Lion Rock Press founder Claire Yates explains how its newly launched sister company, Roksaan, will support local artists and celebrate the city’s culture
Claire Yates is a Hong Konger with printing in her blood. Her great-grandfather started printing shipping dockets on Pottinger Street 130 years ago when that was harbourfront property. This start eventually led to a brick-and-mortar stationery store and a large-scale paper business.
In 2013, Yates continued the family tradition by founding Lion Rock Press, a stationery company specialising in gifts, books and stationery with a sustainable ethos and a deep love for Hong Kong embedded in its trendy designs. Eleven years on, Yates has decided it is time to evolve, moving into the online space with Roksaan, a new online greetings card platform.
Yates says, “People are moving away from paper towards digital. When I started this business, I wanted to continue the legacy of paper, but go in a new direction with it.”
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Roksaan allows customers to create and order custom greeting cards. Gifts from Lion Rock Press and Roksaan’s locally sourced partner brands can also be purchased or attached to a card order and directly dispatched to their intended recipient. The greeting cards are printed locally at a small printer located at Kwun Tong, with many of the designs on the website touching on distinctly local vibes.
“I saw a niche for affordable, interesting, well-designed greeting cards,” says Yates. “All I was seeing was that Hallmark-style traditional stuff. I didn’t think anything reflected what I wanted to say, what I wanted to send back to friends and family overseas or how I wanted Hong Kong to be represented. I wanted to show the humour, the East-meets-West vibe because Cantonese culture is very funny. It’s got a great sense of humour and a love of cute things, and I wanted to show that side of Hong Kong.”
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To capture that local Hong Kong essence and not have the options feel like a tourist tat, Roksaan’s cards are designed by a pool of vetted artists. Anyone can apply to join and create material, but they’ll only be accepted if they not only have the talent but also have a connection to Hong Kong.
Yates explains the motivation for this creative pool: “I’ve been very keen on supporting new, local, emerging artists and those frustrated part-time artists who might have corporate day jobs. I want to give them an outlet to show their art to the world in a way that’s completely low-risk to them. With this card platform, we can bring on these creators who have a connection to Hong Kong and who get paid a royalty every time someone buys one. If a design doesn’t sell, it's nothing lost, they haven’t had to print, package or distribute anything.”