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source: businessboomcollective

Business Boom is delighted to showcase the work of renowned Hong Kong based creative Calvin Ho. Describing himself as a ‘graphic designer, branding consultant, art director in fashion photography, image maker, hand and digital illustrator and DJ,’ Calvin has produced some breathtaking work over the years. Since establishing his company AtomicAttack! he has worked with some major names including Nike, Adidas, Microsoft, Sony, Levi’s, Disney and many others. Here, we show you a snippet of Calvin’s extensive portfolio and the man himself takes us through his experiences, projects and future plans.

“I would say my style is minimal peppered with the chaotic. My works are intended to be emotional and have some form of narrative. Someone once told me my work a blend of both masculine or feminine. My design work is linear and architectural whilst my illustration work is organic and free flowing. I believe I get analytical in design thinking. My illustrations too in concept, but execution is organic.

I was born in Hong Kong and my family immigrated to Australia when I was five years old. Having being brought up by both west and eastern cultures I feel a significant impact in who I am today and the approach and influence of my work.

After dropping out the end of the first year of my BA Fine Arts course majoring in drawing, I studied an intensive one year diploma course in Billy Blue School of Graphic Design which introduced me to classic typography, creativity, design, history and more importantly how to find a job. I love fine art but had the pressure from my parents to be able to survive economically. This is a very Asian thing, to be pressured to doing what your parents wanted you to do. I ended up telling them that I will do this design course and pay them back for all the fees to this course. They agreed. Back when I did this design course, we didn’t learn how to use computers as a tool. So I learnt everything through work. I felt the short design course was enough spark to start my career and decided against further studies. I thought as a graduate then, that what I learn from the job is more important and I can develop my own skills at the same time, something that a design course would not be able to teach. After working one year as a junior past up artist, I moved to Hong Kong together with my parents to avoid the Aussie recession.

I quickly got bored with working for a company and I started my own after 4 years in the industry. I wanted to do my own projects, choose my own clients and I don’t have to sit in the office with people I probably don’t want to talk to, or relate to. I do like being alone when I work and today it is mostly the same way. I enjoy collaborations especially with photographers and people in different disciplines.

My company, Atomicattack!, was formed 16 years ago. Through AtomicAttack!, I have had the privilege to creatively work with so many great clients from all over the globe. Clients including Nike, Adidas, Microsoft, Adidas, Lane Crawford, Sony, Levi’s, EVISU, Disney, IKEA, Loveramics, and many others. My clients are still surprised that the work they see on my site is done by only one person for most projects. The thing is, I don’t ever promote locally in Hong Kong, I intentionally avoid it. I knowingly do this firstly because I am quite a shy person and don’t like to talk about my work unless its my client. Secondly, I usually get work through referrals or people that like my work when they see it on online. Thirdly and I think this is the most motivating factor, I am the most happy when client approach me after seeing my work. There is nothing that can replace that, knowing that they appreciate what I have done for other clients. It motivates me to do better, more than money would ever do.

Hong Kong is a very unique place. It attracts many people to work here from abroad. I would say Hong Kong is like a painting that never ever dries, its ever changing but not all necessary a good thing. The creative scene is a little small if you compare with the rest of the world and I would say it is somewhat more conservative and commercial. Hence potential creative work can mostly get quashed by less risk-taking work, as focus on profits are the only motivation in this city. I don’t mix with other graphic designers as much since I am always working, and being on my own. However most of my closest friends are either fashion designers, DJs or photographers.

I also have my personal projects. I previously started my own record shop in 1999 which specialised in underground electronic music and miraculously have opened for four years. It was first opened in a small shopping mall in this tiny store and later moved into AtomicAttack!’s studio. I opened the store purely for the love of good electronic music and to be able to get good music in Hong Kong is rare. I just needed a place for me to hang out and escape from, to meet like-minded people who also enjoy the same music and to use this platform for djing gigs and producing good parties. My other project was a magazine called Chalk. A friend approached me interested in creating a magazine together, a sort of platform to connect with friends who was partying a lot at the time, djs, designers and creative people and like-minded individuals.

Today, since I am older and probably less spontaneous, I only focus on my design and art projects. I started last year to draw and paint again. I was lucky enough in 2011 to be invited to exhibit my personal works in Germany through an Adidas group exhibition, and “100 Friends, 100 Designs, 100 Inspirations” in Singapore curated by my friends from Phunk Studio. This year I will be in a joint exhibition in Hong Kong with a good friend of mine, the theme being “hair” and another 100 friends again in Singapore.”