Yarn bomb queen's next Hong Kong target is Tsing Ma Bridge
The craze began in the US with a doorknob cosy. Now, Hong Kong's Esther Poon is eyeing the Tsing Ma Bridge
You've probably seen Esther Poon Suk-han's work around Hong Kong. Her creations hang not on the walls of galleries, but from public railings, poles, trees and - for her most recent and ambitious project - from a footbridge.
Poon is the city's celebrity yarn bomber - the term used for street art in which knitters and crocheters put swatches of knitted or crocheted yarn on public objects. The Lek Yuen Bridge in Sha Tin, spanning the Shing Mun River Channel, was the latest structure to be measured and fitted out by Poon, the project part of the Jockey Club Community Arts Biennale 2015.
With the help of 1,000 volunteers, Poon and her crew weaved a colourful palette of knitted and crochet squares, the final piece standing bright against a backdrop of grey housing estates stretching towards an equally grey sky. It added much-needed colour to the area.
It's hard to stop the corners of your mouth curling skyward when you see Poon's works - and that's the reaction she wants. "What fuelled my enthusiasm for yarn bombing, what made me want to take my creations to the streets, was seeing how these colourful creations could have a positive effect on passers-by," she says.
Adding colour to otherwise sterile public places is one reason yarn bombing - also known as guerilla knitting, kniffiti, urban knitting and graffiti knitting - has won fans globally. And before thoughts wander to graffiti for needle-bearing grandmas, think again: while the legion of fans worldwide are mostly women, they span all ages. There's even an International Yarn Bombing Day, which this year falls on June 13.
Poon says she was inspired to take up yarn bombing after meeting Magda Sayeg, the Texan woman often referred to as the mother of the craft. Sayeg is credited with having kickstarted the yarn craze in 2005 when, on a slow day at work, she decided to cover the door handle of her boutique with a cosy. Her stitchery soon spread to Houston, where she was soon covering buses, trees, cars and staircases.