CHEN CHEN: Tees on Topics
Olivia Chen
Jan, 2025
Themes amongst topics and topics upon tees. We buy them and we gift them– a practice that you can do too.
Welcome to the Merchandising Department of our Import-Export Trading Merchant Company. Relax into the multicultural roots of our studio and indulge in the design babies of Studio Chenchen.
HONG KONG GARDEN 香港花園
Hong Kong Garden is an ode to the Chinatowns housed in cities across the world. It looks at Chinatown through a Western gaze.
As an immigrant from Taiwan first to the U.S., and then to Australia, Chinatowns are as exotic to me as to many local people of the western counties.
Why? Well there aren’t Chinatowns in China, or in Taiwan. The existence of a Chinatown is inherently due to the history of immigration. In countries that are largely defined by immigration (the so-called “new world”), Chinatown is often a romantic symbol of this history not just for its Asian immigrants but also for other cultures and communities that make up the host country. We see this, for example, reflected in the way Chinatown appears in pop-culture of songs and movies.
In any ode to Chinatown, we can’t ignore the banquets made famous by ambiguous Pan-Chinese restaurants. The sense of the old country, this Chinese continental style cuisine that was smashed together, Westernised and modernised by the creativity of the new immigrants. The “Peking” duck served in a Canton Dim Sum restaurant, the new classics created to satisfy the taste of the local customers, such as Chop Suey, Orange Chicken, or General Tso’s chicken.
CHEN LONG 塵浪 🌊
There is a Chinese proverb that goes “長江後浪推前浪” [cháng jiāng hòu làng tuī qián làng]. Literally translated, it says “The new waves push the old waves forward in the Yangtze River. The proverb reflects how each new generation always pushes for progress; the energy of the youth is crucial to ensuring we don’t get stuck in old ideas and static mindsets. This mobility is important for society, driving innovation and helping us adapt and change over time.
Waves are an important symbol in Far Eastern art– from its presence in countless poems from the Tang and Song Dynasties, or in Hokusai’s famously depicted The Great Wave off Kanagawa. They symbolise the passing of history, the change of a dynasty or more simply, they speak to natural forces that cannot be disrupted by humanity.
Chen Long, can be viewed as a visual homage to Hokusai from the POV of Hong Kong; a once small fishing village that has been through waves of different dynasties and generations of change. Now the face of high-tech, urban living, Hong Kong remains one of the most important cities in modern Chinese history, and sits facing and exposed to digital waves of change.
CHEN CHEN NAIL SALON 💅
From shopping center staples to K-POP music videos, nail art is a form of self-expression now adored by many. It is especially prominent in East Asian and Hip-Hop cultures.
I first experienced manicures and pedicures as a highschool exchange student in South Dakota– a routine weekend mall trip always included a mani-pedi from an Asian-run nail salon. My nail art journey went from basic-bitch French tips to ghetto-fabulous acrylic extensions to contemporary K-pop influences. Nail salons in big cities are usually run by East-Asian immigrants who nag at you in a language you don’t understand. It could be an uncomfortable space for many– having someone painting your nails and scraping the dead skin off your feet can be awkward. But if we take a lighter approach, you can view it as a kitsch cultural exchange.
Chen Chen Nail Salon celebrates the migrant-run small businesses in malls and streets all over the world. We honor their contribution to style and expression be that kitsch or high-class, basic bitch or ghetto fabulous.
