Aric Chen on BJDW 2012
Beijing Design Week (BJDW) 2012 promises to be bigger and better than last year; I spoke with Creative Director, Aric Chen, to find out how.
First of all, what initially brought you to Beijing?
To be honest, it was simply Beijing that brought me to Beijing. I had no real reason to come here, except my attraction to a city that clearly had a lot going on, that was profoundly and intriguingly complex, and that seemed to offer the best chance, for me, to understand China better.
How did you find yourself as BJDW Creative Director?
After the first Beijing Design Week - a pilot effort that coincided with Beijing’s hosting of the 2009 Icograda World Design Congress - I was approached by Gehua (one of the main state-owned organisers) to be a consultant. They were exploring the possibility of continuing the event under the auspices of the government. One thing led to another, and here I am.
What are you doing for BJDW this year that differs from last year?
There are still many details to work out, but let’s just say that BJDW 2012 will be even more ambitious and far-reaching. Following last year’s event, I think the greatest compliment we could have received came from a New York journalist who told us that, unlike many other design weeks, Beijing’s felt more like a conversation rather than just a showcase of wares. I hope that the 2012 event can expand and deepen that conversation.
Additionally, we want to home in on Chinese and Asian designers, while still welcoming more international participants. We’ll focus on a few key issues: among them, craft and education. We plan to engage industry more, while growing our efforts at public engagement. Also this year, a collector’s group from V&A, London will be visiting to look for Chinese design to acquire for the museum collection.
Which Chinese and Asian designers do you hope to focus on this year?
It’s not so much a matter of championing individual designers, but more an issue of giving them a stage to communicate, explore and experiment. And, hopefully, that will lead to other things. For example, after showing her work at last year’s BJDW, Beijing designer Li Naihan was selected for the London Design Museum’s high-profile Designs of the Year award.
What do you think BJDW 2011 did for China?
We’re just a small part of a much bigger effort to encourage design in China. But I hope we were able to show that, even within a top-down society as China’s is, design and creativity are, fundamentally, bottom-up endeavours that need supportive environments to thrive. I hope, even if for only one week, we were able to create that environment. Also, I think we were successful in building a platform that provided designers, institutions and companies a chance to engage each other and the public, whilst showing the rest of the world that China has both the will and ability to become a creative powerhouse.
Stay tuned to Design China for more BJDW 2012 updates.
