Many people may have had a precious “piggy bank” when they were young, filled with coins that they couldn’t bear to break. However, with the advancement of technology and the increasing popularity of electronic payments, a mobile phone can now replace Octopus cards and cash payments. Not to mention saving up loose change, so these traditional piggy banks are becoming less and less common.
Recently, Whatever. Coffee has brought the “Speaking of Pigs, Hong Kong, and Others” exhibition, where they have collected 99 nostalgic “piggy banks” from the Hong Kong grocery store “Chu Wing Kee”, and invited the famous Hong Kong calligrapher Au Yeung Cheong to personally inscribe each piggy bank, allowing interested individuals to adopt them home!
These piglets were created by the Wong brothers’ factory in the 1960s, but production was forced to stop in 2014 due to a machine malfunction. The red rubber piggy bank symbolizes a generation’s collective memories. Each piggy bank is hand-painted with gold glaze and eyes, making each one unique. The authentic characters on the “Hong Kong Piglet” were personally written stroke by stroke by Ouyang Chang, who empathized with the sentiment. Each one is inscribed with the names of various districts in Hong Kong. After traveling through different districts, they have now returned to the main exhibition camp.
As the founder of Jinghua’s iconic brand, Ouyang Chang has created over a thousand commercial advertising signs, and is also the only calligrapher in Hong Kong known for his use of traditional Chinese characters. Traditional Chinese characters emphasize the weight of the strokes, with bold and vigorous brushwork. Each stroke is closely connected, with a tight and cohesive structure, like a close-knit family, while also full of local cultural flavor.
Guests can choose to randomly purchase for HK$500 and receive a “Hong Kong Piglet” representing different places. If you already have a favorite, you can choose the auction mode, write down your bid next to your favorite “Hong Kong Piglet” on the spot, and the highest bidder wins. The auction results will be announced on August 3 after the exhibition, and all buyers can pick up their items in-store from August 4 to 15. In addition, the store has specially designed “Hong Kong Piglet” T-shirts, each priced at HK$200.
If you are interested in traditional crafts and traditional Chinese characters culture, you might as well visit the exhibition and bring back some small artifacts that carry local history!
“Pig, Hong, and Others”
Date: Now until July 31
Time: 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Location: Shop B, 172 Tai Nan Street, Sham Shui Po
Image source and learn more: Whatever. Coffee
