Tucked in an alleyway between two non-descript buildings in Wan Chai, Oi Kwan Barbers is a traditional Cantonese-style barbershop.
“My father founded this barbershop in 1962, and worked hard for a living. He always told me that becoming a barber in Hong Kong was not an honourable profession,” the shop’s owner, Mark Lau, told HKFP.
Born in 1990, Lau grew up surrounded by barbershop tools that were older than him. In the 1990s, the barbershop had a thriving business with three barbers working alongside each other in the alley and a dozen people queuing up outside.
Sometimes, customers would even argue about queue-jumping, Lau said.
While traditional barbershops are no longer in trend, Lau decided to learn the trade in 2014 after his father got cancer.
Unfortunately, six months after Lau became a fully fledged barber, his father passed away. “The shop is full of memories for me and my family. That is why I took over the business,” he said.
The alleyway barbershop is also a place for connecting with the community. “Most of our customers are long-time residents of Wan Chai. Some of them are actually the grandchildren of my father’s customers,” Lau said.
However, the buildings surrounding the alley may soon succumb to redevelopment, which means Oi Kwan Barbershop faces an uncertain future as an old Hong Kong brand.
Lau said he had no relocation plans yet, but has enlisted artists to visit Oi Kwan Barbershop most Fridays to create artworks, which will be exhibited in Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia, and Nanjing, in mainland China, in the next few months before returning to Hong Kong next March.
If he can, Lau hopes to continue running the barbershop in the same place. “My father was a role model who taught me persistence. Hong Kong can also have its own barber culture,” he said.
Lau, in collaboration with Ivan Wong and Christina Brandt Jensen, invited artists to visit the barbershop most Fridays to create artworks under Project Oikwan. The creations will be exhibited in Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia, and Nanjing, in mainland China, over the next few months before returning to Hong Kong next March.
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