Capturing the Sunshine: Juice Box Inspired Silk Screen Prints

I grew up in Hong Kong in the '80s and '90s with my parents and two sisters. As you can see, I was a pretty cool kid - that's me on the right. Hi-C or Vita were our juice box drink brands of choice in those days - in this photo my sisters and I are supping on the orange and apple flavours while picnicking at Devils Peak. (The Tsingtao Beer was not mine.)

Later, when I was at school one of the best things on a day when it was 30 degrees and 100% humidity, was to go to the drinks vending machine, where you could get a sugary ice cold Hi-C Lemon Tea at break time for 4 dollars. The Chinese brand name translates aptly, as 'Sunshine'.

Years later, filled with nostalgia, I searched the internet for a Hi-C Lemon Tea poster to put up on my wall, but none existed. The mighty Sunshine drinks needed to be honoured and immortalised in paper and ink, so I decided to screen print some myself, Andy Warhol style! I couldn't find any clear reference images of the 1980's Hi-C Lemon Tea design (it changed a lot over the years) so I pieced it together from blurry photos of us clutching Hi-C juice boxes, VHS TV adverts that had been uploaded to Youtube, and filled the gaps from memory, along with a dash of artistic license. (A few years after this painstaking process, the company reverted their juice box designs to the vintage '80s design! What are the chances!)

So that's the story of how my Sunshine Screen Prints came to be. For me, they are a symbol of a happy, sweaty childhood.

The original small sized editions of Lemon, Orange and Honeydew Melon produced in 2015 have now sold out, but you can still get your hands on the newer large limited edition: Sunshine Lemon and Sunshine Orange are available for £95 each or £160 for the pair.

Shop Sunshine Prints

If you're curious, and are a sucker for a romantic love story, don't miss the Hi-C Lemon Tea drinks ad from 1987...