Kit Lau talks to Kawai Wong about the craft of popup bookmaking and the sentimental history of Hong Kong architectural heritage.

In 2008, Kit Lau had an enviable job and a promising future. Thirty years old, he was employed as a creative director at Imagi Studios, a company which does animation for AstroBoy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Yet Lau suspected he still hadn’t found his true means of creative expression. During this time he became engrossed in the niche world of pop-up books. Looking at those he had collected from his favourite bookmakers, such as Robert Sabuda (the prolific American pop-up artist), Lau thought: maybe I can make one of my own. He quit his day job and set to work.

The result was Hong Kong Pop Up. Since the title’s launch at the Hong Kong Book Fair in 2009, it has sold more than 6,000 copies citywide. An instant hit with Hongkongers, the hand-glued book can count Chief Executive Donald Tsang as a notable collector. Lau, the first pop-up book artist in Hong Kong, illustrates the architectural heritage of Hong Kong through a series of six pop-up caricatures. The book also documents the evolution of a communal dream among Hongkongers: to secure a comfortable living space.

“I was increasingly influenced by local artists. I wanted to incorporate Hong Kong cultural stories into my paper pop-ups,” Lau says. “Although there are pop-up books about Chinese heritage, they are authored by people who observe our lives from the outside. I wanted to reflect a truly local flavour, the bona fide Hong Kong customs.”

Lau says he sought to combine the physicality of the buildings with human stories in order to bring his book to life. “The book is not just a plain illustration of Hong Kong buildings. I wanted to channel the spirit of the time, which is the will of people to overcome the bitter realities of life.”

The six pop-up themes are threaded together by the history of Lau’s family. The story begins with Lau’s then-teenage grandmother, who travelled from Zhaoqing on foot during the war, and eventually ended up renting a room in Hong Kong. When her life slowly settled down, she started a family. The family’s ever growing size needed better and bigger housing − a family narrative that mirrors the evolution of Hong Kong’s architecture from generation to generation.

In Cantonese Tenement, the opening chapter, the reader is able to see through each window of the building. In one flat, we can see the backs of a grey-haired couple. They sit cosily on a sofa watching television. On the floor below, we see a sultry looking pregnant wife sending off her husband. In the background stand an old lady and two riotous children. The rich tapestry of family life is laid bare before the reader’s eyes.

Lau’s Hong Kong Pop Up captures life from a bygone era, but did he feel a sense of social and historical responsibility when making the book? “I didn’t have that in mind,” Lau says humbly. “But I think many young people between the age of ten and 20 have had it easy. They have never been through temporary and cramped housing. I hope the book can act as a bridge to connect the lapse between the two generations’ memories.” Indeed, the book is a nice entry point for raising awareness about the disappearing architecture of Hong Kong.

One of the remaining public housing estates built in the 1960s, Ngau Tau Kok Estate’s demolition is in full swing. Lau recalls stepping into the estate while conducting his research for the book: “Setting foot in the estate was like entering an entirely different world. Paths and alleys criss-crossed and it felt like a labyrinth for outsiders. Although the place looked dark and gloomy, the atmosphere was very humanised. It certainly didn’t feel as sterile as the new estates today.”

Mong Kok was originally penned for inclusion in the book, but had to be dropped due to the district’s complex composition, which makes it incredibly difficult for pop-up bookmakers to reassemble on a mass scale for distribution. But thanks to a phone call from Langham Place and the Urban Renewal Authority offering to commission and exhibit such a project, a second all-new Kit Lau book, Mong Kok Pop Up, is now on public display.

The current exhibition at Langham Place features two of Lau’s oversized books which depict the architecture and street aesthetics of both sides of Nathan Road. The exhibition allows you to fully immerse yourself in Lau’s pop-up experience, as the handmade books are housed within a life-sized installation of cartoonised signs, shops and streets.

While you admire the meticulous brilliance of Lau’s book, don’t forget his advice: “Although there are enough shops to keep our eyes busy on ground level, don’t forget to look up. There are amazing buildings to be seen.”

Mong Kok Pop Up Exhibition, Level 4, Langham Place, Mong Kok, 3520 2800. Until Aug 22. Hong Kong Pop Up is available at bookstores citywide, priced $290.