There were once more than 200 printing shops in Hong Kong’s Central and Sheung Wan areas alone. They flourished as international trading companies and grocery stores started to expand in the post-war period of the 1960s and 70s, prompting a need for the printing of receipts, invoices, namecards, envelopes and more.
Yam Wai-sang is the second-generation owner of Kwong Wah Printing Company in Sheung Wan. The 63-year-old witnessed the growth of the industry as well as its decline in the mid-1990s when faster, more-efficient digital printing gradually replaced the letterpress and offset printing. Yam now runs workshops to introduce traditional typography as an art form.
