Bridge For Design Spring 2014 Bridge For Design Spring 2014 Issue | Page 42

DESIGN TRENDS | view point

CHINESE REVOLUTION
Liliane Fawcett says we should celebrate a new generation of spirited designers

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ultural activities and flourishing arts scenes are
often cited as one of the indications of where a
country sits on the international stage. By any
measure, China has arrived. However, amidst all
the talk of the immense business opportunities and
far-reaching global influence, contemporary design in and
from China is often overlooked by outsiders - and the
Chinese themselves.
A new generation of spirited designers is beginning to
gather up millenia-long strands of artistic creativity, which
had been severed by the Cultural Revolution. These are
being weaved into the body of their work, which speak to the
energy of modern China. They express the re-interpretations
and narratives that have emerged in fields as diverse as
ceramics, textiles, furniture and photography.
Many there question whether China should remain the
international hub for mass-production with its inevitable
accompanying compromises in quality and finish. Or
whether a more confident and wealthy country will signal
a transition away from its current preoccupation with
global trends and Western influence, to a re-evaluation of
homegrown alternatives.
Some designers, with little or no access to material,
salvage and re-invent found pieces. One such artist, Gu Yeli,
who is now one of China’s most innovative voices, has a
distinctive visual wit and originality.
Her designs acknowledge her ongoing love affair with the
Shanghai nontang (a traditional alleyway) in which she lives
in her native city. She embraces upcycling with colour and
humour.
This re-awakening of traditional skills, values and
craftsmanship is giving rise to a more expressive and
thoughtful cultural movement. Artist Yang Fan makes
vibrant, colourful and sometimes immense installations

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Bridge for Design Spring 2014

using textiles, much of them excess, discarded surplus found
in vast quantities every spring in southern China’s clothes
manufacturing heartland.
The internationally recognised Shao Fan, a friend of Ai
Weiwei, says that only in adulthood did he mature into a
fully-fledged Chinese artist having being overly influenced in
his youth by foreign cultures. His beautifully crafted
furniture, held in collections such as the Victoria and
Albert Museum in London, is a meeting of eras and their
styles, which acknowledges the ancient ties between
continents and cultures but is also steeped in its creator’s
environment.
Another of Ai Weiwei’s artistic collaborators, Li Naihan,
found a rich source of inspiration in the constant upheaval of
Beijing’s redevelopment. For many people an ever-shifting
and ever-changing city engulfed by mass immigration may
prove too much to bear. Not for Li. She has highlighted this
phenomenon with sensitivity by designing beds, dressing
tables, wardrobes and desks which look like crates but once
opened, morph into carapaces to contain the furniture,
objects and most poignantly, allude to the memories which
we all carry with us.
The huge influence of European art and design had, and
still has, on the world will no doubt continue but China is
beginning to appreciate the value of traditional skills.
Artists and designers are looking beyond being imitators
and embracing what it means to be a Chinese designer in this
established market. The journey will no doubt be anything
but boring! B

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Liliane Fawcett is the owner of Themes and Variations
231 Westbourne w&