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Does your background in engineering aid your design process?This background allows me to turn creativity into workable projects, and apply my technical knowledge to design customised solutions for individual customers.

Can you tell us more about the design concept and message behind Co-create a Happy City?When HKTDC invited us to be an interactive media partner, I thought it was really important to create something that would showcase our technologies in a creative way. We illustrated the beautiful Hong Kong skyline as the backdrop and then placed local cultural elements such as the Tai Hang fire-dragon dance and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in the front. When visitors touch an image, the traditional elements on the wall evolve into a modern format through animation. For example, when the pawn shop image is touched, an electronic payment sign appears; old-school ad signs become LED lights; food ordering cards at local teahouse

With the boom of the Hong Kong design sector, there’s an increasing focus on the potential of its young designers. Yet creativity has always run in Hong

Kong’s veins. With its world-renowned architecture, can-do spirit, skilled labour and colourful heritage, the city has never been short of beautiful creations and innovative minds. Perhaps the best inspiration for our homegrown designers is our home itself, and the many aspects its East-West duality has produced.

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Co-create a Happy City is the theme of the interactive wall display; it tells the story of Hong Kong’s rich heritage

PARTNERSHIP | DESIGNINSPIRE

As the Hong Kong Trade Development Council ’s DesignInspire enters its third edition this year, to be held from December 5 to 7 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, it will continue to shine the spotlight on talents working in the local architecture, design, art and creative sectors, with a spectrum of innovative products, installations and conversations.

The following are three examples of how local creators plan to elevate Hong Kong’s design scene through innovative technology and traditional craftsmanship.

HAPPY CITYHong Kong-based media solution provider onActivity created an interactive wall display named Co-create a Happy City at DesignInspire 2018, illustrated with Hong Kong’s skyline and dotted with traditional and local motifs. onActivity co-founder Kelvin Lam tells us how he created such an attention-grabbing centrepiece for the event.

turn into an iPad screen; and Chinese herbal tea is served by a robotic arm.

Did your project for DesignInspire attract interest in your company? Our touch wall was located at the entrance, so everyone visiting the show saw our design project first. We got tons of interested enquiries after the show, one of them being from the Hong Kong Museum of History. We are now working with the museum on a project about modern Chinese infrastructure; the exhibition will be held this summer.

How does the exhibition raise awareness about Hong Kong design?The exhibition was a great opportunity for the public to witness the vast variety of innovations, new technologies and applications, all in one place. Putting Hong Kong designers’ work side by side with well-known international designers helps to raise the status of local designs.

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The HKTDC’s DesignInspire event focuses on the fusion of cultural elements and contemporary design. Three participants from last year discuss their process

Crafting design

{Kelvin Lam

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PARTNERSHIP | DESIGNINSPIREPARTNERSHIP | DESIGNINSPIRE

Can you tell us more about Scrabble Lamp? Where did you get the idea? Alvin Kung: It sprang from the initial idea that traditional craft can transcend its original life by artfully crossing-over with modern design to become more relevant to modern lifestyles. The difficulty of learning traditional characters among modern-day Chinese learners, with technology turning to simplified Chinese, was how the childhood game of Chinese scrabble came into conversation. And making functional hand-crafted zinc calligraphy stencils is a declining industry. We think [our concept] is a good marriage that can hopefully revive this traditional gem.

How was your experience working with Master Wu (胡丁強)? AK: The radicals were handcrafted in zinc by Master Wu. His fabrication process is more interactive than you might imagine. When we have given him the cut-out font sizes, he did not compromise and counter-proposed his recommended aspect ratio for a better aesthetic, informed by his decades of calligraphy expertise.

Has your background in architecture helped enhance your creative process?

Can you tell us more about Soundscape of the City? What was the inspiration?Our city is composed of different sounds, both good and bad, whether singing birds at dawn or an impatient beeping driver on the road. All these sounds make the city more dynamic and energetic. However, we always neglect the importance of listening. Everyone has two ears but only one mouth, so maybe sometimes it’s wise to listen more and talk less, especially in this city nowadays. With this iron-horn installation, we’d like to encourage the art of listening as well as an appreciation of the excellent craftsmanship.

LISTEN CAREFULLYDisplayed at the RetroInnovations pavilion, a giant horn-like installation named Soundscape of the City, crafted entirely out of iron, is the creation of two designers from Oft Interiors, CM Jao and Ken Cheung. Made in collaboration with a Hong Kong ironsmith, it encourages the art of listening. Jao, the company’s desig n director, revea ls the inspiration behind the piece. CM Jao (left) and Ken Cheung

What was the biggest challenge in making this horn? We usual ly present our ideas in a comparatively abstract way. However, this time when we created a work that was expected to communicate with the public, it was important to strike a balance and allow interaction. We hoped the audience could have their own interpretation of the horn instal lation after reading our design idea.

You worked with local metalwork master craftsmen on this installation. Can you tell us some interesting behind-the-scenes stories? It was not an easy task to get local ironsmith si fu (masters) because it’s a sunset industry. We once asked an old copperware store to make the horn – it finally rejected us for reasons of cost and complexity.

As a part of Hong Kong’s creative voice, what do you do in your own practice to raise the profile for the industry?We keep striving for every chance to express our ideas and t houg hts w it h ou r c l ients . Ma i nta i n i ng good communication is always a key factor of success, as we believe designers should be the channel of delivering a client’s brand image to its audience.

What makes for good design?A good design should be able to strike a balance between style, brand positioning and practicability, and be able to impress people in different ways.

How did the exhibition at DesignInspire stir public interest in Hong Kong’s design sector?Hong Kong designers spend most of the time on business operations and development. DesignInspire provides an excellent platform for designers to attempt non-business projects. They can even take these chances to express their design ideas throughout the work and interact with the public.

Ka Chi: Architecture background made us an initiator, a coordinator, a manufacturer and a storyteller. It starts with the ability to appreciate the beauty in your daily life then we have an urge to connect and re-present these elements. But more important is the execution of detailing, manufacturing and message-delivering.

What message do you wish to convey to visitors of DesignInspire?KC: We hope this lamp will remind visitors about the importance of craftsmanship and how to bring its beauty to daily living. Through composing different cut-out radicals, one can create favourite slang or motto on each side of Scrabble Lamp.

How do you think young designers can benefit from the DesignInspire platform?KC: Exposure is always important to young designers. DesignInspire is excellent at this. It provides a well-organised and well-structured platform to show what young Hong Kong designers are capable of, and their ambition, to the design industry.

The RetroInnovations exhibition features design creations that hark back to traditional Hong Kong crafts in danger of dying out. What more can the design industry do to promote and preserve these local traditions?KC: Putting an [example of] skill or a craftsmanship into museum or gallery and claiming it is art doesn’t change the fact it is dying out. Hong Kong is a business city. A design combining aesthetic and practicality is the only way to express why such craftsmanship is irreplaceable. And a good design can educate the user on ways to appreciate not just its legacy but its possibilities.

{{ TO THE LETTERAlvin Kung and Ka Chi teamed up with fellow architects Priscilla Chan and Suanne Cheung to create Scrabble Lamp for the RetroInnovations pavi lion. Made using traditional metalwork methods, the piece consists of a series of lamps adorned with Chinese characters styled after traditional cut-out signage on zinc plate. The radicals of each character are split into two parts to add a playful element, similar to the popular word-building game played by students.

Soundscape in the City invites Hong Kongto slow down and listen

Wu Ding-keung, one of Hong Kong’s last stencil masters

(Clockwise) Priscilla Chan, Ka Chi, Suanne Cheung and Alvin Kung