The Chameleon and the Pearl of the Orient

Abstract

1 D. J. Huppatz, Interview with Henry Steiner (September 14,2001, unpub lished). Hong Kong's design culture has traditionally been discussed in terms of East meets West, a clich? which served to neutralize the impact of colonization in its various forms. This idea of Hong Kong culture as the meeting place between two monolithic cultures is a common stereotype that continues to be used in contemporary criti cism, journalism, and tourism promotion. This paper analyzes the work of Henry Steiner, a key figure in the development of modern graphic design in Hong Kong. Over the past thirty years, Steiner's designs have provided a public image for some of Hong Kong's most powerful corporations, and his cross-cultural design theo ries have provided a model for many other designers. His cross cultural designs carefully maintain the difference between Eastern and Western culture, subtly reinforcing the hierarchies of Hong Kong's colonial situation. The design work and theories of Steiner analyzed in this paper reflect a popular representation of the Colony that lasted from the 1960s until at least the 1990s, and continues to endure in contemporary tourism promotion. Steiner studied art and design in New York before he arrived in Hong Kong in 1961 to work on The Asia Magazine. In 1964, he opened his own design firm and, from the mid-1960s, his clients have included some of Hong Kong's leading corporations. Thus, for a long time, his work performed the role of aestheticizing the core of Hong Kong's institutional power structure. Steiner is not interested in fast-moving consumer design or fashion, preferring more stable projects involving corporate imaging, branding, and logos.1 It is no coincidence that his major local clients are the core colonial enter prises?the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, Hutchison Whampoa, Jardine Matheson, Lane Crawford, and Hongkong Land?all of which were established in the nineteenth century by British traders or entrepreneurs. By the 1960s, these corporations were the Colony's most powerful. Steiner's other major clients have included American multinationals such as the Hilton Hotel Group and IBM. He is not only one of the most influential and well-respected designers in Hong Kong, but has won numerous international awards for his work over the past forty years. While his designs have been both commercially successful and innovative within the Hong Kong design scene, the following is an analysis of the broader cultural implications of his work and theories.