By Bradley Bowers
China can design. That was the thought running through my head as I listened to presentations today. China can design systems; China can design sexy products; China can even design brand identities and resurrect old faithful brands, like Hoover.
China has up its sleeves countless tricks the likes of which the world has not seen since the age of old master designers. The designers of yore, the Frank Lloyd Wrights of the world, the Eames’s, Jean Prouve and so on would look at the China of our current world and grow gitty with anticipation; they would see it, the wonder that China holds.
If good design means being cohesive from start to finish then Leon Yoong, director of industrial design at TTi, knows good design. The designers at Gold Peak also understand what it takes to make design affordable, accountable and essential. It seems, according to both Simon and Leon, directors at GP and TTi respectively, that good design starts with good research and a deep understanding of the client, the customer and the market.
If this foundation isn’t there, then can you really call yourself a designer? It seems to me that in this day and age there are too many people calling themselves designers when they merely push lines around a page and call it done.
Today was refreshing. It strengthened a flame in me that was starting to dwindle, a flame that asked: Is the world moving away from people and towards systems and can we right the wrongs of our past? Today’s presentations may not be the end all, be all solutions to my questions but it put a few thoughts at ease.
Yes, China is the new frontier, and yes, China is the future of design. I am proud that one day I’ll be able to say that I was there when the world looked for a solution and found it sleeping in the green hills of China.
Bradley’s portrait atop a piece of furniture designed by Freeman Lau, whose studio we visited at the InnoCentre May 16.
