Mig Lau and Joe Ma call themselves “concrete guy”, though they actually work as Architectural Assistant. During spare time, they bury themselves in their “Moldflip” workshop mixing cement, sand, stones and water. Through their hands, this construction material, which normally covered by paint and tiles, is endowed with possibilities to be “upgraded” as art pieces in public; or to be assimilated into part of our lives.
Concrete is thick, heavy, hard and dull for the man in the street. Yet in the workshop of Mig and Joe, you will find “concrete sticker” as thin as 1mm, bendable “concrete mousepad”, “soft concrete” which could be randomly cut with knives and even a landscape painting created with over twenty types of cement with different level of grey. These interesting works have went beyond peoples’ traditional mindset on concrete.
Everything Started with “Fun”
These two “concrete guy” started as architectural students. They are both graduates of IVE Higher Diploma in Architectural Design and Technology. “I was not sure of my favourite architectural style when studying in IVE. Everything was still green and fresh to me. Yet it was a significant stage for me to confirm my passion for architectural design. At that time, an architectural studies of IVE was characterised by of placing extra emphasis on students’ self-practicing. There was even a lecture specialising in practical construction skills such as bricks building, cement mixing and electrical wiring. What we are currently enjoying with our cement works are also influenced by IVE.” Joe immersed in his memory and said.
Another important gain for them was to find each other as the most perfect partners in IVE. While Mig’s strength lies in his talent in design, Joe is more competent for technical aspects. It was this kind of match that form a strong bonding between them during chasing project deadline in IVE. Both of them were later admitted to the Faculty of Architecture of Chu Hai College of Higher Education. With a broader exposure to more works of different architects, they have gradually developed their passion for cement as a construction material. “Cement, as simple and basic as it is, can make you focus on the texture, space, light & shadow and layering of the architecture.” Joe supplemented.
“Addicted to daily fun, lost from life goal,” is a cliché. However, they started their journey of cement creation just out of “fun”. It started with a bag of remaining cement in the campus and tried it out with their creativity. It was just then they realised that there were a lot to learn. “A well balanced portion of cement, aggregate and water is essential for creating a piece of concrete work. While excessive water would hinder solidification, insufficient water would cause fractures. Besides, the successful creation of a satisfactory piece of cement work also relies heavily on the thoughtful arrangements of mould-making and demoulding process,” added Mig. At the initial stage, they even learned from construction workers in the campus on basic knowledges and skills of cement mixing and moulding. With basic techniques well mastered, they then started to carry out different kinds of cement experiments with the campus workshop as their base.
Enjoy Creative Challenges, Refuse to Mass Production
Mig and Joe are mixes of designers, artists and inventors. They would try any crazy ideas which could challenge the usual physical format of concrete. “Someone asked if we could try to produce super-light cement, and we added in foaming agent; we also tried to add oxidized metal for toning and produced a batch of colourful cement….”Mig recalled. Joe indicated that they have already roughly tested over a hundred types of concrete with different structure and colour, and he added, “As long as it is an interesting idea, we are willing to try it out and accumulate knowledge and experience for future creation.”
They even went to Taiwan to search for the most suitable cement for creation, and hit it off with the local university professor who developed the environmental friendly cement material “Lotos”. They sent the cement back to Hong Kong by suitcases at first; and later developed a partnership with Taiwan to sell “Lotos” at their Hong Kong workshop. Such partnership, while providing convenience for themselves, also helps to promote this easy-to-use material and facilitate people to build their own cement walls at home.
Overseas artists combine cement with other material on paintings or furniture, yet nothing similar to “Moldflip” who simply use cement as a medium for creation. When they challenge higher difficulty work, such as tailor-made cement jewel boxes, badges, or performing interior design, the experience from decoration workers is insufficient. While only trial and error could help, many “shoddy goods” have been left at the workshop, all with their own lessons and stories. Mig recalled the most impressive encounter following the design of their Architectural Professor to produce a cement trophy, “It was a specially shaped trophy with exceptional difficulty in demoulding. We tried two different design of mould and performed ten trials of demoulding to finally get one perfectly done for delivery.”
They never get tired of repeated experiments. “It is the failures and difficulties encountered in each new project that indeed delight their experiments and creations.” Joe said. Therefore, though the Chinese name of their workshop means “moulding”, they refuse to mass production in a rut and all works are 100% of their original design. “We position our workshop as a creative space to demonstrate the unlimited possibility of cement through different creations. You can always find a factory in the Mainland for mass production, which is surely not the objective of our workshop.” Joe explained.
Determined as “Cement Duo”
While they are busy with their full-time job as Architectural Assistant, which require frequent overtime work, they still need to work hard on getting through as Licenced Architect. Looking into the future, Joe would like to act as a spokesman in the field of concrete, “Just want to keep accumulating experience in concrete creation, so that we can help whenever people would like to know more on this material.” One thing that can be assured of before becoming ‘Concrete KOL”, as true fans of concrete, like knows like, the two will continue their efforts flourishing the art of concrete.
