11 - 26 February 2021
The Steam Room presents Year Of The Ox, a collaborative celebration of Lunar New Year 2021.
Lunar New Year is one of the most important festivals for East and South East Asian (ESEA) communities that follow the Lunar calendar. 2021 will welcome in the Year of the Ox, which starts officially on 12th February.
Nodding to their Chinese heritage, the team behind cult dry cleaning store The Steam Room presents a collaborative celebration to ring in the Lunar New Year. Combining their love of art and food, The Steam Room proudly supports artists and artisan makers from theUK ESEA community as well as Hackney Chinese Community Services. Limited edition artworks and food products will be showcased and available for purchase in The Steam Room’s boutique store and basement cafe and online at www.dontcallmeoriental.com.
The Year Of The Ox collaborative showcase runs 11th - 26th February.
Artists: Daphne Tsang, Georgina Leung, Laugahey, Hannah Lim, Oddeggs, Kayla Lui, Fatboy Zine, Nicolee Tsin, Tom Tse, Sonja Cheng, Kenneth Lam, Yan Yu Lee, Mildred Cheng, Nicole Chui, Karlie Wu, Winnie Nip, Keshia Wong, Bert and Roxy by Jessica Yeong, Amy Phung, Nina Powles, Rachel Leung, Sean Wai Keung, Xinyue Pan, Natalie Linh Bolderston, Little Egg Crafts, Kao Klay, and Khairani Barokka
Art curator: Mildred Cheng, @dontcallmeoriental
Food producers: Happy Eating House, Little Yellow Rice Co, Nok’s Wok, Kay Kay, MuleBird, Spoons, The Adobros, Honeypie Baking
Food curator: Jenny Lau, @celestialpeach_uk
About The Steam Room: Husband-and-wife team Tony and Fran have been commandeering The Steam Room since 2004. Over the years, the East London-based dry cleaning store has gradually attracted a dedicated following; not only for their bespoke services and specialist garment knowledge, but also for their idiosyncratic brand and quirky boutique at the front of the shop. However, not many people know that the store began as a Chinese takeaway in the 70s, run by Tony’s father. Having been part of the East London community for almost half a century, The Steam Room and its intergenerational legacy considers itself a part of Hackney’s multicultural fabric, and is passionate about supporting and elevating the next generation of ESEA talent.
Location and hours:
The Steam Room
230 Kingsland Road
London, E2 8AX
Hours: 10:00-18:30 Mon-Fri, 10:00-16:00 Sat. Closed Wed & Sun
Contact: hello@thesteamroom.cleaning
Food products available to purchase at Gilvic Cafe, basement of The Steam Room
Hours: 09:00-17:00 Tue-Sat, 10:00-16:00 Sun. Closed Mon
Speaker of Hackney, Cllr Kam Adams, visited The Steam Room to view the exhibition and gave a speech opposing racism and hate crime towards the ESEA community and recognising the disproportionate deaths of ESEA key workers and negative impact to ESEA businesses during the pandemic. The 'Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by colour' framed poster inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement was gifted to Cllr Adams by The Steam Room and the boxes of dried noodles were donated by HCCS to Cllr Adams' charity, Hackney Foodbank. Profits of selected items in the shop were donated to HCCS, thank you Noel, Tony, Fran, Mildred, Jenny and all participating artists and food businesses.
