Dear Sea celebrates the living heritage of Sha Kiu Village, a community with a legacy of life at sea. As part of the Sai Kung Hoi Arts Festival, curated by One Bite Design Studio and commissioned by the Hong Kong Tourism Commission, the project refurbishes the village office building to restore a sense of community to a space that has otherwise been used for storage.

The entrance façade is clad in hand-pressed Hong Kong Soil ceramic tiles, elevating the building while remaining sensitive to its local context. Its surfaces are treated with terra sigillata that incorporates seawater from the site, resulting in a texture in shades of pink reminiscent of pencil colors, similar to the patina on the reclaimed ceramic bricks used for the benches on the terrace. The diamond profile and pattern reflect the villagers’ intergenerational weaving technique in fishnet making, which inspired the creation of a vibrant woven net draped over the adjacent ocean-facing façade.

A collaborative process with a resident calligrapher from Sai Kung explores the fusion of crafts, transforming calligraphic scripts into ceramic signage installed on the exterior as an homage to classic building façades.