When you arrive at Sham Shui Po at 9pm, you catch a neighborhood in transition. The rattle of the night market clinks at the close of tarped storefronts. Overtime workers inhale kitchen steam and BBQ pork in corner dumpling houses. Engines run cold until sunrise.

On Ki Lung St., a lone urban runner takes advantage of unobstructed roadway. He may have settled on his evening pace, but it slows to a half-jog, eyes craning to a closed shopping kiosk washed in white light. At either side of this immaculately green box, a young man and woman hiss an outline of a graffiti piece that would be complete in three hours.

For as long as the owner of this kiosk is satisfied with the artwork, Amson and Ysoo of local collective Parents Parents have added another exhibition to Hong Kong’s expanding street art gallery.

As for the jogger, or passing driver, or other curious local stopping by: what do they think?

“There’s always someone who asks us what we’re doing,” recalls Amson.  “In such a public space as this, some people will come down the stairs and say ‘I don’t like this art, why do you destroy the walls?”

For Amson and Ysoo, nights like this, spaces like this, and moments like these aren’t confrontations, but opportunities to give locals an understanding that street art isn’t destruction, but expression. Tonight is a preview for Parents Parents’ offerings at this year’s installment of HKwalls, a weeklong urban campaign to spread the local art scene one district at a time.

Chris Tuazon: What do you prefer: illegal work, or commissioned pieces like this?

Amson: Although this isn’t really like the original graffiti style — bombing and letters — I enjoy these projects.  We’re allowed a safe pace, so we have the time for preparation, sketching, and coloring. That way, we can make it correctly.

CT: How did you get into street art?

A: When I was in grade school, I was really into this band called LMF. I really liked the style of their album cover, and I figured I could try to create something like it. LMF was the first hip-hop band in Hong Kong, and it introduced me to hip-hop culture, and at that moment I chose that graffiti would be a part of . . . I don’t know whether to call it a career or hobby.

CT: What is Parent’s Parents’ particular style?

A: Since there’s four of us in this group, we work together using the best of our different styles.  For example, I like to draw my cartoon characters.  Ysoo likes more realistic drawings, and freehand writing. So we combine these together to make something interesting.

CT: In this piece, “Time to Wake,” what are you trying to convey?

A: Since graffiti has a language, those who don’t know it can have trouble understanding and accepting what they see.  So in this piece, the ticking clock, the morning apple, the strong contrast, and the title is all about what everyone’s typical day is like here.

CT: If someone saw you doing this and said “Hey, how can I do this?”  What would you do?

A: I would let him know what the real culture is, and if he really wants to try it, I’d let him grab a can and go for it.

CT: So in other words, support the art.

A: HKwalls is really supportive of our local artists, and will bring guys from Europe to share their style and communicate with us.  We’ve met crews from Germany, and we’ve learned from them, and not just their art.

These guys are street artists full-time.  People in HK, like my family will say “If you do street art, you can’t get money.  You can’t get a house.  You can’t get anywhere.”  But these guys prove if you really want to do what you want, one day you can succeed, and show your passion worldwide.  For me, now I think about not just doing art within the HK scene, but out there.

CT: In the meantime, it seems that you feel pretty optimistic about the scene here.

A: It’s going up, because in the global culture more people are focused on the street art scene.  Galleries out in LA and New York showcase it more than ever before.  Maybe that will make the HK people welcome us and give the public more opportunity to really see the scene for what it is.  Maybe there’s kids here who only illustrate on paper, and don’t realize what they’re doing.  But at that moment they’re making street art.  They’re creating real art.

“Time to Wake” can be found completed here.  This year, HKwalls has chose Sham Shui Po as the local area to bring street art from HK-based and international artists, who will use new & old spaces as public canvas.  Parents Parents are one of many to showcase their talents this March-April 2016.  Follow HKwalls for more information.

Getting in deep with an idea as subjective as menswear proves more harm than good sometimes. I ask questions. I get answers. I only have more questions. And down the rabbit hole we go.

Am I best suited with the English or Italian cut?

How many pairs of brown leather shoes is necessary?

What is the value of doing something by hand?

The last question came back around one afternoon in Pacific Place, exhibiting an annual collection of art hosted by the local French cultural bureau. This year’s focus, the French tradition of shoemaking, displayed the country’s fine history of crafted soles in and outside of the Parisian epicenter. One Saturday afternoon hosted Hong Kong colorist Kelvin, who demonstrated Maison Corthay’s unmistakable patina, all done with focused brushstroke.

Kelvin laid out his fine and fraying brushes, bottles of dyes, and blank canvasses of calfskin, tied his apron, and began a layer, accompanied by curious onlookers and those like myself unloading with English and Cantonese questions.

At my age, the days of youthful independence are waning; new mothers and fathers among my friends wax endlessly about parenthood and the gifts it brings. Fatherhood has yet to call me to service, but I wait eagerly for it. And just as much, I worry if my children will ever listen to me. For as much as I love my own dad, I follow his advice as much as you’d trust your dog to file your taxes.

I met one exceptional example of successful fatherhood. Park Jungyul worked from the bottom of Korean tailoring to build Seoul’s leading tailoring house from the ground-up. Among its foundations are his two sons, Changwoo and Chanjin, who followed their father’s footsteps, while carvings sartorial paths of their own. The result is timeless and bold suits of flawless quality.

The Parks caught the attention of one Joe Ha, owner and proprietor of The Finery Company, a Sydney-based menswear collective showcasing suiting and accessory brands up to par with Joe’s own impeccable taste.

With an afternoon between generously timed trunkshow appointments in Hong Kong, Mr. Park, Chanjin, and Joe shared the importance of time, a commitment to God-given talents, and the secrets of a good family project.

This is B&Tailor.

Chris Tuazon: I’ve done a lot of homework before our conversation, just as I expect my students to. One of your sons shared that you deliberately put Korean rooking atop your building to signify this is first and foremost a Korean tailoring house. You are the first Korean tailors I have met, so what would you say is the Korean approach to suiting?

Park Jungyul: I would say . . . as much handiwork as possible. We like to create a silhouette that’s more volumetric than flat, and this gives the suit life. Although no two physiques are same, there are points where we can balance things out for every individual—strike a harmony—and achieve a beautiful balance.