Vivien Chan is a design historian, educator, writer, and imagemaker based in the UK.
Space
I research, write, and teach about space and culture. I think about materials, relationships, and how people connect in space.I completed my PhD in 2024 with my thesis titled “A Colony of Shopkeepers”: Spaces of Consumption in New Towns public housing estates, Hong Kong, 1954-1989. My research was part of the Cultures of Occupation in Twentieth-century Asia project (COTCA) led by Dr. Jeremy Taylor at University of Nottingham.
I completed my MA History of Design thesis Assembling the dai pai dong: Living and Occupying the Street in Hong Kong, 1950s - present at the Royal College of Art/ V&A Museum in 2017.
I’m also interested in multi-disciplinary research methodologies and archives. Moving through space and experiencing it holistically forms my thinking of the research itself. Touching the page, tasting and smelling the market, navigating the landscape, making light or deep conversation, all help to ground myself in the work.
Page
I love to think about and make books.At the moment I am working on Archiving Archiving, a project on grassroots design archives in Asia started together with Zara Arshad. I was previously an editor on illustrator Flying Pig’s Barter Archive.
For me, making books is a collaborative process. The final object can be satisfying in tactility but iterative in the process.
I’m also interested in the digital page as a space for entangling text and image.I am currently an editor for History Workshop, and I was previously editorial lead for the 2016-2017 edition of Unmaking Things, an experimental platform for the RCA History of Design programme.
Polyphonies (2017) a record of design history research, edited by Tanya Bennett, Vivien Chan, Sophie Chatellier, Andrea Foffa, Natalia Goldsteine, Anna Stewart, graphic design and image credits to Dan Kozma and Ariana Tilche
Sooner, or later (2016) a collaborative zine between RCA/V&A History of Design and RCA Visual Communiation,
edited by Vivien Chan, Sophie Chatellier and Andrea Foffa
edited by Vivien Chan, Sophie Chatellier and Andrea Foffa
Image
I draw and print, mostly from life. Drawing is how I learned to move and feel. I studied Illustration & Animation at Kingston School of Art and previously trialled a career in fashion illustration. Now I make images for myself and independent publishing, as well as teach illustration. I also dabble in other kinds of making, namely textiles and printmaking.
For me, drawing is about texture, bodies, movement. I understand it as a process and a method. It is itself a trace of my own body and hand, sometimes a machine, often a material. Images can be sensual and sensitive in queer and quiet ways.
Constellation
I think collectively and collaboratively. Forming constellations are an important part of my practice. I am a co-founder of two research collectives, Hong Kong Design History Network; and astra*. Both of these groups were founded on the ethos of criticality and curiousity while prioritising integrity and connection. There is something to be said for slow research - as our everyday becomes more pressing, I find it to be all the more urgent to slow down and be present.
Together with these collectives, I have co-curated exhibitions, made publications, presented papers, designed and facilitated workshops, and had the opportunity to exchange with people all over the world.
Together with these collectives, I have co-curated exhibitions, made publications, presented papers, designed and facilitated workshops, and had the opportunity to exchange with people all over the world.
hkdhnet is a design collective focused on the design history and material cultures of Hong Kong. We co-curated the Hong Kong Pavillion at the London Design Biennale in 2021.
astra* is a design constellation with Zara Arshad, engaging in intersections, serendipity, works-in-progress, and intuitive research.
I also think about constellations in terms of research. Here’s how you can make your own research planisphere.
astra* is a design constellation with Zara Arshad, engaging in intersections, serendipity, works-in-progress, and intuitive research.
I also think about constellations in terms of research. Here’s how you can make your own research planisphere.
Vivien Chan
Dr., she/they
I am a design historian, educator, writer, and imagemaker based in the UK.I research design history and material culture in Hong Kong with a broad interest in design and the everyday. I teach illustration and design research at Nottingham Trent University and have guest lectured at the Royal College of Art, Kingston School of Art and Academy of Visual Art at Baptist University Hong Kong.I am also a History Workshop Editorial Fellow 2023-2025, and an Honorary Fellow at the Raphael Samuel History Centre, Birkbeck, University of London.
You can find me on the internet
or you can email me at vc[at]vivienchan.co.uk
︎ ︎ ︎ ︎
I am a design historian, educator, writer, and imagemaker based in the UK.I research design history and material culture in Hong Kong with a broad interest in design and the everyday. I teach illustration and design research at Nottingham Trent University and have guest lectured at the Royal College of Art, Kingston School of Art and Academy of Visual Art at Baptist University Hong Kong.I am also a History Workshop Editorial Fellow 2023-2025, and an Honorary Fellow at the Raphael Samuel History Centre, Birkbeck, University of London.
You can find me on the internet
or you can email me at vc[at]vivienchan.co.uk
︎ ︎ ︎ ︎
portrait by Rachel Meng Man, 2023
Selected articles I’ve written:
Race & Design, ed. Davinia Gregory-Kameka and Sabrina Rahman, ‘Squatters’ rites: ‘anti-design’ and the body at the dai pai dong in Hong Kong’(forthcoming)
Archivio, Archiving Archiving (interview), September 2024 (forthcoming)
ESEA Short Stories, ed. Nicole Tan, Catch of the Day (forthcoming)
Meritalia Magazine, ‘Decomposure’, ed. by Andrea Foffa and Marta Franceschini, April 2024
CONGEE Zine, ‘Ad Hoc Juk’, August 2023, in collaboration with artist Alastair Kwan and F.A.T. Studio
Fortified Gazette, 13th- 17th September 2022, peeling prawns; repetoires and gifts; here, a Nutrigrain bar; gravy; fervour/flavour
Fortified Issue 003, ‘Sweet treats & school puds’, July 2022
Urban History, April 2022,‘Markets made modular:constructing the modern ‘wet’ market in Hong Kong’s public housing estates’︎ Shortlisted on the Hong Kong Studies IBP 2023
Centre for Global Design History,June 2021, Report- Design Archives in Asia Symposium
Geofictions: Work in Progress, ed. Zara Arshad, February 2021,Interviewing Alvin Li and Junyuan Feng, curators of Liquid Ground
You can hear me speak on these podcasts/videos:
The last of Hong Kong’s street food rebels, SCMP
Reverberations by Zara Arshad
Women read
Race & Design, ed. Davinia Gregory-Kameka and Sabrina Rahman, ‘Squatters’ rites: ‘anti-design’ and the body at the dai pai dong in Hong Kong’(forthcoming)
Archivio, Archiving Archiving (interview), September 2024 (forthcoming)
ESEA Short Stories, ed. Nicole Tan, Catch of the Day (forthcoming)
Meritalia Magazine, ‘Decomposure’, ed. by Andrea Foffa and Marta Franceschini, April 2024
CONGEE Zine, ‘Ad Hoc Juk’, August 2023, in collaboration with artist Alastair Kwan and F.A.T. Studio
Fortified Gazette, 13th- 17th September 2022, peeling prawns; repetoires and gifts; here, a Nutrigrain bar; gravy; fervour/flavour
Fortified Issue 003, ‘Sweet treats & school puds’, July 2022
Urban History, April 2022,‘Markets made modular:constructing the modern ‘wet’ market in Hong Kong’s public housing estates’︎ Shortlisted on the Hong Kong Studies IBP 2023
Centre for Global Design History,June 2021, Report- Design Archives in Asia Symposium
Geofictions: Work in Progress, ed. Zara Arshad, February 2021,Interviewing Alvin Li and Junyuan Feng, curators of Liquid Ground
You can hear me speak on these podcasts/videos:
The last of Hong Kong’s street food rebels, SCMP
Reverberations by Zara Arshad
Women read
Academic lectures, conferences and workshops:
‘Corridor kitchens, mushroom pavilions: foodscapes of cooked food hawkers in post-war Hong Kong’, Foodscaping Asia II: Metropolis, ICAS 13 Crossways of Knowledge, Surabaya, Indonesia, July 2024
dressing eating living moving workshop (co-convenor), ICAS 13 Crossways of Knowledge, Surabaya, Indonesia, July 2024
‘Exhibiting Spatial Histories: Design History and Cross-cultural Spatial Narratives of Hong Kong' panel (co-convenor), Workshop on Hong Kong Cultures, Arts and Languages in the UK, University of Sheffield, June 2024
HKSA Annual Conference, University of Sheffield, May 2024
‘The Pitch and the Module: hawkers and markets in designing post-war Hong Kong's New Towns public housing estates’, Universität Wien, April 2024
‘Hidden Histories’ workshop, University of Nottingham, March 2024
'Everyday rituals in the British Empire and after' workshop, University of Nottingham, June 2023
Disclosing Architecture, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam,November 2022
‘Archival Interference: Counter-archives and Design History in Asia’, Archival Interactions Symposium, DAS Amsterdam, June 2022
Other speaking events:
Beyond the Egg Tart:Everyday perspectives of Hong Kong visual culture, Romance in the Mundane Roundtable Talks, Gathering Leaves, September 2024
University of Nottingham Humanities delegation, University of Adelaide, November 2023
Introduction to Girl’s School by Lee Mimi, Queer East, Broadway Cinema, Nottingham, November 2022
‘Corridor kitchens, mushroom pavilions: foodscapes of cooked food hawkers in post-war Hong Kong’, Foodscaping Asia II: Metropolis, ICAS 13 Crossways of Knowledge, Surabaya, Indonesia, July 2024
dressing eating living moving workshop (co-convenor), ICAS 13 Crossways of Knowledge, Surabaya, Indonesia, July 2024
‘Exhibiting Spatial Histories: Design History and Cross-cultural Spatial Narratives of Hong Kong' panel (co-convenor), Workshop on Hong Kong Cultures, Arts and Languages in the UK, University of Sheffield, June 2024
HKSA Annual Conference, University of Sheffield, May 2024
‘The Pitch and the Module: hawkers and markets in designing post-war Hong Kong's New Towns public housing estates’, Universität Wien, April 2024
‘Hidden Histories’ workshop, University of Nottingham, March 2024
'Everyday rituals in the British Empire and after' workshop, University of Nottingham, June 2023
Disclosing Architecture, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam,November 2022
‘Archival Interference: Counter-archives and Design History in Asia’, Archival Interactions Symposium, DAS Amsterdam, June 2022
Other speaking events:
Beyond the Egg Tart:Everyday perspectives of Hong Kong visual culture, Romance in the Mundane Roundtable Talks, Gathering Leaves, September 2024
University of Nottingham Humanities delegation, University of Adelaide, November 2023
Introduction to Girl’s School by Lee Mimi, Queer East, Broadway Cinema, Nottingham, November 2022