Design week looks to innovative solutions

A work of designer Chu Chih-kang catches visitors' eyes at the Shenzhen Design Week. CHINA DAILY

The city of Shenzhen in South China recently hosted a design week emphasizing the important role it plays in creating innovative and practical solutions to both the problems of today and the future.

Kicking off on Dec 25, the 10-day event was mainly held in the city's Futian district but included other exhibition venues citywide, including Nanshan district. The event attracted more than 400,000 visitors.

The design week adopted a joint curatorial system for the first time, guided by an academic committee and organizing committee.

The joint curators of the 2021 Shenzhen Design Week－renowned designers Han Jiaying, Liu Xiaodu, Zhang Yuxing and Hong Ko－planned more than 20 exhibitions.

This year's design week, on its fifth iteration in Shenzhen, invited more than 70 designers to showcase more than 300 works, and hosted eight forums.

Zhang Ling, head of the publicity department of the Shenzhen government, said at the opening ceremony that it has evolved into an essential platform for promoting the city's image, developing innovative industries and incubating creative talents.

The design week launched a new visual image, creating a symbol "s".The "s" is taken from the first letter of the pinyin "Shenzhen", the color of which is inspired by bougainvillea, the city flower of Shenzhen.

The 2021 Shenzhen Design Week has its theme as "design as solution", demonstrating the role design plays in creating innovative solutions to both the problems of today and the future. CHINA DAILY

Shenzhen is a major design hub in China and was appointed as a UNESCO City of Design in 2008, the first city nationwide to be awarded the title.

The Shenzhen Design Week aims to incubate innovative professionals; promote the development of science, technology and creative industries; help Shenzhen cultivate new urban growth points; and add value for strategic emerging industries and future industrial development, according to the event organizer.

Zhang Yuxing, one of the curators of the design week, presented an exhibition on the design of public buildings, expressing how they can offer design solutions to challenges in people's livelihoods, technological innovation and industry crossover integration.

Visitors enjoyed installations from designers Chu Chih-kang, Manfred Yuen, Hong Ko and Shi Dayu.

According to Yuen, his work incorporates lighting, music and multimedia animation to create an environment where visitors can run, jump, play, slide and chase each other. It allows adults to return to their childhood.

The Shenzhen Global Design Award, running for its third year, will incorporate activities held around the world, including brand promotions and the creation of design spaces. The international jury of the event is composed of Yonghe Zhang, a professor at Peking University's architecture research center and the dean of architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; French architect Jean Nouvel and South Korean graphic designer Ahn Sang-soo.

Although the 2021 Shenzhen Design Week only lasted for 10 days, the city decided to build a sustainable and normalized platform to launch various design-related events throughout the year to promote the City of Design image, the event organizer said.

caoyingying@chinadaily.com.cn