‘designed in Hong Kong’  is shaping global creativity

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Hong Kong designers bring a feast of world class design to London.

In a capital city famous for its long and all-embracing relationship with design, this celebration of the work of leading Hong Kong designers took place in three well-known venues – Harvey Nichols, a British department store in Knightsbridge (now owned by a Hong Kong enterprise), the Design Museum, and the London Business School.

The campaign entitled Creative Hong Kong in London, was launched at Harvey Nichols with a collaborative exhibition of ten world renowned brands and ten accomplished Hong Kong designers who drew inspiration for their designs from the 10th anniversary (1 July 2007) of Hong Kong’s reunification with China. Products designed included a Chinese dining setting, a hi-fi system, fashion accessories, a watch, and a unique ‘treasure box’. Designer/brand collaborations included Gary Chang and Alessi (Treasure Box for Urban Nomads), Vivienne Tam and Georg Jensen (8S),  Barney Cheng and LeSportsac (Brilliant Beauty), Lo Chi Wing and KEF(Stringless Pleasure), Michael Young and o.d.m (Euclide), and Alan Chan and Salvatore Ferragamo (Hong Kong My Love). Limited edition products were also on sale.

© Alan Chan and Salvatore Ferragamo, courtesy of Hong Kong Creative in London

An expanded exhibition at the Design Museum featured the ten world brands and almost 100 Hong Kong design cases covering a wide range of categories, such as graphics, communications, fashion, environment, product and interactive design. In partnership with the London Business School, a one day symposium explored Hong Kong’s global influence on design and business, at both an economic and creative level.

The Hong Kong Design Centre which organized the expo has, since 1997, worked to promote design excellence. It is dedicated to helping local designers and businesses to realise their full potential. While offering a diverse range of programmes and events each year, it also takes a leadership role in promoting design as a strategic, value-enhancing constituent of business, to government, industry, business partners, educational institutions and private organizations. At the same time, the centre works to promote the importance of design in contributing to a better quality of life.

© Gary Chang and Alessi, courtesy of Hong Kong Creative in London

Leading Hong Kong designers participating in the expo included Chelsai Lau, Chief Designer at Ford Motor Company, Raman Hui, Co-Director of Shrek, Vivienne Tam, New York based fashion designer, and Kai-Yin Lo, internationally acclaimed jewellery designer.

Chelsai Lau has led the design and development teams to create some of the most successful vehicles at Ford. It was during a three months’ internship with Ford that she discovered a passion for automotive design, officially joining Ford in 1992. She went on to design the exterior and interior of the Mercury MC4 (1997), a world class concept vehicle, the Ford FC5 (1999), a fuel cell concept vehicle, the Sport Trac show vehicle (2005). She is also responsible for shaping the design direction of Ford’s Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) representing an annual volume exceeding half a million units.

Raman Hui, is a talented animator and director, and although he is best known as the co-director of Shrek 3 (2007), his experience in the animation industry is extensive. He started working full time at PDI in 1989 (later acquired by Dreamworks) where he worked on many 3D characters such as computer-generated Mickey Mouse for Jim Henson’s Muppetvision. On Sleepy Guy (1994), he is credited with the writing, direction and production. He has also worked as animator and supervising animator on a number of other well-known productions including ANTZ (1998), Shrek (2001) and Shrek 2 (2004), and Madagascar (2005).

Vivienne Tam is the CEO and chief designer for East Wind Code Ltd, based in New York. She is an internationally recognized fashion designer famous for her Eastern inspired clothing with a modern edge. In 1995, her ‘Mao’ collection successfully combined fashion with art. She followed ‘Mao’ with her ‘Buddha’ collection which was bought by the public and celebrities around the world. Her exploration of Asian motifs has been an integral part of the development of the fashion phenomenon ‘China Chic’. Pieces of her collections have been acquired by the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, The Museum of FIT, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

© Vivienne Tam and Georg Jense, courtesy of Hong Kong Creative in London

Kai-Yin Lo is recognized internationally as an innovative jewellery designer. The heritage of Chinese arts and culture directly informs her design work and she successfully uses contemporary style and semi-precious stones to transform traditional Chinese jewellery. Her first designs, using Chinese jades and semi-precious stones so impressed Cartier in New York that they bought the entire collection. Kai-Yin Lo’s jewellery collections have been sold in major stores in the United States, Asia and Europe. She now concentrates on niche collections presented in exclusive shows at venues such as the Asia Society, New York, and the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco.

Anne Paterson

Creative Hong Kong in London
28 May – 12 June 2008
Harvey Nichols, Design Museum and London Business School

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