Our Designits have returned from what proved to be a very successful trip to the far east.
In summary, the purpose of the congress was to open up communication, cooperation, business opportunities and development between service sectors and China’s home appliance companies, as well as knowledge sharing and problem solving. Essentially, The People’s Republic of China would like to improve their design level in order to improve the competitiveness of Chinese companies and boost enterprises’ creative and innovative abilities. The Chinese Government has discovered the power of design as a strategic tool to support businesses and encourage innovation, so in order to improve the design quality of Chinese companies the government has begun this programme.
We headed out there to give presentations (which you can see below) about the opportunities for Chinese companies cooperating with European design companies and also have a stand at the congress, where we shared projects, past projects, and inspiring material with the other participants.
The trip was a great success. The team, made up of Bernd Eigenstetter, Ina Jade Seng, and Yeli Tong, signed a cooperation contract with the China Household Electric Appliance Research Institute, had meetings with a number of potential clients, and met with design magazines to spread the word about European design.
It was a great opportunity to head out to somewhere new and swap experiences, stories, trends, and tips with people in the same field, but on half-way around the world. Some of the other participants were Kazou Tanaka, President of GK Design Group Japan, Lisa White, from WGSN, Ralph Wiegmann, from IF, George McCain, from IDSA, and many others.
Ina, Senior Industrial Designer in Munich, gave a presentation about ‘What Women Want’.
Bernd, Creative Director in Munich. Gave a presentation on ‘From Producer to a Brand’.
