Our Story


 

 

 

ABOUT US

From the Founder and Publisher:
My first encounter with the letters C and A, was in my design school, where I was studying communication art. I had decided that after graduation I would establish my own brand, and CA came to my mind. It stands for charming and attractive, caring and authentic, charismatic and affluent, and, Christians Assembly.

I founded CA Design in 1982, and since then we have been providing our design and production services to an array of leading independent businesses, corporations and organizations in Asia, Europe and the United States. Our dedication to excellence and commitment to high quality have been recognized and acknowledged over the years in the form of the numerous awards in publication design and printing we have received.




We at CA Design have developed valuable friendships through our passion of sharing the desire of collectors, scholars, dealers, artists to joyfully knowing their publications will soon be reaching other connoisseurs and readers. With the power of this sentiment as motivation, we established CA Book Publishing and were able to make something significant and memorable from nothing by providing a comprehensive, heart-felt service for books to be distributed worldwide.

I well remember a collector chatting with me about her collection and expressing doubt about whether it was worth publishing. After arranging for an expert to assess the collection, scholars to write about them and editors to perfect the language, professional photographer to shoot them, we composed sample pages of our design to present to her. When the collector saw them, she burst into tears of joy and disbelief. It all felt like a dream to her until she held the printed book preciously in her two hands. She was extremely grateful and appreciative of everything our team had done. Her words of thanks were carved deep in my memory and kept me going for years. Although this collector whom I am very fond of has since passed away, the remarkable collection lives on in the wonderful publication that she cherished.

Our light of creativity and our stream of joy and passion of connecting with people have never diminished and dried up, but instead have grown stronger, encouraged by the spread, by word of mouth, of our reputation as ‘award-winning art publication specialists with worldwide recognition.’ This speaks not only to the books we produce, but also to our team, which is always there to support you, listen to your needs and share in the pleasures the art world has to offer.

We are CA Book Publishing. A name synonymous with quality and passion.





 

 

 

CRAFTSMANSHIP

Here at CA Book Publishing, each of us is a skilled, caring, and creative craftsman. With your wishes in mind, we accompany you on the journey of creating the unique personalised publication you desire.

Over the years, we have collected an album of ‘lovely words’ — an encouraging statement or a note of gratitude from our clients — all of them incredibly meaningful to us. They represent milestones in our work and inspire us to keep trying to produce the highest-quality books and to provide a wonderful, memorable experience for our customers. Every step toward the realisation of a publication is done with care.

Words of gratitude from our clients


THIS SINGLE FEATHER OF AUSPICIOUS LIGHT – OLD CHINESE PAINTING AND CALLIGRAPHY

Finally, the self-denying efforts and contributions of our Hong Kong editors and publishers at C A Design, given the scale impossibilities of format and period of writing and planning, have been enormous, and just thanking them won’t be enough. Rosanne Chan, my long-term publisher since “Between Heaven and Earth” in 1982, and even more specifically the admirable Kenny Chan, Rosanne’s brother, who has had responsibility for this publication over the last three and a half years, have been extraordinarily constructive. Given the difficulties of colour reproduction, a problem with which we have become all too familiar over the years, every one of our works of art has been to Hong Kong for a period of colour separation, and the logistics of returning them to us in time have called for emergency delivery visits to Honolulu and to New York, and other in-between trips at other times. And those were the fun part. They have done a great job. (by Paul Moss)





C-14 DATING OF DAYAK ART DATAION DE ĽART DAYAK AU C 14

Every quality book needs a superior publisher to ensure a successful outcome; C A Design of Hong Kong is that company. I thank Rosanne and Kenny Chan for heading the production team. The look of the book is largely thanks to CA’s designer James Tong, a man gifted with a great artistic sensibility. Grace and Eunice always made me feel at home around the office and were quick to help in their excellent English, if a subtle point needed to be conveyed. Thank you all. (by Thomas Murray)




Inside-Painted Snuff Bottle Artist Ma Shaoxuan (1867-1939)

We are deeply indebted to Rosanne Chan of C A Design. Her dedication to the task of coordinating the many arts and crafts necessary for this publication is exemplary. Readers will note that Ms. Chan recommended the format of our Journal so that the biography can be filed on shelves which house them. This volume is yet another testimony to Ms. Chan’s growing number of publications elegantly designed and devoted to snuff bottle literature. (by John Gilmore Ford)









Developing design concepts for the cover of the Oriental Ceramic Society’s centenary exhibition catalogue



Colour proofing images to ensure the most vivid visual effect on the paper




Calibrating ink density before printing to guarantee the exact replication of the colour proofs approved by the society



Celebrating the printed OCS catalogue and its welcome reception by collectors

 


 


 

 

 

COLLECTIONS

We at CA Design are tremendously grateful to our fellow collectors, scholars and specialists for sharing their knowledge about different types of art. I personally had the unforgettable and privileged experience of holding in my two hands an imperial quail bowl from the Qianlong period. I did so to closely examine the colours and design in order to accurately replicate it on the printed sheet. The image in the catalogue looks exactly like the bowl. The reproduction so thrilled one person who saw it that they became a prospective buyer of the piece!

It was truly stunning when the bowl fetched a world record price of more than a hundred million Hong Kong dollars! I now treasure a copy of the catalogue as a remarkable record of CA’s top quality work. More amazing is that after the bowl became a masterpiece in an already outstanding collection of Chinese ceramics, we were invited to publish the collection! This happy ‘reunion’ meant so much to us — and hopefully to the collector (and the quail bowl) as well! All connoisseurs will soon be able to enjoy this exquisite bowl, which is delicately and vividly reproduced in a major publication forthcoming in 2022.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to every person, institution, and corporation that has given us the precious opportunity to produce a unique publication featuring their collection!

List of publications for renowned art collections



 


 

 

 

COLLABORATIONS

We have an amazing network that I call our “silver lining.” It consists of world-class scholars, artists, curators, dealers and other specialists who have worked with us over the years. Top-ranked galleries along with world-famous museums and auction houses have been and remain among our customers.

Authors, scholars and other experts

Rosemary Bandini, Jean Baptist, Bruce Bartholomew, Terese Bartholomew, Libby Chan, Edmond Chin, Clare Chu, Koos de Jong, Martin Gregory, Nicholas Grindley, Robert Hall, Alexandra Hamburger, Humphrey Hui, Rose Kerr, Timo Koopman, Regina Krahl, Lai Shuk Yee, Peter Lam, Li Baoping, Chris Lightfoot, Kai Yin Lo, Ron Longsdorg, Gilles Lorin, Hin-cheung Lovell, Katherine Martin, Stuart Marchant, Carol Michaelson, Paul Moss, Hugh Moss, Thomas Murray, Diana Myer, Tina Pang, Starcey Pierson, Finn Roberts, Max Rutherston, Rosemary Scott, Lewis Smith, Jenny So, Jane Sze, Tao Wang, Ming Wilson, Sarah Wong, Xu Xiaodong and Yeo Kong Hoo.




Editorial specialists Paul Bromberg, Bonnie Corwin, Martha Darlen, Berthe Ford, Grace Yurika Handa, Regina Krahl, Linda Meredith, Robin Surratt and Sarah Wang.


Art photographers Ken Adlard, Stefan Hagen, Robert Hall, Gilles Lorin and John Szeto.


Galleries
Museums
Auction houses

 




 

 

 

CARE

 

The “C” in CA Design is for CARE: We care about people and our community. We also take care of our customers’ interest. The care taken by CA Book Publishing in producing their publications is self-evident.

On top of all else, we care about our ‘neighbours’, especially those who need our support to survive. To assist them, we donate 10% of proceeds to the organizations below.


Thank you for purchasing books from us!