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It's slow time, folks!
2023-04-19

Cabinet of Stories in Central advocates taking it slow and easy. Visitors are invited to check out art exhibitions, participate in workshops, rediscover the joy of reading illustrated books or simply put their feet up. Faye Bradley reports.

Tucked away on bustling Staunton Street, the unassuming Cabinet of Stories (CoS) is one of Hong Kong's best-kept secrets. Visitors can pop by the bookshop and art space to attend an exhibition, event or workshop, joining a community of like-minded individuals interested in independent artists' works.

This month, local independent designer brand TAT has a pop-up at CoS entitled Sense of. Purveyors of slow fashion, TAT makes handbags, backpacks and wallets from soft leather, a material that gives the accessories a longer lifecycle. In March, CoS will showcase Polish ceramic brand Herbal Feast's limited-edition handmade objects of everyday use.

The story of CoS began in 2017, the year Alice Lee Hoi-yee founded ZtoryTeller (previously StoryTeller). "I wanted to raise public awareness of local illustrators and their stories, and connect with a mass audience," Lee explains. She started sharing photos of artworks on social media nearly every night and began to expand her online community through story sharing. An artist herself, Lee would also share some of her own works with her growing audience.

One year later, as her following continued to grow, Lee opened her first physical space, CoS, in Central. She began holding physical exhibitions and events, inviting audiences to experience the stories and artworks she'd been sharing online in person - and perhaps even take home a piece of art. Notes the founder-artist, "The goal of both online and offline channels is raising awareness and the income of creators."

From Dec 24 to Jan 15, the venue hosted a solo exhibition by Bowie Lee entitled Let Go. The Hong Kong artist and art educator used geological research to explore the relationships between spaces and human beings. The aim of the exhibition was to allow visitors to let go of the people and things they no longer wanted ahead of the New Year. The artist asked visitors to bring a stone or small object representing the possessions they found hard to let go of, and leave them at CoS. Subsequently, she created a number of artworks using the left-behind objects, based on stories shared by those who gave them up.

In May and June last year, CoS hosted artist and curator Chris Cheung's The Breathing Practice 01: Changes of State. Cheung worked with 15 artists to produce the Taoism-inspired exhibition, featuring brush paintings, ceramics, calligraphy, fabrics and metalwork, as well as more than 50 potted Bonsai trees.

Alice Lee says her aim is for CoS to be a space in which visitors can relax and de-stress.

Besides hosting exhibitions and events - from meditative watercolor workshops to movie screenings to book launches - Lee puts her effort into promoting the culture of reading pictorial books. "We mainly focus on picture books, art books and bedtime stories for adults," she says. "I hope I can be more active in promoting books and the culture of reading children's literature among adults."

Amid the hustle and bustle of life in our fast-paced city, the multifunctional space provides a venue for slowing down and engaging with physical objects. As its founder says, CoS attracts people of all ages who love art and reading, and also those needing a quiet space to relax or rest.

Cabinet of Stories offers a platform to independent artists, from Hong Kong and elsewhere, to showcase their works; In March Cabinet of Stories will showcase Polish ceramic brand Herbal Feast’s handmade objects of everyday use.
 
 
 
Above: Promoting a culture of reading illustrated and children’s story books among grown-ups is part of the mission of Cabinet of Stories.