Interview: Olek, Crochet Artist

Olek -- an alias derived from the artist's last name Oleksiak -- is no stranger to creating highbrow art pieces. She has crocheted the masculine Merrill Lynch Bull in New York into a pink-and-purple tamed beast and quoted Martin Luther King's "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" in an outdoor project she crocheted in London. All these shed a new light on the original objects, a majority of them with a seemingly provocative message. But behind every bold installation is a simple idea. "I hope to inspire many things, but even if I bring a little smile on somebody's face, I think I've accomplished something as an artist," said Olek.

In a brand new mission in Hong Kong, Olek spent almost three weeks working around the clock to embellish, or crochet, the interiors of Elements Mall for the holiday season, turning both the Fire and Metal Zones into a dreamy wonderland. The usual political or social insinuation in her projects is absent this show.

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