Architect at the cutting edge: how making Chinese paper decorations became Nick Tsao’s second career
- Nick Tsao talks about the Foster + Partners internship that led to him becoming an architect, learning the art of paper cutting and promoting Hong Kong culture
My parents were both born in Hong Kong and went to boarding school in the UK, where they met while at university. I was born in 1990 and grew up in the shadow of my brother, who is two years older.
My mum is a chef, a private caterer, and my dad is a software engineer. We lived in a house in Chung Hom Kok [on Hong Kong Island]. When I was five, my parents divorced, and I moved with my mum and brother to South Bay Close.
I went to a local primary school in Stanley, St Stephen’s, where we were taught in Cantonese. I was good at art, but we only had one art lesson a week.
Struggling to connect
When I was 12, I switched to West Island School. A lot of the kids already had friendship groups, and, in the beginning, it was a struggle to connect with them on a language and cultural level. We were all probably watching Pokémon, but in different languages.
I found that I didn’t need to spend as much time on maths and Chinese and had a lot more time to spend on art. In addition to art classes, we had a textiles class and design technology, where I built things in wood and plastic. In geography, I built a volcano, and I became quite good with my hands.
Foster child
