Yoko Choy
Website: http://www.collectivecontemporist.com
Instagram: @missyoko @collectivecontemporist
Twitter: @yokochoy
Born in Hong Kong, China, Yoko Choy is the China editor for Wallpaper* magazine. Her work to date has been published in numerous international titles, including Architectural Digest China, Dezeen, Frame, Louis Vuitton publications and more. Yoko is also a communications consultant and has worked for Art Basel on its launch in Hong Kong, curated exhibitions for Dover Street Market in China, advised Beijing Design Week on international strategy and represented Mariotestino+ in Asia. Currently based in Hong Kong and Amsterdam, her mission, as a multilingual and multicultural creative commentator and communicator, is to translate the knowledge and insights from both worlds into a common creative language and to raise awareness of the importance of cross-cultural exchange in the creative industry and businesses. To this end, Yoko co-founded Collective Contemporist, a creative consultancy with offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Amsterdam, together with the launch of creative conference ASSEMBLY in Beijing in the winter of 2018, to stimulate and inspire conversations and commercial collaborations between the two spheres.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?: Sleeping straight through the night and feeling refreshed and optimistic when waking up.
What is your greatest extravagance?: I bought a pair of Marco de Vincenzo heels recently although I have absolutely nowhere to go and nothing to go to. But they proved to be a good ‘pick-me-up’.
What is your current state of mind?: Impatient.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?: Patience.
Which talent would you most like to have?: Telepathy and teleportation (are we talking about superpowers?).
What do you consider your greatest achievement?: Every step in life is important and every small achievement leads to the next bigger one, so I would like to think my greatest achievement has yet to come. But one of the proudest moments in my career, if I have to pick one, was interviewing Oscar Niemeyer at his Copacabana studio; and even more so as this was in the first year into my professional life (I also visited Isay Weinfeld and Ruy Ohtake in the same trip)! It is a blessing to meet all these great minds and to work with so many inspiring people and I’m truly grateful for that.
Where would you most like to live?: I am between Amsterdam and Hong Kong now and frequent mainland China. I am looking into setting up a base in either Beijing or Shanghai.
What is your most treasured possession?: The Buffet Crampon clarinet my mom bought me when I was 15. (It was so expensive that I begged her for months before she gave in, by promising her I would be a great clarinettist one day. I did try!)
What is your favorite occupation?: I love what I’m doing now and am always open to new experiences.
What is your most marked characteristic?: My bangs.
What do you most value in your friends?: Honesty.
Who is your hero of fiction?: Scarlett O'Hara. She is beautiful but intensely flawed. She is strong but allows herself to be vulnerable. She never flinches and always fights. She shows us how to survive anything!
What is it that you most dislike?: Insincerity or hypocrisy.
What is your greatest regret?: I don't do regret. It’s counterproductive. ‘Evaluate and advance’ is a better strategy in life.
What is your motto?: At this very moment — “Life’s under no obligation to give us what we expect. We take what we get and are thankful it’s no worse than it is.” Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind.