Hong Kong

Gary Chen Chen Weijia goes by KaR or Gary. He has been devoted to the art and design scene since the early years in Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. In 2002 he founded PIGSTYLE, one of China’s earliest online magazines. Monster KaR was also created in the same year. Both of them were on CHINA DESIGN NOW, Victoria and Albert Museum’s 2008 spring exhibition. After graduation Gary took on nine-to-five jobs in interior design, graphic design and advertising. What he did after five ranged from playing in a band to shooting a documentary. In 2006 he pieced things together and established DBG, or DESIGN BY GUANGZHOU, then known as the +ING Workshop. With DBG as a platform, Gary works with various labels and artists releasing a series of Monster KaR products, planning concerts and various events, getting involved in music production and scattering guerilla stores nationally. DBG’s most remembered project in 2007 was the GUANGZHOU ORIGINAL PLAYGROUND, also known as GZOP. The joint exhibition introduced over 20 original brands and designers, featuring weekly events. It made its come-back in November 2008, at the newly opened GZOP space in Guangzhou. In the year 2008, Gary sent Monster KaR on a one-year exhibition tour across China. In the meanwhile, Gary and his partners started DBG’s first retail store, the PLAYGROUND, in Guangzhou. Currently Gary works as a designer for a magazine. In his spare time Gary draws, sings, plays the guitar, curates exhibitions, guest-performs as a VJ, sells T-shirts and throws parties.