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Profile | His viral cat photos snapped in Hong Kong shops saw him take the idea to China and on to dogs – graphic designer turned photographer Marcel Heijnen

Marcel Heijnen’s photos of Hong Kong shop cats found fans both in the city and abroad; now he has a whole series of books, including one of garage dogs

He first moved to Hong Kong in 1995 as a graphic designer for Philips but only stayed for three years, returning in 2015

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When Dutch photographer Marcel Heijnen started spotting cats in Hong Kong shops, he began to take pictures of them. Hong Kong Shop Cats was published at the end of 2016. He talks to the Post about his latest books. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 7:45am, 7 Oct 2021Updated: 11:45am, 7 Oct 2021

I was born in The Hague, in the Netherlands, in 1964. My dad worked for Philips, the electronics company, as a product designer and we moved to Eindhoven, where the Philips headquarters were, when I was seven.

My dad used to do photography in his spare time. He’d develop his own black-and-white photos, so he was kind of an inspiration. At primary school, when people would ask what I wanted to be, I’d say a designer and I didn’t even know what it meant.

From the age of 16 to 20, I studied printmaking in Eindhoven and then I started working for Philips. I was doing the lettering on products and the job grew into broader graphic design on packaging.

Packing up

I always had a fascination with Asia. Both of my grandfathers were musicians and I got into music in a big way, and some of the pop musicians I was crazy about – Freddie Mercury, the British band Japan – had a thing about Asia. And my dad used to go to design conferences in Japan, he’d oversee production in Singapore, he’d travel to Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Heijnen started noticing cats in Hong Kong shops when he moved back to the city from Singapore in 2015. Photo: Marcel Heijnen

Then, my parents moved to Taiwan for two years in the late 1980s with Philips. I didn’t live there but on my first trip to Asia, in 1989, I did a two-month trip. The cool thing was, after staying with my parents, I went to Hong Kong where Philips had a tiny design department. When they heard I was coming, they said they’d pay for my hotel if I came into the office every day.

I showed up at the Royal Garden with a backpack and a guitar, and in my room I had stationery with my name on it. In gold. And, if you’re from a small town in the Netherlands, the skyline was crazy. The same thing happened when I went to Singapore – I worked in the office for two weeks. I thought, I want this kind of life. Back in Eindhoven, I was doing work on packaging that was produced in Singapore. They were looking for a graphic designer, I put up my hand and was transferred there at the beginning of 1992.

After the success of his cats series, Heijnen did a series on Hong Kong dogs. Photo: Romain Jacquet-Lagreze

Moving on

After three years, Philips wanted me to move from Singapore to Hong Kong. The team had expanded by then; I had to lead 10 graphic designers and I made an agreement with myself that I’d do it for a maximum of three years. In 1998, I quit and I moved back to Singapore to start my own business.