Some insights about a big design event in Shanghai from Andrew Yang, the consultant for 100% Design Shanghai

I am standing on stage on the opening press conference of 100% Design Shanghai, with the sunlight beating into the circular rotunda hall on a crisp October morning, with all of the winners of the Rado Young Design Prize. Hard to believe, I think. Just five months previous, the jurors for the prize convened in the conference room of the Cappellini showroom in New York for the judging of the first annual DESIGNED IN CHINA: The Rado Young Design Prize. Some of the most well-known names in design—Guilio Cappellini, Alasdhair Willis, Yves Behar, just to name a few—generously donated a Sunday afternoon during a busy New York design week to review the work of young and emerging Chinese product designers.

Now fast forward five months and we are kicking off the second year of 100% Design Shanghai, where these winners would be announced. The grand prize winner would be awarded not only a big cash prize of 20,000RMB, but also a brand new Rado R5.5 watch, designed by Jasper Morrison. Not bad, eh?

I had only met a few of them prior to this point but seeing all of them on stage brought into reality what everyone on our team on the show and the team from Rado had been working to realize—the establishment of a major prize that would support young Chinese talent. Given all of the commotion over the meteoric economic rise of China, we all felt that there should also be some attention paid to growing the country’s design talent. The rise of China is something I have observed as a design journalist and magazine editor for the past decade, most of it working out of New York City, where I was raised. Now I am up close, observing it firsthand as a resident of Shanghai, my newly adopted home, a city that changes every day, every minute.

With all this in mind, this moment was perhaps the apex of what we have been working toward all year in the planning of 100% Design Shanghai. After fairs in London and Tokyo, Shanghai is the youngest edition of 100% Design. It serves the biggest potential market in the world, China, in an environment that could probably characterized as the least developed, design-conscience-wise. Regardless, for those who haven’t been here, I can say that what Shanghai lacks, it makes up for in sheer enthusiasm and intensity. We have been grateful to work with a great variety of brands to bring the show to life—everyone from Crystallized – Swarovski Elements, Poliform, Kohler, Roca, and Design Republic, which showed Emeco, Moooi, Magis and Neri&Hu at their booth this year. They are all market leaders in their business sectors.

It has been a challenge, to say the least, trying to convince so many world-class brands to exhibit under one roof. It has been difficult, but we at 100% Design Shanghai are patient and persistent in our multi-year effort, that everyone who has a stake in design will realize Shanghai and China is where exciting things will happen, and the market that will fuel tremendous economic growth for any design company that is invested here.

I realized this even more when I looked at the winners on stage. For each of the winners, I realized that it was not an easy path to get to this point. Out of 250 entrants, the excellent jury, which was assembled by Tobias Wong and Aric Chen, the creative directors of 100% Design Shanghai, had whittled down the designs to eight finalists. During the judging, most of the proceedings were smooth and fluid—most jurors agreed on which items were good and bad—some deliberations were made on some objects that some jurors loved, but which others didn’t. Lyndon Neri from Design Republic and Mr. Cappellini argued on behalf of a few items that were ultimately jettisoned. Jiang Li, a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, related designs that she had seen in other competitions in China, and gave the jury a perspective from which to understand the work.

Eventually, the jury had decided to award both grand prizes to designers in the student category—a collective decision that was not without some objection. They all felt that the two works—the Solarium Clock, a device that turned a small clock face into a sundial courtesy of an LED, designed by Baoyi Zhang and Lingling Hu, and the DIY Bench by Qianqian Shen, a seemingly simple bench made with arms crafted from different historic styles—were really the strongest of the group, and the merit was in the design.

However, when I think about that complex decision, it actually is quite symbolic of the annual process that we undertake when planning the show. While we are a trade show, we all realize the greater significance of 100% Design in Shanghai—which isn’t about the fair whatsoever but about something inevitable and magnanimous: the rise of China as an important market for everything, including design. The most challenging part of it is that not every company we talk to, or deal with, sees the market from our perspective. After all, we are here living and breathing Shanghai, and trying to understand how China changes all the time. But we are lucky to work with amazing partners. Our main sponsor, Crystallized – Swarovski Element, which sponsors dozens of design projects each year, and Rado, and this year, Airises, a Chinese furniture company from Jinan, China are companies who actively invest in design, and have enabled us build the show makes me grateful.

How to measure whether or not 100% Design Shanghai is successful? Financial success doesn’t not necessarily mean critical success, and vice versa. Do I look at visitor numbers, or do I look at how large our show is? I am the consultant for the show, but I have been involved in the planning of just about every detail of the Shanghai show since its inception in 2007. So we all have a huge stake in its livelihood. I gauge the show’s success as a combination of everything. What it comes down to, I think, is the difference we are making in the civic consciousness of the city. Each year, the best part of the show for me—and how I know 100% Design is making a difference—is when I peek into our conference hall, and I see the space filled with inquisitive minds, each with fresh potential and unbridled enthusiasm. Whether or not our singular projects within 100% Design fail or succeed, what’s important is that we are constantly pushing forward. And of all the things I’ve learned since coming to Shanghai, this is probably the most important lesson, and what comes to mind when I think of China in the 21st Century.

Check following article in the blog of 100% Design Shanghai:
"Are Chinese designers ready for the international arena?"

Indesign Publisher and Managing Director, Raj Nandan, talks about design

What is design? Having spent 20 years in the design industry looking at design, talking about design and publishing design magazines, this is still a tricky question to answer. What might be easier is to say what it isn’t. Walking through the Milan Furniture Fair earlier this year, which was nearly 150,000 square metres of new design, it would be easy to think that design is just the latest products by Patricia Urquiola, Karim Rashid, or Philippe Starck, or the Bouroullec brothers.

But design isn’t just about stuff. Many designers dedicate their lives to reducing waste, not creating it – by creating objects with extended lives so they don’t have to be replaced so often – or by creating objects that give an object a second life – or by making sure that they can be properly recycled afterwards.

Design also isn’t just about pretty things. Bringing out an old object in a new colourway is not design. Design is about making life better – about creating objects that make life easier to live, make things run more smoothly – or about creating things that people will cherish their whole lives and pass onto future generations.

At Indesign, we’re more interested in the people who save their money for years to buy that perfect design piece, than in those who replace their furnishings every season to fit in with this year’s trends.

Because design is not about trends, it is about quality and longevity, and about creating a life that is better in design.

RAJ NANDAN
Indesign Publisher and Managing Director - www.indesignlive.com

HOW TO DEAL WITH VISIONS

A vision is more than an idea: It is the representation of a coherent scenario that goes beyond concrete individual objects. A new drinking glass is not a vision, but may well be a more economical way of handling water. Nowadays, such visions are expected of us designers. How are we to deal with visions?

First of all, it should be clear that a vision actually stems from our own fantasy. Aren’t we too strongly influenced by trends or other people’s suggestions? And be careful with visions late at night…

The next thing is to find out, whether there are good questions, to which our vision provides an answer. It makes no difference, who asked these questions, or if we still have to ask them first. What can people do with our vision in the future? Are we going to create something of general benefit through it?

Our vision may possibly appear to be incompatible with existing circumstances. This can be related to the vision or the circumstances. We are free to overcome conventions and currently strictly-defined boundaries, if we are to convince our fellow men about it.

The freedom of our ideas stops with the freedom of other people. Are we certain that our vision will have no adverse economic, social or ecological impact on other people? We are responsible for its realization.

That we initially do not understand our vision too well in reality, indicates that we are venturing into new territory. It is up to us to throw safety to the winds, dare to take a first step and look around for knowledgeable assistance locally. This may not be easy to accept, but we learn from it.

If the realization of our vision transpires to be easy, be wary: have we simply fallen in love with the first idea to come along? Are there capable people who are assessing our intentions with a critical eye? Sharing our vision with other people makes its realization simpler and more gratifying.

We create conditions for achievements, which are ahead of their time. It is in the nature of things, that such achievements are only recognized as visionary after some time. A project for the future.

The images: in the Bolzano Beach project, the students did not design a new deck chair, but a complete beach, and built it in the middle of Bolzano, in front of the University.