It’s with a heavy heart that we’re announcing the closure of Design China. Since establishing the platform in late 2011, we’ve met some amazing people, visited some great spaces, attended awesome events, and built invaluable relationships and memories along the way. But Design China has now run its course - between a change in founder Zara Arshad’s professional obligations, to the emergence of larger and better resourced platforms that are also covering the field of design in China (and beyond), we feel that now is an appropriate time to hand over the baton. The website will continue on as an archive however, and we’re always happy to answer questions or to field media requests - just get in touch via the Contact page.
Thank you to everyone involved, from our volunteer writers and external contributors, to all the designers, curators and academics who set aside time to be interviewed or featured, and of course to our readers. Not to be too cheesy, but it’s been quite a journey! ...再见！
Continuing our Golden Pin Design Award (GPDA) interview series, we spoke with Peng-Hsiang Kao, founder of Muwu Design Studio and Tzu-Tien Letterpress Experimentation Lab, about his latest works, and what it means to win a Golden Pin Design Award.
Tell us about yourself.
I graduated from Fu-Hsin Trade and Arts School in Taipei, and went on to work as a graphic designer and art editor in the publishing industry before moving into packaging and visual design. Now, I am an independent practitioner, who works with different enterprises to maintain a degree of freedom.
Your project, The Typesetting Master's Table, recently won “Best Design” at the Golden Pin Design Awards. Can you tell us a bit about this work?
I was inspired by a unique style of typesetting table from Taiwan. I turned the typesetting table into an instructional book, similar to a galley in Western typesetting, so that whoever is reading the book can also use the typesetting table at the same time.
This book needs to be made because though there are still some Taiwanese typesetting masters left, they do not have apprentices, so we urgently need to make a record of their technology. The book form is used because it allows us to record typesetting techniques, as well as the culture of these masters, in a way that people can understand, while the typesetting table itself is the most easily overlooked, but the most important part, of movable type printing.
Tell us about your other works - is there anything you’re particularly proud of?
I am proud of a recent project - album packaging - for the New San-geu-tai Band (a group of Taiwanese Hakka musicians). The idea for this piece was to use photos on the cover and to introduce some depth of space, echoing the depth of the band’s performances. I also used movable type printing on the album cover in the hope that movable type printing can continue to exist.
Why did you decide to apply to the GPDA this year?
To draw attention to The Typesetting Master's Table - because of this book, more people will know the importance of Taiwan's movable typesetting culture.
What value do you believe a GPDA offers your studio?
Well for one, I have had more interviews with press. But more importantly, I believe there are new possibilities for design and creativity within traditional culture, and my belief is affirmed by the Golden Pin Design Award. It is worthwhile to encourage designers to combine tradition with the pursuit of innovation.
Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years?
I will continue to build my understanding of practices related to Taiwan's Chinese character typesetting, and to organise workshops, as well as designing more products related to movable type.
Translation kindly provided by Daniel Cunningham and Jack Wang; edited by Design China.
“The campus covers an area of 1.4 million square meters and is divided into 4 zones, each of which is divided into 12 blocks...Every block of the campus is dedicated to one European city, for example Paris, Verona, Freiburg, Granada.
Huawei explains this approach by the fact that modern megacities in China, such as Shenzhen, are overloaded with skyscrapers, while the company wanted to create a completely new environment for its employees and focus on contrast and architectural diversity. The creators of this idea believe that this approach will contribute to the development of employees' creativity, which is very important for a research center”. Continue reading.
Happy New Year! We’re starting 2019 off with new(ish) images of Ricostru’s latest (which you can also see via Weibo). The collection has been described by Vogue Italia as “revolving around the concept of strong femininity, dramatically told through dark, iridescent colours, transparencies and contrasting fabrics”. Read more.
Earlier this year, Design China’s Zara Arshad joined China Residencies as a Governing Board Member. The mission of this non-for-profit includes: mapping, researching and creating a free online directory of opportunities in mainland China and Hong Kong for creative people from all over the world; and supporting existing and envisioned residency programs across the region to foster sustainable creative exchange.
While some of China Residencies' special initiatives receive outside support, it’s actually private donations that allow the team to keep the site running free of charge, research residency programs, fund residencies and support creatives from all around the world. Why not consider donating this festive season? Find out how here.
The Golden Pin Design Award (GDPA) announced their 2018 winners late last month - which included 34 “Best Design” winners and 3 “Special Annual Award” winners from the fields of product, spatial, integration, social, green and communication design. We’ve had such a tremendous time collaborating with GDPA in the past that we decided to team up with the organisation once again, this time to feature a selection of their 2018 award winners. Here below is the first of our short series - an interview with Dors Liu, founder of Shenzhen-based DORTOOS Industrial Design.
Tell us about your company - when was it founded, and by whom?
Our company, Shenzhen DORTOOS Industrial Design, was established in 2015 by Liu Yundong (Dors Liu), Xu Linwei and Zhou Rui. We are located in the Longguang Century Building on Haixiu Road in Bao'an District, Shenzhen, China. There are currently 15 employees, including 11 designers, working here.
Your product, the JKT-013K Intelligent Health Integrated Platform, recently won a “Best Design” award from Golden Pin Design Award 2018. Can you tell us more about this project?
JKT-013K is an intelligent health management platform for hospitals, social welfare centres, residential communities, pharmacies, and data collection facilities. The platform can measure conventional indexes, like blood pressure, blood sugar, blood oxygen, ECG, body temperature, body composition, uric acid, weight and cholesterol. Multi-test applications are integrated into this one product, enabling it to provide instant results. It is also equipped with Bluetooth, Wifi, 3G, ethernet and other capabilities that allow for real-time video communication with remote experts.
JKT-013K is also equipped with ID card recognition technology and a physical examination report preview-printing function. The system can store data for future healthcare monitoring and analyse trends in this data over time as well. Users can subsequently query their own data, and view their healthcare report at any time.
Is the platform in use, or is this still a conceptual piece?
The product has been in use at hospitals and social welfare centres in Shenzhen since May 2018 - and we have plans to install the product in other facilities in Guangzhou and other parts of Guangdong province, too.
Why did you decide to apply to the Golden Pin Design Award this year?
As a famous design award, the Golden Pin Design Award has its own strict and unique judging criteria. Participating in this year's Golden Pin Design Award is not only a test of our design work - whether it’s good or bad - but also a big platform like the Golden Pin Design Award increases our publicity. By accepting comments and feedback from our peers and judges, we can enhance our professionalism. We also want to explore the design field through this award in Taipei, and discuss future trends in the design industry with everyone.
What value do you believe a Golden Pin Design Award offers your company?
The value of the Golden Pin Design Award is in offering a stage for Chinese designers all around the world to compete, discuss, and communicate: let everyone dare to put forward their best work, demonstrate their talent, and boldly express their own insights on design! We are also very happy to see that our design has been accepted by the industry. This is the greatest encouragement for any designer.
Tell us about some of your other projects. Which ones are you most proud of?
We have a couple that we would like to share with you. The first is Baby Zone Z1 (above), a smart camera terminal that helps users to take care of their babies (0-8 months), 24 hours a day. The product transfers pictures to a mobile terminal in real-time, and senses your baby's living environment, such as temperature, humidity, noise, and so on.
There is also our 5L Oxygen Generator. This project focuses on the intersection between healthcare in the hospital and at home. By exploring design insights alongside the medical needs of a family, the product establishes itself as a family-oriented design. Its direction is lead by aesthetics, materials, and craftsmanship.
We like designing products for family-oriented healthcare. One reason is the satisfaction of improving people’s health, and exploring new solutions through design thinking. The second reason is our ambition to re-imagine the family environment, and to create new models for traditional medical equipment in the home.
What is the intended future direction of your company?
Until now, we have mainly focused on product and interaction design in the healthcare industry. Whether we’re talking about the healthcare industry or the design industry, we always have to respond to dynamics in terms of business, consumer demands, social responsibilities, and industrial production technology - which is what we are looking to maintain. We will continue to be involved in the design of healthcare products, and in the development of healthcare enterprises, however.
Translation kindly provided by Daniel Cunningham and Jack Wang; edited by Design China.
Steven Chilton Architects Designs Wuxi Show Theatre
“A forest of slender white columns will support a latticed roof of metallic louvres covering a theatre by Steven Chilton Architects in Wuxi, China...The screen of angled columns surrounding the circular building are designed to allude to the Sea of Bamboo – a national park near the city that boasts one of the biggest bamboo forests in the country”. Read the full story via Dezeen.
ADAP Architects, working with the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, have helped to repurpose an old factory, transforming it into a performance venue for a local village. Find out more.
Herzog & de Meuron and Purcell Transform Hong Kong's Colonial Buildings into Tai Kwun Art Centre
“New buildings by Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron and historic buildings conserved by UK studio Purcell form a vast arts complex in Hong Kong, claimed to be the city's largest heritage conservation project to date.
The Tai Kwun art and heritage centre spans 27,000 square metres across a sloping site, reflective of Hong Kong Island's mountainous terrain”. Continue reading.
“Bauhaus is turning one hundred. The iconic German art school first opened its doors in 1919, in Weimar, and was shut down just fourteen years later, when the Nazis came to power in 1933. Over the course of its brief life, it became synonymous with modern design. It stripped furniture and building façades of ornamental frills, and its minimalist aesthetic set the tone for architecture around the world. By the middle of the century its imprint could be seen everywhere from Japan to Israel to Yugoslavia - though perhaps nowhere is it so visible as in the United States, where many of the artists and architects who studied and taught at the school, a number of whom were Jewish, fled in 1933”. Continue reading.
While in Shenzhen I managed to catch the "Craft: The Reset" exhibition at Design Society, as well as the V&A Galleries there (the latter is highly recommended). Meanwhile, visits to the Huaqiangbei electronics markets, Dafen oil painting village, and Guanlan printmaking village took me to all other sides of the city: a chance to witness and attempt to understand these different kinds of infrastructure was worth it though.
Some more snaps from my travels, this time from Hangzhou, where I was able to visit the new China Design Museum and the Folk Art Museum, both on the China Academy of Art's Xiangshan campus, as well as PINWU's new design library located in Huanghu Qingshan village.
I have been travelling around China (and Macau and Hong Kong) for the past few weeks. Here are some images from my stay in Shanghai, which coincided with the tail end of Shanghai Fashion Week. I also managed a quick swing by Columbia Circle, a HEMA supermarket, and MIFA 1862.
The programme for the third HK-SZ Design Biennale (Design Twin Cities) has just been announced. Exhibitions and concurrent events will run from this month (October 2018) until early next year, while the opening party will take place on 26 October 2018 in both Shenzhen and Hong Kong (of course). Find out more via the HK-SZ Design Biennale 深港設計雙年展 Facebook page.
More videos and images of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau mega bridge are emerging now that it nears completion. According to this article by the Asia Times, “...in late October, on a date yet to be decided, a limousine will possibly carry Chinese President Xi Jinping from Zhuhai to Hong Kong to open the link officially to traffic”. Word on the street is that Zhuhai will also host its first design week - the Great Bay Area Design Week - that will open on 25 October 2018, though details are yet to be confirmed.
Design for Collaborative Cities Conference @ Tongji University, Shanghai
Co-organised by Tongji University College of Design and Innovation and the DESIS Network, the Design for Collaborative Cities conference investigates what design can do for social cohesion and urban commons, as well as how it can trigger and support a regenerative circular economy. Speakers include Lou Yongqi (Dean of Tongji University College of Design and Innovation), Ezio Manzini (founder of the DESIS Network), and Gabriella Montes-Gomez (Founder of Laboratorio para la Ciudad, the experimental creative think tank of the Mexico City government), amongst others. Click for further details.
