In conversation with Orange Terry

Walking into Art Central's Yi Tai section (the fair's platform for ambitious, large-scale installations), I saw local artist Orange Terry's new commission Found Faith: a chapel-like prayer pod on industrial wheels with no entrance. A work about seeking serenity in chaotic times. When I first saw it, I felt that it was asking me to slow down, to look closer, to question, to find a way in.

I met Terry last year at a friend's birthday dinner where he sat next to me. You know one of those conversations where you don't talk about what you do for work? So when I saw Found Faith was his, I reached out.

Orange Terry. Image courtesy of the artist.

It explains a lot when Terry told me about his story. For years, he was trained as an industrial designer and chased functionality and efficiency. Then something changed after his internship in Spain in 2017, where he watched the European designers create their works from feelings and opinions. "I found the answer. People buy chairs there not because of its functionality, it's the story behind."

He came back to Hong Kong in 2019 and started searching for his own path. He has no formal art training, saying his process now feels like learning to paint as a child: free and expressive.  Just one thing, the design training never leaves. "Everything is still a calculation at the back of my head," he admitted.

I get it. This tension, between art and design, between freedom and precision, this push and pull in life... We have all been there. The part of us that wants to plan, to calculate, to get it right. And the other part that just wants to make something feels real and free.

But Terry doesn't care what you call it. Functional art. Collectible design. The label doesn't matter. What matters is that his history is present in every piece: the designer who wants to be a child again, the calculator who wants to feel.

Orange Terry: The Japanese man and the cross factory

Terry met a Japanese man at the fair. The man had opened a small factory in Timor-Leste, a newly independent country. His factory makes only one thing: cross accessories.

Why? 90% of Timor-Leste's population is Catholic, but all the crosses were made in China. Half the country's young people were unemployed, so he started the factory: half business, half social enterprise, to create jobs and crosses for the people.

Found Faith (2025), Orange Terry, Art Central 2026. Image courtesy of Art Central

Here's the detail: the Japanese man who is not Christian with no religious belief. Terry saw himself. His own commission uses religious imagery, and he is not religious either.

"I feel a connection with him." Terry said. "We are doing something similar with religion and it's not arranged by God."

The Japanese man gave Terry a cross. Terry plans to visit the factory one day.

"Art Fair," Terry said, almost laughing, "I don't know why, but the fair brought these people here."

No sale. No transaction. Just two strangers (and now friends), from different countries, finding each other in this raw and beautiful connection in a big white tent full of artworks.


What I'm still reflecting on

How many of us spend our lives stuck between two voices? One that says measure twice and one that says just jump. We exhaust ourselves trying to choose. Terry stopped choosing. He let both voices sit in the same room. The result is "Found Faith": a chapel that doesn't work, on wheels that do. A structure with no entrance, asking you to find one anyway.

Then the story of the Japanese man and his cross factory. The reminder that fairs are not just for selling. They are for meeting. For hearing a story you could not have found anywhere else. For walking away with a small gift and a plan to visit a country you had never thought about.

Terry's advice to anyone who feels intimidated at a fair is simple: "Talk to the galleries!" he said. "People (gallerists) pay a lot to be here. They dress up so nicely everyday this art week. Respect them and go talk to them. Ask about the artworks and understand why they brought these artists over. Don't waste this opportunity."

He is right. The art fair is an invitation. To be curious. To talk to strangers. To let the calculation and the feeling sit in the same room. To leave with something you did not expect, maybe a new perspective, maybe a friend, maybe a cross from Timor-Leste.

Continue reading:

→ In conversation with Enoch Cheng 

→ Hong Kong Art Week 2026: how to see an art fair

Interview by Rainbow Kwok