Workshop

Hong Kong Signage & Font: The Becoming of Lee Hon Kong Kai
講字港招牌——李漢港楷故事

This workshop will be conducted in Cantonese
此專題工作坊以廣東話進行

書體是紙上容顏。字體是否優美、選擇哪種風格，都在一定度上反映了那人的內心世界。對招牌而言，書體更為重要。尤其在網絡尚未普及的年代，招牌有時是我們對店舖的第一亦是最深刻印象。香港曾經招牌林立，密集程度不輸聚居人口。雖然香港晚上光如白晝，很難看到繁星滿天，但密勝繁星的霓虹招牌也是香港獨一無二的城市景觀。這道景觀，在港產電影、海外電影及動畫中，常常都可以見到，就如維港天際線及獅子山一樣，已成了香港象徵。

這場工作坊我們請來「李漢港楷」製作人李健明先生，帶我們認識香港招牌的工藝與美學，也帶我們認識香港街頭書法。昔年電腦字尚未普及，香港街頭仍是手寫字體的輝煌時代。李漢先生正是90年代的一位書手，他當時與招牌師傅李威先生合作，手跡遍佈港九街頭。到李漢先生將近退休之時，特意手書數千字手稿贈予李威先生留存，以備製作招牌之用。該批手稿正是由李威先生兒子李健明先生轉成電腦字型「李漢港楷」。

可能有人會問，在電腦字如此普及又便於使用的年代，保留這種「懷舊」字體又有何用途？手稿字轉換成電腦字最少需經拍攝、放大／縮小、剪貼、修補、補充常用字等等數之不盡的後期製作，而電腦字只要幾個按鍵便可快捷完成，何必勞師動眾？「李漢港楷」的目的不在於存古或懷舊，而是這種字體有值得保留及發展的價值。且不論電腦字的美學問題，單論風格與店舖是否匹配，便已是相當重要的學問。字體選擇直接反映了商舖定位及給人的第一印象，而手書體往往予人的印象是比電腦體更莊嚴雅重。試想像，一所標榜懷舊的中式餐館，竟用少女體電腦字，豈不貽笑大方？

在本工作坊中，參加者可隨李健明先生之分享，對香港招牌、手書、保存老香港等等關於「香港歷史與文化」議題有更深入認識。

Typography expresses our ideas beyond words. The choice of font and typeface is even more important for signage design, especially in shop fronts, which is integral to building brand recognition. The colourful signs we grew up with was once the signature nightscape of Hong Kong. The scene of unique signage with large Chinese characters cascading the busy streets was not only part of our nostalgic past, but also represented Hong Kong in numerous feature films and animation. These signage are an embodiment of Hong Kong’s vibrant heritage.

We invited Mr. Lee Kin Ming, the founder of the ‘Lee Hon’s street calligraphy conservation project’, to give a workshop on the art of signage making and street calligraphy. Back in the days Kin Ming’s father Mr. Lee Wei, a sign-maker, often collaborated with Mr. Lee Hon, a street-side calligrapher, to craft signboards for an array of businesses. From street food stores to temples, their work could be found in everywhere in Hong Kong. Prior to Lee Hon’s retirement, he gifted Lee Wei a set of handwritten templates such that there is continuity in the style of sign-making. These templates were the basis of Kin Ming’s effort to digitise Lee Hon’s calligraphy and create the font “Lee Hon Kong Kai”.

Some may wonder, what makes Kin Ming’s work standout from the widely available computer fonts? Digitising handwritten templates involved various painstaking manual steps, though this effort is already worthwhile purely from the perspective of cultural conservation. On the other hand, “Lee Hon Kong Kai” is a nostalgic visual language that preserves the calligrapher’s artisan expression. 

In this interactive workshop, Kin Ming will share the history behind Hong Kong signage, street calligraphy and his journey of font-making.  We hope this session will give participants a chance to deepen their understanding on an interesting detail of Hong Kong culture. 

April 10 (Sat)
13:00–14:00 (GMT+1)
20:00–21:00 (GMT+8)

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Host

Lee, Kin Ming