Liana Cafolla writes why Business of Design Week, begun in 2002 primarily to help

local designers find jobs, is now as much about improving the quality of people's lives.

The stage is set for this year's Business of Design Week, BODW 2017, the Hong Kong Design Centre's (HKDC) flagship design, innovation and brands event, opening on Dec 4. The schedule of events includes plenary sessions, an architecture master class, panel discussions and a gala dinner. The panel discussions cover a range of design-oriented themes, including sessions on "Brands and Innovation", "Product and Design", "Design for Asia" and "Culture and the City". The new themes added this year are "Heritage and Design", and "Cultivating a Future Mindset for Creative Leadership", which will focus on continuing professional development for future leaders and professionals.

The HKDC's mission is to use design and innovation to drive value creation in business and improve society's well-being. BODW, which has been running since 2002, helps meet this goal by providing a platform for established and new design professionals from all design disciplines to meet and share ideas, discuss possible business opportunities and highlight their work. Previous BODWs have seen audiences in excess of 120,000.

This year BODW is partnering with Italy for the second time. Leading Italian designers from diverse fields will take part in discussions and presentations, interacting with designers, influencers and brand leaders from other countries.

Architecture features prominently in BODW this year. Attendees include Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas from Studio Fuksas, known as the "first couple" of Italian architecture. They designed terminal three of Shenzhen's Bao'an International Airport. Professor Jacques Herzog of Herzog & de Meuron, designers of Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium, will be there at BODW 2017 as well. The company also won the tenders for Hong Kong's M+ museum and the revitalization of Tai Kwun, Central Police Station.

Among many other notable participants are Mitja Borkert, head of design at Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A; Lapo Vettori, a third generation violin, viola and cello maker, and food entrepreneur Oscar Farinetti, who recently opened the world's first food theme park in Bologna, Italy.

The Italian connection

Italy is particularly rich in a broad range of design disciplines and exemplifies the multifaceted nature of design, says Professor Eric Yim, HKDC chairman.

"We are trying to use Italy to let the community - not just the design community - really understand and experience design in their everyday lives," he says. "Sometimes, they're not aware of it. Our objective is to connect businesses together so Hong Kong companies can engage designers from Europe to help them develop products and experience. And our designers can try to export their design services and products. It's really a platform for business."

Established designers as well as newcomers to the design business can gain from the experience of participating in BODW 2017, including by getting feedback about their work from a diverse range of voices, says Italian product designer and researcher Giulio Vinaccia, who will participate in this year's event.

"Being in BODW representing Italian design is an honor and a big responsibility," he says. "I hope that in Hong Kong I will find a positive feedback about my work and about how the future of design needs to be oriented."

Italian expertise in design has evolved over generations and Vinaccia believes Hong Kong has the necessary ingredients to build a society marked by creative maturity in time.

"Between Italy and Hong Kong, there is a common experience of how the historical heritage, the technologies and the multiculturalism can be mixed in a creative way," he says. "We can't build a creative society from scratch, creativity is an attitude, and this attitude needs to be built during decades."

Pushing the boundaries

Helping to build that attitude in Hong Kong is Gianluca Cinquepalmi, a professor of advertizing and graphic design at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Hong Kong and author of a newly published book, Timeless, about fundamental design principles. Cinquepalmi says Hong Kong has the talent, especially in digital design, but businesses here need to shift their thinking from a focus on the commercial to a willingness to experiment with more adventurous designs.

"The real challenge is finding clients or patrons who are willing to be daring with the level of creativity incorporated into the designs they commission," he says. "It is only by pushing the boundaries and taking risks that Hong Kong will be able to remain relevant within the creative design scene, and become more competitive on a global platform."

There are signs that this is starting to happen and the cross-collaboration that BODW brings will help, he adds.

Cinquepalmi is also learning from his time in Asia. Most notably, he has absorbed the idea of ambiguity, which he defines as being open to more than one interpretation.

"I think this is a crucial concept that any creative who works in Asia needs to understand and embrace," he says. "Countless times I have asked for a simple translation of a Chinese word or concept only to have an answer that starts with, 'well...that depends...'. For a creative this can be extremely frustrating but it can also open up infinite possibilities if the idea of circular thinking is embraced."

BODW 2017 is designed to appeal to a broad audience including design aficionados, entrepreneurs, policymakers, CEOs, educators, students, creative individuals and everyone interested in the world of design and its possibilities. The breadth of the target audience is wide, reflecting Yim's conviction that nurturing a design-centric urban culture requires inputs from all parts of society. Yim, who is also an architect, furniture designer and professor in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University's School of Design, believes that design impacts everything from making creative use of open spaces to facilitating the needs of an ageing population, and from product design to healthcare - and everything in between.

"To me, everything relates back to design," he says.

He points to Aman Hotel Resorts as an example of how holistic thinking around design can effectively impact building design as well as service design, environment and dining. Founder Adrian Zecha is the recipient of this year's DFA (Design For Asia) Design Leadership Award, one of a series of DFA awards given by the HKDC to raise awareness of the value of good design as an essential component in quality of life in Asia. Yim attributes Aman's success to its embrace of a wide-ranging design strategy and an understanding that design is much more than simply beautifying a product.

"It's not a very big chain, but Zecha used design as a strategy. The hotels are not just comfortable, but they also inspire you to appreciate the hotel's environment and service on offer, from reception to dining," says Yim.

Reaching out

Good design can also rebuild broken lives and communities. The multi-award winning "One University One Village" initiative to help poor rural villagers on the Chinese mainland through sustainable building design, including in earthquake reconstruction projects in Yunnan province, is a good example. The brainchild of Li Wan of The Chinese University of Hong Kong's School of Architecture, the project has a long-term focus and helps train local workers how to use stronger, more resistant building materials, such as bricks and concrete instead of traditional soil.

"We think that research, design and the local government can bring very significant benefits, for example by using local technology, local labor and materials," says Wan. "This can empower villagers and allow them to earn money."

Wan is hoping her participation in BODW 2017 "will inspire other architects to do similar work".

(HK Edition 12/01/2017 page10)