At a closer look, paper tiles are actually all around the city – on the walls of public housing estates, the stairs of tenement houses, the pavilions in parks and the floors of old cafés.

Paper tiles became prevalent in Hong Kong in the ’50s and ’60s. According to a survey published in 1984, 80% of the 500 buildings investigated were decorated mainly with paper tiles. The small squares may not be the most noticeable, but they are an important symbol of the old Hong Kong.

“Life in Hong Kong is so fast-paced that people may not realize what they have missed,” said Alex Lai, a city explorer and the founder of the Facebook page “HK Corners”. As a full-time photographer, he loves looking for traces of the city’s past in paper tiles, antique stairs and terrazzo. “Old things may not necessarily be all bright and beautiful, but they have certainly carried our history and the old way of life.”

In Yuen Long, colorful paper tiles are found on the walls in village houses. Paper tiles of different hues were pieced together to create eye-catching patterns, in contrast to the green and white paper tiles usually seen in the city. Lai said that paper tiles as such are so rare and no longer exist in the city.

Dark green paper tiles are the most common. The hue became popular when the price of the army green paint plunged after the war, so people from that era painted their houses in army green and matched them with green paper tile décors.

In Mido Cafe, an old café that opened in Yau Ma Tei in the ’50s, paper tiles are almost everywhere. On the ground floor alone are more than ten different types of paper tiles, blending seamlessly to form a perfect design. People used to buy leftover tiles to decorate their homes at a lower cost. The combination of different colors and sizes of paper tiles resulted in the aesthetics of an era.

Mosaics were very popular in the Roman Empire, where pavements were decorated with stones and marble mosaics. In Hong Kong, mosaics created by humble materials such as paper tiles added a unique local twist to the centuries-old decorative art.

While most paper tile mosaics at old villas could not survive urban renewal, a giant mural made with paper tiles can still be found on the 17th floor of the 20-year-old Hopewell Centre, showing the old Victoria Park and a skyline without the Bank of China Tower or the Ferris wheel. “Although paper tiles are lifeless objects, I can always feel a sense of warmth in them,” said the eager urban explorer.

The making of paper tiles involves a process where dozens of small stones are mounted together by wax paper for the whole piece to be glued to the wall with mortar. Once dried and secured, the wax paper is then sprayed with water until it slides off from the face of the tiles. It is also how the name “paper tile” came to be.

Andy Lau, chief renovator of HK Decoman Technology, said people nowadays have replaced wax paper with mesh and mortar with glass glue for convenience. Tiles mounted on a mesh are placed on the wall with glass glue. One then needs to tap the tiles flat, fill the gaps with caulk and clean them with a wet towel.

Every step, as simple as it may seem, takes plenty of time. “Paper tile work needs a lot of patience.” Thanks to their small size, cutting curves or replacing broken tiles is easy enough. Lai believed that paper tiles are irreplaceable not only because no other architectural materials can restore the aesthetics they have created, but also because of easy repair.

These paper tile mosaics are no doubt living reminders of the old Hong Kong, but there are limited archives related to this local material. Lai wondered, “Paper tiles are not as noticeable as terrazzo or neon lights, but are eye-catchers the only things worth cherishing?”

HK Corners' Facebook: hkcorners

HK Decoman Technology: https://hkdecoman.com/

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