China Design Now

China Design Now opened recently at the V&A, so we made our way over there this weekend to check it out.

The show is divided into three sections, each representing one of China's major cities: Shenzhen (population: 10 million; average age: 27), Shanghai and Beijing. Each of those sections loosely represents a particular area of design, so that the Shenzhen section mainly features graphic design, Shanghai is all about fashion, and Beijing gets busy with lots of new architecture (much of it by some familiar western names).

Given the staggeringly vast subject the show is covering, it can naturally only offer an itsy-bitsy little taster; but if you view it as just that, it does its job brilliantly.

And there's some great stuff in the gift shop. We picked up a Hi Panda vinyl toy by Shirtflag (that's its box up top).

The show runs until 13 July.

Comments

[MarkF]

It would be interesting to know how if at all the show tackles the idea that China's design expertise will over take ours? And what was your view on the quality of Chinese design?

MarkF

[Alistair Hall]

Hey there Mark
It didn't really touch on the possibility of their design overtaking ours - there's an accompanying book though, and that might deal with it.

It was tricky to make a decisive view on Chinese design based on the few examples there.

Interestingly, a lot of the graphics work played with traditional elements, mixing them up with more modern imagery and contexts.

Also, slightly frustratingly, a lot of the work (naturally) played with Chinese language and character forms, so that although they were explained in accompanying text, you couldn't really appreciate them properly.

[MarkF]

Are there any benefits to clients with a western aesthetic from having designers who are used to working with this type of character form?

If any body knows of anybody working with Chinese designers it would be good to hear from you.

MarkF