Maintain faithful artwork reproduction while coordinating a complex seasonal programme against immovable auction dates.
Brand Design Lead · Hong Kong
03 / Christie’s
Christie’s Hong Kong: The Art of Precision
2022
Studio Manager · Editorial & Production Quality
Project in brief
Precision-led studio production for high-stakes auction seasons.
A precision-led production system protecting artwork integrity from on-site colour review to catalogues and exhibition graphics.
Managed studio workflow, allocation, proofing, artwork-image review, vendor coordination and final release quality across catalogue and exhibition delivery.
The Stakes & My Role
At Christie’s, an artwork image is not simply a marketing asset. Colour, tonal depth, surface character and reproduction quality shape how a work is understood before a sale.
As Studio Manager at Wellcom Worldwide, I coordinated the team delivering auction catalogues, exhibition graphics and supporting print for Christie’s Hong Kong. My remit covered daily allocation, artwork preparation, proofing, vendor coordination and final release quality.
The challenge was to protect the integrity of each work while keeping a complex seasonal programme moving against fixed auction dates.
Colour Accuracy
Artwork reproduction could not be approved from a screen alone. Once works arrived on site, printed proofs and digital masters were compared directly with the originals.
I supervised reviews of colour cast, ink density, tonal range, paper or silk tone, shadow detail, surface texture and reflective materials. The objective was not to make every medium look identical, but to preserve the essential visual relationships of the artwork across print and digital use.
- Direct artwork-to-proof comparison
- On-site colour and tonal correction
- Monitor-to-original review
- Collaborative proof approval
Physical artwork and printed reference compared side by side.
Jade / ink artwork page reviewed as a physical reference.
Workstation with monitor and physical artwork in the review room.
Hanging scroll and monitor viewed together.
Team members reviewing a long proof beside the artwork.
Master Images & Proofing
Cross-Channel Masters
After approval, each corrected image became the master reference for catalogues, digital communication, marketing materials and exhibition graphics.
Every output still required adaptation for scale, substrate and viewing distance, but the approved master created a consistent point of truth.
Contract Proofing
Contract proofs were working production tools, not ceremonial sign-off sheets. Control bars and output-specific tests exposed shifts caused by paper stock, ink density and press conditions before final production.
This review loop allowed corrections to happen while the original artwork and specialist team were still available.
Page proof with colour-control strip.
Second page proof with control strip and image variation.
Third proof sheet held for inspection.
Catalogue & Exhibition
Editorial Production
Approved masters were placed into a restrained editorial system built around modular grids, clear information hierarchy and deliberate white space.
The catalogue design supported different sale categories and levels of specialist information while keeping the artwork—not the page furniture—as the primary visual focus.
Catalogue spread mockup for an Adrian Ghenie sale.
Second catalogue spread with darker artwork and black field.
Hong Kong Auctions Spring 2021 welcome and event-schedule visual.
Exhibition Production
The same production standard extended into the physical auction environment through large-format graphics, directional applications and printed exhibition collateral.
Our team prepared the printed materials visible on site and maintained continuity between catalogue reproduction and exhibition presentation. The accompanying film was produced by Christie’s and is included as environmental context.
Christie’s Hong Kong auction environment
Film produced by Christie’s and included as context for the auction environment; it is not presented as my film production.
Christie’s gallery with large framed works.
Gallery wall and Chinese calligraphy display.
Christie’s illuminated urban façade / projection at night.
Black-and-white city view with vertical digital billboard.
Cross-device Christie’s website / auction-content mockup.
Dark-background collage of catalogue, digital and OOH auction assets.
The Gallery
The wider programme required a flexible studio rather than a fixed linear workflow. I coordinated more than 20 freelance designers and production specialists, assigning work by need and maintaining one review standard across the team.
Shared checkpoints improved accountability and allowed the studio to respond quickly when late-stage changes arrived.
Visitor viewing a hanging scroll in the gallery.
Visitor viewing a large painting.
Outcome & Credits
The studio delivered the catalogue and exhibition-print programme on schedule, with no critical production errors recorded during the contract period. More importantly, the work established a dependable path from original artwork to approved master, printed catalogue and physical display.
- Client
- Christie’s Hong Kong
- Agency
- Wellcom Worldwide
- Studio Manager
- Stanley Lam
- Additional credits
- Lester Ngai · Ray Fung, Wellcom Worldwide
- Film
- Produced by Christie’s and shown as auction-environment context
Original artwork image photographed with colour targets and objects.
Colour-corrected version of the same target arrangement.
Colourful Yayoi Kusama sculpture master image.
Silver sculpture master image.
Photoshop proof-condition dialog / colour-management settings.