Before Art Basel Hong Kong or even its predecessor Art HK, there was Fine Art Asia.
Well before Hong Kong became one of the world’s biggest contemporary art markets, the city was a thriving centre for antiques trading.
That trade was the foundation of the now nearly 20-year-old fair, which this year opens to the general public on October 4 – one day after VIPs get access – and runs until October 7 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Antiques are in the blood of the fair’s founder, Andy Hei, who apprenticed at his father’s Chinese antiques business in Hong Kong and set up his eponymous antique furniture shop on Hollywood Road, in Central, in 1999.
But Fine Art Asia has diversified. The 2024 edition has a section dedicated to ink art, called Ink Asia, which has been a stand-alone fair in the past.