Evolving Tiger at DTFS: Heritage is innovation
As a design curator, under the mentorship of Brendan Cormier, Senior Design Curator at the V&A, I took part in the ‘Design Trust Futures Studio 2019: Heritage is Innovation programme, where I presented the Evolving Tiger exhibition on September 13-30, 2019 at the heritage site Haw Par Mansion in Hong Kong.
The Evolving Tiger is a response to the ever-changing Tiger Balm brand identity and iconography, which welcomed flexible and creative interpretations across South East Asia in the early 20th Century. Drawing on the analogy of Aw Boon Haw as Mr Tiger and the company’s open system of appropriating various tiger images for its branding, this series of graphics – created through algorithmic mashups of found tiger images - presents a dynamic way of viewing Aw’s legacy. By placing the “antiqued” evolving tiger postcards back in the Mansion, it challenges the notion that heritage sites are confined to the past, rather its roles and impacts are continually being reinvented. The postcards displayed among artefacts and furniture from Aw’s collection allow visitors to immerse themselves in an imagined narrative of the room.
About DTFS: Design Trust Futures Studio 2019 brings together international and Hong Kong-based mentors to work together with diverse and multidisciplinary young designer-mentees who have been involved in Design Trust as grant recipients or designer mentees. Through deep research, experimentation and critical making, the 2019 programme catalyses and engages in an in-depth process questioning the theme and the constitution of a community. Together the DTFS community have been sculpting the designer-mentees’ current practices, thinking and ideology on heritage, innovation and identity.
