by miniature Japanese food.

UML launched the whole set of siu-mei (roast food) store two months ago. At first, miniature local food was used in the setting and as small accessories for MIMO, two cartoon figures invented by UML. Surprisingly, some miniature local food like gai-daan-jai (ball waffle) and red-bean pudding received positive market response. Therefore, UML started to launch a whole set of miniature Hong Kong signature dishes.

“Sales are better than our expecta-tions.” Miss Lee said. The current stock of siu-mei store has been sold out and people started bidding for it on the Internet. She added that middle-aged people made up quite a large proportion of their customers. “It’s probably because siu-mei is a part of their collective memory.”

T for Candy Workshop, another local miniature company, launched a Chinese banquet series in January, and dim-sum (light dishes of Guangdong) series in May.

Learning from the failure of a Japanese miniature company in producing Chinese dishes, Ng Wang- leung, marketing director of T for Candy Workshop, started to produce miniature food in the local style.

“ P e o p l e w h o l o v e t o c o l l e c t miniature food do not like things that are too distant from them. As locals, we should have the advantage and ability to produce our own food,” he said.

Considering the keen competition in miniature market , both UML and Ng said competition was a good way to enlarge the market share of mini-ature local food. V

Mark Six, siu-mei (roast food), Chung Hwa penci ls , and some other things familiar

to Hong Kong people have inspired designers in making local culture products.

“I am doing it for fun. I just want to design products that people will identify with their own culture,’’ said Tong Wai-pang, the founder of Monewism and a freelance designer.

Monewism, a one-man design firm, has launched a series of “I love Hong Kong culture” products in 16 retail shops on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, starting last December.

Products launched so far include M ark S ix coasters , memo pads, pelorus mouse pads, chopsticks and holders reminiscent of Chung Hwa pencils and Radar plastic erasers.

Mr Tong also introduces Chinese

cultural knowledge through his products. Traditional rules of using chopsticks are printed on the back of the package of “Chung Hwa pencils”. Rules and common terms in Mahjong are found on pelorus.

Some customers were surprised w i t h t h e r e p a c k a g i n g o f o l d l o c a l c u l t u r e i n t o s t y l i s h n e w products, while others said it was only a gimmick, or just copying

DESIGN INSPIRATION FROM COLLECTIVE MEMORYphotos and text by Vivian Li

“I am doing it for fun. I just want to

design products that people

will identify with their own

culture.’’

Mr Tong is showing Varsity his designed products.

Miniature of chui-chow food

Chopsticks in resemblance to Chung Hwa pencils

Miniature of Beef chow fun

Pelorus mouse padMark six memo pad

Miniature of Chinese dish

Miniature of chui-chow food store

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