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Welcome to the Spinning Factory!
Experience the exhibition in full 360° immersion below. Double click to launch the VR 360° tour in full screen mode. The Mills building was formerly a cotton-spinning factory owned by Nan Fung Textiles. The green walls and high windows in The D. H. Chen Foundation Gallery are vestiges of the golden era of Hong Kong's textile industry. The exhibition Welcome to the Spinning Factory! will provide a brief but intensive history of Hong Kong's textile industry, featuring rich imageries, […]
Find out more »Untitled by Kato Izumi
Kato Izumi is a renowned painter based in both Tokyo and Hong Kong. Born and raised in a rural area in Shimane prefecture in Japan, young Kato’s playground was always surrounded by rich nature. This experience from his childhood instilled in him the idea that humans are a part of nature. When he was invited by CHAT for the Spring Programme in 2020, he made an installation of 5 figures with painted stone heads and bodies from living plants in […]
Find out more »Makers of Hong Kong: In Conversation
‘Made in Hong Kong’ is a distinguishing emblem of quality and history that has carried different meanings over the generations past. In the ‘Makers of Hong Kong: In Conversation’ video series, ‘makers’ of textiles from knotted fishnets to tailored saam fu are invited to share their making process, practice and their thoughts on the continued importance of ‘Made in Hong Kong’. Topics of discussion will reflect on the displayed objects of Misfitted: Unspoken Stories of Tailoring and past displays at The […]
Find out more »30-Minute Making
Drop in for fun crafts inspired by Hong Kong’s textile heritage, guided by CHAT’s Faces of Textile Culture! Create your own heat-shrink keychain, wax-print pouch, dot-beaded charm and photo frame, or Illumin-Loom heat-transfer tote bags – no experience is needed. *All activities are subject to availability. For enquiries, please call 3979 2301 or speak with our staff on the day. Date & Time: Weekends and Public Holidays 1:00-7:00pm Experience Level: Suitable for all ages Fee: From HK$40 to HK$200/set
Find out more »Hand Spinning Demonstration
In this demonstration, visitors can observe how cotton fibre is spun into yarn. The demonstration welcomes all for viewing and questions! Date & Time: Weekdays 3:00-5:30pm Weekends and Public Holidays 1:00-4:00pm (Closed on Tuesdays) Fee: Free Faces of Textile Culture Wanted! We are now openly recruiting ‘Faces of Textile Culture’ (FTC). FTCs will introduce textile culture to CHAT’s visitors starting from April 2026 by leading various activities, such as hand spinning demonstrations and ‘30-Minute Making’ sessions. We invite interested individuals […]
Find out more »Learning Tour on Sustainability
Sustainability and environmental protection are more than buzzwords – they are more pivotal than ever to our shared world. How can we put these values into practice and become smarter, more responsible consumers? In this one-hour interactive tour, participants will closely examine rare museum-grade textile artefacts alongside the industry’s latest innovations. Through engaging activities, they will learn how to extend the life of their garments and adopt environmentally conscious habits in everyday life. Tour content includes: - Rethinking your wardrobe: […]
Find out more »Interactive Experience : Illumin-Loom
Operate a weaving loom from the future and create your own illuminated textile images in CHAT Arcade! Illumin-Loom is a walk-in interactive experience where visitors can design unique patterns on colourful light strips. The finished creation will be exported as a digital image to download. Visitors can also choose to print the image as heat transfer stickers, and in our 30-Minute Making workshop, iron it onto a special tote bag. Alternatively, visitors can bring home the sticker and follow the […]
Find out more »‘Factory of Tomorrow’ Community Embroidery Curtains
What is a ‘Factory of Tomorrow’ like in the eyes of primary school students? In CHAT Lounge, a set of embroidered curtains takes inspiration from the new motto as CHAT celebrates its 5th anniversary in March 2024. Over the course of several months, hundreds of primary school students from the '333 Learning Companion Leadership Program' supported by We R Family Foundation learned about CHAT and its history to create drawings and paper models of a ‘Factory of Tomorrow’. Several works […]
Find out more »Guided Tour
Discover hidden stories and knowledge about CHAT’s exhibitions and collections through guided experiences! Led by trained docents, our Regular Tour is available by walk-in or group booking. Private group tours can also be extended to include a making workshop. Find the one that suits you best and make your visit truly memorable! 1. Walk-In Guided Tour This free 45-minute guided tour of our permanent and seasonal exhibitions will take you through the rich history and heritage of Hong Kong’s textile […]
Find out more »Cherry Machine Demonstration
Let’s witness Hong Kong’s only operating industrial drawing frame in action at CHAT! Leung Fung Yee (Auntie Yee) worked as an experienced machine operator who operated spinning machines at different cotton mills, including Nan Fung Textile, from 1980s to 1990s. She is now retired but she comes to CHAT to make the ‘Cherry’ drawing frame come alive again! Performing one of the essential processes in the spinning production, this drawing frame is donated by the last cotton-spinning mill in Hong […]
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Pixel to Stitch: Knit Computer Sleeve Workshop
$850｜RSVP 10% discount for CHAT members, 15% for CHAT Patrons. Turn your unique creation into a computer sleeve with the colourful pixels of the Illumin-Loom. In this exciting one-hour workshop, you will explore essential graphic design principles that will help bring your ideas to life! Then, you will get to customise your computer sleeve, including personal lettering and yarn selection, all under the expert guidance of CHAT’s talented textile programme team. To ensure optimal learning results, each session accommodates only […]
Find out more »Curator-led Private Tour
Join our intimate and interactive tour of exhibitions on view led by curators. Conducted in groups, these tours are the best way to ask questions about the ideas and concepts behind the exhibition and share your thoughts with the curators in a friendly atmosphere. Topic subjects to the exhibitions on view. To reserve a tour, please submit your booking form 30 days prior to your intended visit: $50 per head for University and Tertiary level institution $150 per head for […]
Find out more »Bloomberg Connects
The Bloomberg Connects app is a free digital guide to cultural organizations around the world that makes it easy to access and engage with arts and culture from mobile devices, anytime, anywhere. The app offers information about current exhibitions at a portfolio of hundreds of participating cultural partners through dynamic content tailored to each organization. Participating collections currently include botanical gardens, performance venues, outdoor sculpture parks, and world-class museums. Features include expert commentary, video highlights, pinch-and-zoom capability and exhibition maps. […]
Find out more »Busy Needles: Textile Embellishments of Hong Kong
Experience the exhibition in full 360° immersion below. Double click to launch the VR 360° tour in full screen mode. Embroidery, beading, drawnwork – these intricate tasks were once skilfully carried out by many of our older generations. Upon closer look, they also illustrate the defining qualities of commercial craft production and circulation in 20th-century Hong Kong, such as systematisation of skilled work, female labour and leadership, adaptation for export markets, and alienation between makers and consumers. Busy Needles […]
Find out more »Accessibility Tour
Free Admission｜Walk-in Join us for a guided tour like no other, where our dynamic duo of Deaf and hearing docents brings to life the rich textile heritage of Hong Kong! Our knowledgeable and witty docents will re-enact the experiences of three remarkable makers, explore the artistry of textile embellishment and uncover the hidden stories of industrial cotton spinning through performative show-and-tells. In this interactive tour delivered in both Cantonese and Hong Kong Sign Language, you will also learn to sign […]
Find out more »Curator-Led Tour: Hong Kong’s Textile Heritage
$50 | RSVP Join us for a curator-led tour of Busy Needles: Textile Embellishments of Hong Kong, a special display exploring the defining characteristics of the city's commercial craft through beading, embroidery and drawnwork. Bruce Li, curator of the special display, will share stories related to the precious items on view and insights into the behind-the-scenes curation process. Through light-hearted dialogue and direct engagement, the guided experience encourages participants to formulate alternative and personal views of craft in Hong Kong. […]
Find out more »Open Call for Objects and Stories: Childhood and Textiles
CHAT is preparing a special display on the themes of textiles and childhood and invites you to contribute visual materials and stories! The display is planned for one year from March 2026 onwards in The D. H. Chen Foundation Gallery at CHAT on 2/F of The Mills. We are gathering objects and stories dated between the 1940s to 2000s, such as: Clothing: children’s wear, school uniforms, plimsolls, tiger-head shoes, embroidered shoes, etc. Fabric Toys: fabric dolls, jumping sacks, etc. Hand-me-Downs: […]
Find out more »Tidal Weavers: Islands Exchange
Experience the exhibition in full 360° immersion below. Double click to launch the VR 360° tour in full screen mode. Whether ocean, strait or stream, water is not merely a connector of lands, but a living presence that moves with memory and labour, carrying traces of migrations, trade, rituals and kinship. Similarly, textile is not only a cultural artefact, but also a mobile, tactile archive threaded with the everyday, the sacred and the collective. Tidal Weavers unfolds as a […]
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Seed to Textile 2025:
Sara Tse Open Studio
Experience the exhibition in full 360° immersion below. Double click to launch the VR 360° tour in full screen mode. Since 2019, CHAT’s flagship community programme Seed to Textile has been acquainting artists and the public with the connections between nature, textiles and art, offering hands-on experiences ranging from farming to gallery practice. This year, we have invited Hong Kong artist Sara Tse to explore how nature and textiles weave into people’s memories and, during the process, unravel and […]
Find out more »Artefacts of Circulation
Experience the exhibition in full 360° immersion below. Double click to launch the VR 360° tour in full screen mode. In the industrial era of Hong Kong, textile products ranging from cones of yarn to finely knitted shirts were sold widely within the city and abroad to manufacturers, wholesalers and individual consumers. Accompanying these Hong Kong products were boxes and labels printed or woven with iconic designs, each shaped by unique aesthetic, linguistic and economic circumstances. They are evidence […]
Find out more »Knotted Stories: Artist-Led Ikat Experience
$300 | RSVP Have you heard of ikat weaving? The term ikat originates from the Indonesian word for ‘to tie’. It is a textile technique where yarn is resist-dyed to form patterns before being woven into fabric. Let’s draw inspiration from this famous tradition and create unique pieces of art! In Tidal Weavers: Islands Exchange, Ma Wing Man Mandy’s works feature various motifs to encapsulate the spirit of the Maumere community in Indonesia, where she completed an artist residency. In […]
Find out more »From Indonesia to Hong Kong: A Spirit Medium Show-and-Tell
$50 Deposit | RSVP Are you curious about spirit mediumship but feel that it is too mysterious to approach? Then this sharing session is for you! This talk explores the intersection of religious beliefs, folk culture and daily life in the context of Hakka culture in Indonesia and Hong Kong. In the first part, artist Yip Kai Chun will share his encounter with the tatung spirit medium culture in Indonesia and the creative process behind his artwork in the exhibition […]
Find out more »Weaving Inclusion: Community Building and Accessibility in Museums
Free | RSVP CHAT’s Accessibility Docent Training Programme nurtures Deaf, hard-of-hearing and hearing individuals to become museum guides, who bring to life the rich textile heritage of Hong Kong by re-enacting textile makers’ stories in the Accessibility Tour using tactile and theatrical elements. In this sharing, a duo of Deaf and hearing docents will first present highlights from the Accessibility Tour. Local and international experts in community development and inclusive participation will then explore strategies to enhance accessibility through practical […]
Find out more »Market as Muse: Art and Community in Pontianak
Deposit $50 | RSVP How can we find new ways to connect with communities through alternative art spaces? On the upper floor of a local market in Pontianak, Indonesia, the Susur Galur art collective has established a community space for mutual learning and knowledge exchange, including research on traditional crafts, rivers, and maritime culture, such as the uses of squid ink. At CHAT, Susur Galur will share their experiences working with the local community amid the market’s hustle and bustle, […]
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