Cover Eaton HK’s James Acey, FM Belowground’s Arthur Bray and Artificial Dust Jerry Haha
Eaton HK’s James Acey, FM Belowground’s Arthur Bray and Artificial Dust Jerry Haha
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Hong Kong is a city of contrasts. As Art Month has come to an end, Tatler highlights three initiatives bridging the cultural divide of the city by bringing together high-end and underground culture
Few cities can rival Hong Kong in terms of contrasts. The city is one of Asia’s top financial centres, offering a flourishing business environment and a vibrant high-end market. In response to this thriving landscape and its consequent lifestyle, the city’s indie and underground scenes have also flourished.
But in Hong Kong, there has been an increasing number of collaborations between the mainstream, luxury market and the indie, underground world. Tatler explores three of these initiatives: award-winning hotel Eaton HK’s diverse and inclusive cultural programme; creative studio Artificial Dust’s push to see independent local culture represented in global fashion brands and community radio FM Belowground’s unique collaboration with luxury mall The Landmark.
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Eaton HK
Above James Acey is the Pillars lead and Director of Music & Radio at Eaton HK (Photo: courtesy of Eaton HK)
James Acey is the Pillars lead and Director of Music & Radio at Eaton HK (Photo: courtesy of Eaton HK)
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“Hong Kong is a very transactional place,” James Acey, pillars lead and director of music and radio at the hotel, tells Tatler. “As a result, there aren’t many institutions that are generous with their time, space or platform.”
Of course, it’s not easy to be generous with space in Hong Kong. In 2024, for the 14th year in a row, Hong Kong was crowned the most unaffordable property market in the world by the Demographia International Housing Affordability report. This unaffordability extends to venue hire too, meaning it’s challenging for artists to find reasonably priced venues for public performances or exhibitions. Consequently, many are pushed to the outskirts of the city, often into industrial buildings, although this option comes with clear limitations.
But Eaton Hong Kong, and more specifically its hospitality company Eaton Workshop, created in 2014 by Asia’s Most Influential honouree Katherine Lo, has sworn to become a force for art, social and environmental impact by using their hotel and spaces to highlight Hong Kong’s indie creative scenes.
“Art and music don’t have to be aristocratic, inaccessible and intimidating,” Acey says. “At Eaton, we’re trying to break down the access to art and music spaces. The goal is really for anyone to come to eat lunch, come have a drink and encounter some thought-provoking or beautiful art.”
Over the past decade, Eaton HK has established itself as an indispensable cultural hub. Just to take last year as an example, Eaton’s food hall organised exhibitions about queer historical icons and local artists with disabilities, as well as non-binary fashion publication TA magazine.
It hosted concerts and performances in its music room, including American rapper Oddisee and various local acts such as Virgin Vacation and David Boring; held multiple screenings in the Eaton House screening room; and hosted DJ sets at the bar Terrible Baby by Japanese wunderkinds Minna-No-Kimochi and Nasthug, among many others.
Eaton HK has also frequently provided their spaces for events such as fundraisers and anniversaries for domestic worker advocacy groups Bethune House and ABIS, as well as gatherings with the organisation Ethnically Diverse Social Workers. And its without counting their engagement for sustainability, which includes their community record fair and swap event with Bad Times Disco among others.
“Not charging certain organisations is a financial sacrifice we’re willing to make, and it’s worth it because that’s how we want to reimagine hospitality as a force for good,” Acey says. “Everybody working at Eaton understands, from the bottom to the top, the environmental and especially social impact we want to have.
“We have an idea of what’s being underrepresented in Hong Kong, and what our network likes, he concludes. “We want to provide more diversity in music, movies, photography and art options. We want to challenge the algorithm and show Hong Kong there’s a whole cultural world they can easily access and learn from.”
Artificial Dust
Above Artificial Dust’s Jerry Wong, better known as Jerry Haha (Photo: Instagram / @jerryhahaa)
Artificial Dust’s Jerry Wong, better known as Jerry Haha (Photo: Instagram / @jerryhahaa)
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When it comes to facilitating brand access to lesser-known cultural worlds, a bridge is usually required—enter Jerry Wong, better known as Jerry Haha. His creative studio, Artificial Dust, is perfectly positioned to facilitate these unique partnerships.
“Artificial Dust works like a production house,” he tells Tatler. “We do everything from brand strategy to PR work, event production, ideation and much more.”
Today, the studio boasts an impressive roster of esteemed clients, with whom Haha has pursued a wide variety of creative projects: he’s managed a launch event for Adidas, produced a shoot for Louis Vuitton and contributed to campaigns by Balenciaga and Levi’s, to name but a few projects.
The secret to the studio’s success? A profound love for the local creative scene, a wish to nurture it and a distinctive spirit that sets it apart in a crowded marketplace.
“Artificial Dust is not very typical in the scene,” Haha says—and neither is he. “I didn’t go to college, wasn’t professionally trained. I learnt about music, fashion, art, design and event management through the creatives I was hanging out with.”
He sees himself as a facilitator between big brands and artists who cannot necessarily present themselves in a corporate-friendly way. “Most brands now are looking for authenticity and are starting to show a genuine love for local culture,” Haha says. “It’s a two-way street: the impact on both sales and local artistic spirit is greater when these two worlds combine.”
The latest example to date is a promotional video Artificial Dust produced for Adidas and the OffGod: Tate collection, a range of clothing designed by brother duo Andrew Mok, an Asia’s Most Influential honouree also known as OffGod, and architect and designer Tate Mok. The project, which was shot in Hong Kong, is a particularly proud moment for Haha.
“This video is a love letter to the Hong Kong creative scene,” he says. “It is also groundbreaking. OffGod: Tate are the second [Hong Kong] artists after Edison Chan to have an original collaboration with Adidas, and we really wanted to honour it.”
FM Belowground
Above Arthur Bray is Yeti Out’s co-founder and the music director of FM Belowground (Photo: Tatler Hong Kong)
Arthur Bray is Yeti Out’s co-founder and the music director of FM Belowground (Photo: Tatler Hong Kong)
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If you’ve ever wandered through the basement of The Landmark in Central, you may have stumbled upon a space that seemed at odds with the rest of the luxury mall: a secluded wooden DJ booth, flanked by massive speakers. This was the physical home of FM Belowground, a community radio station founded in 2020 by the music collective Yeti Out, that broadcast music by independent artists and other indie content.
“Whether it’s underground music, interviews or podcasts from creatives: a lot of the FM Belowground hosts come from scenes developed in corners all around Hong Kong, bringing music from Kowloon warehouse districts to Central,” Arthur Bray, co-founder of Yeti Out, music director of Belowground and Asia’s Most Stylish honouree tells Tatler. “To have the opportunity to funnel these sounds and conversations far and wide is unique in Hong Kong.”
The FM Belowground station was originally created as a community radio that documented “the core of the Hong Kong music scene” during the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the luxury mall environment, which contrasts with what’s considered creatively stimulating in the city, the platform quickly attracted artists from all backgrounds.
“FM Belowground offsets the glitz and the glam,” Bray says. Despite being hosted in Central, which is very corporate and commercial, he says, “our curation isn’t based on the wider commercial definitions of success, but the quality and thoughtfulness our collaborators put into creating their work.”
Since it began, Belowground has become a unique creative playground and featured a wide range of content, including mixes from DJs such as Shanda, Möth Agency and Feed The Dragon but also from creatives who are less accustomed to being behind the decks, such as post-punk band N.Y.P.D. and video collective Wavyboys; art-focused podcasts and even weekly social commentary by editorial platform Maekan.
“We want to bridge the fringes of conversation, ideas and genres,” Bray says. “That’s why doing what we do in The Landmark makes sense. Hanging in the same circles, listening, wearing the same things is fun, but [we want to push people to look where] things are different.”
For Bray, the luxury and countercultures can be compatible, just like peanut butter and jam, he says playfully, but only when both sectors are looking to incorporate quality and thoughtfulness into their work. He believes if the underground scene in Hong Kong is to be nurtured, “brand collaborations and commercial integration are inevitable, but they need to be done right”.
Post-pandemic, FM Belowground has expanded to a physical community. They have organised pop-ups and events, included one that was attended by Pharrell Williams in November 2023; built a skate ramp in the heart of The Landmark in collaboration with skate apparel company Vans and Hong Kong brand Victoria; and are now moving their physical space to another location at Landmark, set to open this winter.
Salomé Grouard was Digital Editor and Front & Female Content Lead at Tatler Hong Kong. Primarily focused on managing Tatler Hong Kong’s digital platform and content, she also covers gender equality, the music scene and sports through interviews with industry leaders, experts and trendsetters.
Interview highlights include renowned conservationist Dr Jane Goodall, Korean actor Park Seo Jun, singer Jorja Smith, Chinese TV host Yue-Sai Kan, YouTuber Kimono Mom, Japanese rapper Awich, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter Mikey Musumeci.
She has also produced stories on revolutionising sexual wellness in Asia, activism within the surfing community, Asian trans musicians reclaiming their narratives through music and looked at the toxicity of gym culture through the lens of the plus-size community. She also covers music festivals, such as Hong Kong’s Clockenflap and Bali’s Suara.
