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.

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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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The BMW Museum, which stands right next to the world famous BMW Group Head Office Four-Cylinder Building, has reopened after a complete makeover that took two and a half years to complete.

There are now more than 120 exhibits in museum space covering 5,000 square metres. The circular museum will continue to be a landmark and a sought-out destination for car lovers from around the world. The adjacent low-level building now complements the ‘Bowl’, as the circular museum building has been designated ever since it was opened in 1973. This has entailed increasing the available floor space five-fold.

Further information

BMW Welt
BMW AG : History : BMW Classic
The BMW Museum’s kinetic sculpture takes your brain to another dimension – Engadget
Kinetic sculpture at the BMW Museum – YouTube
ART+COM – Opening of BMW Museum

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Pete Elliot
‘USAF – RAT’
Digital Sketch
2007

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Colin Wood

If you are ever tempted to think that car designers aren’t wedded to their calling, just ask what they do in their spare time. A recent exhibition in Melbourne gave a glimpse of the answer when a group of Ford Australia designers decided to put on a show of their personal work. Curated by Luke-Matthew Ray, the exhibition was a collection of paintings, digital images, mixed media, photographs and … oh, yes … a car.

Shayne Stewart
Hot Rod
steel, aluminium, fibre glass
2008

It’s not the speed. It’s not the carrying capacity. It’s not even the power. All transportation designers seem to love the culture of mechanical movement. Here we saw sketches, finished renderings and models that gave form to how we think about transportation, rather than simply the means of getting from one place to another. There were no traffic jams; they were left at the door. This was a headspace thing.The common factor was the concept as the start and finish of the project. There was no need to move; just have the potential to move. The lack of engine noise enhanced the lines, the texture and the presentation techniques. Like standing at the station waiting for the train to start the journey, these images were ready to take you somewhere.

Luke Ray
55
Photograph
2007

Production Line was staged in Off the Kerb, an exciting, newly established artist-run space. Founded by Shini Pararajasingham, Off the Kerb is located in Collingwood, one of Melbourne’s prolific visual & performing arts precincts. Off the Kerb supports Australian and international emerging and established artists, curators, designers & sound producers.

Steve Park
Casey Jones’ Future
MDF, Aluminium, Leather, Plastic
2002

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