Business of Design Week 2007

Throughout the ages designs that have changed the face of the world have originated in Asia. From Shen Nong’s first set of herbal medicines in 100 BC to the invention of paper by Cai Lun in 105AD, Chinese designers have been pointing the way forward and creating products that are practical, beautiful, innovative and life enhancing.

Modern Chinese people are, themselves, sometimes surprised to realise that contemporary agriculture, shipping, astronomical observatories, decimal mathematics, paper money, umbrellas, wheelbarrows, multi-stage rockets, brandy and whiskey, the game of chess, and much more, all originated from China. Early Chinese travellers took these discoveries around the globe; today the influence of China on the western world is no less marked.

The reverse is also true. Asian people who have made new homes in far flung countries around the world are embracing western culture and ideals. They are merging their traditional values and heritage with western ideas, to create modern day solutions for the crucial moral and spiritual questions facing humanity.

Today the fusion of east and west is nowhere more evident than in Hong Kong, Asia’s gateway city. Due in part to its colonial heritage, Hong Kong has long been a melting pot for a broad variety of activities, making mutual understanding and interaction between its different cultures a normal part of everyday life.

As the modern day world continues to look for inspiration in ancient Chinese traditions, multicultural Hong Kong is the ideal forum for this year’s World’s Outstanding Chinese Designer award. The Award aims to reach out to Chinese designers across the globe, creating a pool of shared knowledge and experience based on common origins. The organiser’s vision is that a ripple started in Hong Kong will form a tide reaching every corner of the world where Chinese people are designing. This process will help identify role models who can inspire young Chinese designers wherever they may be.

Judging Criteria
Criteria was based upon three levels: personal, social and industry :

Personal
The winner should be an established figure in his discipline with a high quality of work, service and notable achievements. He must also demonstrate his long-term efforts and total commitment in the design field.

Industry
The winner should contribute to the design industry either through academic exploration or in-the-field applications, educational involvement or research studies. The winner must have demonstrated his commitment to design training at a national or an international level.

Social
The winner’s design should have a positive social impact on everyday living and environmental concerns. He must demonstrate a social consciousness and responsibility; be human-oriented and possess a positive mindset for creating designs that enhance the welfare of people and society.

Victor Lo - Chairman, Board of Governors, Hong Kong Design Centre, Hong Kong Chairman of the judging panel
Julia Chiu - Director, Global Communications of International Design Center NAGOYA Inc (IdcN), Japan
Philip Dodd - Co-founder, Made In China and Made In Asia, United Kingdom
Kan Tai- Keung - Creative Director, Kan & Lau Design Consultants, Hong Kong
Lo Kai-Yin - Chairman, Yin Expressions Ltd, Hong Kong
Anne Stenros - Design Director, KONE Corporation, Finland
Patrick Whitney - Director, Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, United States
Winner of World’s Outstanding Chinese Designer 2006

Chelsia Lau
Chief Designer, Ford Motor Company

With 15 years in the automotive industry, Chelsia Lau, the Chief Designer of Ford Motor Company, is responsible for shaping the design direction of Ford’s Sport Utility Vehicles. These include the Ford EcoSport, Explorer, Explorer Sport Trac, Expedition, Mercury Mountaineer, and Lincoln Navigator.

Given her ability to juxtapose engineering and art within the automotive context, it is no surprise that this young designer has received many accolades and has been named by AutoWeek magazine as “one of the top ten secret people who will change your world”.

Organiser : Hong Kong Design Centre
Co-organiser : Commerce, Industry & Technology Bureau
Major Sponsor : Innovation and Technology Commission