Asia’s premier international design event puts Chinese talent in the global spotlight, Design Shanghai (8-11 June 2023), the largest international design event series in Asia, celebrates its 10th anniversary, expecting to welcome more than 70,000 visitors over the four days and will feature more than 600 local and international brands from 40 countries and regions. Design Shanghai celebrates a wide range of creative achievements and is set to share new ideas from the world’s rising stars and industry gurus alike.
In 10 years, Design Shanghai has become one of the largest design fairs in the world, attracting more than 2500 world-renowned design brands from over 40 countries. Design Shanghai is dedicated to identifying and nurturing emerging Chinese designers and brands, providing them with a global platform to showcase their work. Over the past ten years, Design Shanghai has witnessed and contributed to the unprecedented growth of numerous young designers, many of whom have even become pillars of contemporary design in China. The highly anticipated event will once again attract major international and Chinese manufacturers, design-led brands, global industry leaders, architects, collectors, interior designers and design enthusiasts, along with a dynamic cultural programme unique to the city. It is undoubtedly the most significant international design fair in Asia. Showcasing curated exhibitors, services and conferences, it brings together integrated and innovative design from China to the global stage.
Audi will again join Design Shanghai as an exclusive main partner for the fourth consecutive year. To celebrate Design Shanghai’s 10th anniversary, Audi will present the Chinese premiere of the newly launched Audi activesphere concept, the culmination of its innovative spherical concept vehicles that showcase its ever-evolving progressive design philosophy and vision of future sustainable premium mobility driven by meaningful technology. The Audi activesphere concept is a unique type of crossover that cleverly combines the elegance of an Audi Sportback, the practicality of an SUV and true off-road capabilities.
FEATURES
The Feature area of Design Shanghai is designed to celebrate the best emerging designers, the evolving design community and craftsmanship in China.
TALENTS
Since its inception, Design Shanghai has celebrated Chinese talent and tapped into new, young and local designers, giving them the platform to gain national and international reputations. TALENTS is curated by Frank Chou and focuses on the localisation of Chinese design, upholds the brand value of people-oriented design, focuses on people through design, discovers potential young designers and offers them professional career guidance. In 2023, Design Shanghai TALENTS returns with 22 groups of TALENTS, connecting China and the West in the form of a ‘banquet’, interpreting ‘Chinese characteristics’.
NEOOLD
Chen Min, the Chinese industrial designer and founder of Chen Min Office and curator of neooold, invited renowned architect Chen Hao Ru to create an exhibition space with the theme ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in the Forest’. The vortex-like exhibition space was created with a bamboo forest and a winding path to recreate Jianghu’s dream. The curved exhibition path is designed to lead visitors deep into the bamboo forest, with this year’s neooold feature imitating the ‘walled city’ of Jianghu.
RÓNG – WEAVING’ DESIGN EXHIBITION.
Róng is a process of creating the language of contemporary design, deconstructing traditional craftsmanship and reintegrating it into design, and the Weaving Design Exhibition will showcase the works of 27 designers, who over the past two years have worked on pieces that bring traditional weaving into the future.
DISAPPEARING BOUNDARIES
Disappearing Borders is a special curated exhibition by renowned industrial designer Jamy Yang, which seeks to explore and deepen the engaging relationship between people, objects and nature in the digital age. Yang encourages designers to adopt critical attitudes towards technological and social change and strive to create innovative designs that embrace and transcend the boundaries between the physical and virtual worlds.
INTERLUDE
Chi Wing Lo’s art installation INTERLUDE not only embraces everyone who comes to Design Shanghai, but is also a bridge connecting people and their ideas. Its realisation is made possible by the woodworking expertise of IWOODSTORY and the electronic innovation of MOORGEN Smart Technology, as well as their generous sponsorship and absolute commitment to every detail. Consisting of a series of screens that snake, bend and define a semi-exclusive chamber, this musical and spatial interlude offers visitors a moment of detachment and reflection, a place to reorient and rejuvenate.
PROJECT ROAD
As a new section of Design Shanghai 2023, Design Street is curated by the well-known design platform Design Burger. The innovative exhibition format will present a curated selection of renowned design studios from around the world, including Barney Mason, Objact, X-ZOO, YIMU ART, Beta Design Office, Leon Krythin Design, ICOO and NOIN STUDIO, offering a glimpse into the creative minds behind the products we admire. Design Street promises an engaging and immersive event experience, allowing visitors to explore each product from every angle and promoting meaningful conversations through their ‘the door is always open’ design philosophy. This unique space will act as a direct link between independent design studios and brands, also highlighting China’s thriving design industry.
NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH
Design Shanghai has always been the best stage for brands to debut their new products. This year, Design Shanghai gathered nearly 80 new products from all exhibitors and 46 carefully selected pieces to create the New Product Launch gallery in Hall 1. This area will serve as a physical showcase for the best-selected new design pieces.
PROJECT FORUM
The Kohler Exquisite x Design Shanghai Design Forum programme has earned a reputation as a leading global platform for design thought leadership and one of the most well-attended and comprehensive seminar programmes in Asia. The theme of the Kohler Exquisite x Design Shanghai Forum for this year is ‘Beyond Sustainability lies Recreational Design – Design for Well-Being’. The past few years have provided us with a greater awareness and understanding of our health and well-being, our ability to apply this to the design of our interiors, buildings and, most importantly, to apply it to ourselves. We engage with nature in a more authentic way, materials are natural or derived from nature, spaces are created that generate serenity and refreshment. Alongside the role of the natural world in design, AI and the Metaverse have established completely new parameters for us to live by and a rethinking of our relationship with physical space, but also of the way we see and create ourselves. Expect talks from Ben Wu, CEO and Design Director of W DESIGN, Yimeng Yu, designer, artist and teacher at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Jason Ren, Senior Director and Deputy General Manager (Guangdong) of Ronald Lu & Partners, Xie Ke, Founder of Signyan Design, Cheng Gong, Studio Director China of Snøhetta, and Xiang Li, Founder and CEO of X+Living Architectural Design. Alongside international icons such as Ross Lovegrove, Michael Young, Aldo Cibic, Zandra Rhodes, Satoshi Ohashi and Stefano Piontini.
CHINESE EXHIBITOR HIGHLIGHTS
Design Shanghai has established itself as an event that supports Chinese designers and brands, celebrating the country’s culture, traditions and craftsmanship. To celebrate 10 years, Design Shanghai has expanded by 50 per cent this year, alongside Hall 1 (Furniture & Lighting) and 2 (Kitchen & Bathroom Design and New Materials & Applications) the event will debut Hall 3: Living & Lifestyle Design Hall, a brand new offering for the homeware, interiors and accessories industry in China and from international suppliers.
Highlights include: Frank Chou Design Studio, which will present the Lento armchair, the Orbit sofa and its latest collection, the Stand coffee table. Singchan Design, the studio specialising in furniture and lighting, creates objects that link the past and the present. The cement brand NANCHOW has developed a contemporary sense and aesthetic out of traditional craftsmanship, dedicating itself to improving the quality of cement tiles and endowing them with new aesthetic values. ZSPACEPLUS is a collection of global home furnishing brands, featuring 8 different brands including SAAS Instruments who will present a new product ‘Sense Light Swing’, a luminaire that is also a moving and eye-catching work of art. Dasso is one of the global innovators in the bamboo industry, providing beautiful, durable and environmentally friendly bamboo products. Jianze believes that the power of design can inspire self-expression, break old standards and restrictions with an explorer’s attitude and redefine the ‘principles of space’. Of the seven products they will present, four will be new launches, including the Moments Showcase, the Seeds Storage System, the Pine-Pine Sofa and the Ripple System Nula, which means ‘going back to zero’ and symbolises both the beginning and the end, and challenging rules and traditions highlights the brand’s philosophy to go back to basics and create a dialogue between East and West, past and future, craftsmanship and technology, with the brand showcasing their Flow and Instant collections.Young Song Design is managed by Young Song, founder and president of Song + Associates, an architect, engineer and interior designer with over 32 years of extensive experience, recognised for his creative concepts and functionally responsive designs.Donxi is a boutique furniture brand focused on exploring the essence of Eastern and Western cultures and fusing the two to develop new classic design elements. Outdoor furniture brand Kun Design explores the natural trend in urban living and uses its flexible design to expand the relevance of the environmental experience between outdoor and indoor spaces. Presenting two collections and three products, their Lotus Outdoor Function Island is a new launch.
NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH HIGHLIGHTS
Stellar Works is the contemporary design brand that unites East and West, heritage and modernity, craftsmanship and industry, inspired by the idea of bringing about a revival of traditional motifs and forms of Asian design heritage with European styles. Stellar Works will present the Chinese debut of the ‘Utility Lounge Chair Two Seater’. Over the past two decades, FULI has dedicated itself to the exploration of Chinese heritage and the innovation of handcrafted carpets, particularly in the digital age fuelled by technological advancement. FULI collaborated with Dame Zandra Rhodes, to present the global debut of the Lipsticks tapestry, an evolution of the 1968 lipstick motif is one of Rhodes’ classic print designs.
Benwu Studio is a multidisciplinary design studio that has worked internationally with clients such as Hermes, Isabel Marant, BMW, Swarovski, Perrier Jouet and the V&A Museum. Studio Benwu will launch the global debut of Hongchao Wang’s ‘Triomphe Floorlamp’. For the official brand launch Chen Darui will present the ‘China Chair’, the design reflects the characteristics of this era, that of constant reconstruction. Chen Darui perceives design as born from ‘demolition’ and aims to dismantle the functional pretensions of modernism, to give them new conceptual pretensions. VINEKO is a brand born out of a passion for shaping fulfilling lives through carefully crafted outdoor furniture and will present the Chinese debut of the Soul Collection, by designer Enrique Martí. Another new product launch they will present is the Mia Collection, by designer Benta Wiley, a collection of great richness and colour, combined with different materials and techniques.
Junse is a multidisciplinary service brand that embodies the philosophy of integrating art, design and life to create a platform for the exchange of creative ideas and works between exceptional artists and designers from around the world. In collaboration with designer Shen Zhanjun, the brand will present five new pieces inspired by the human skeleton. The lighting brand SEEDDESIGN lives by the philosophy of following people’s desires and needs rather than trends, the brand name comes from what their products embody, the lamps resemble Simplicity and Elegance, what they create will last an eternity and ultimately their goal is to Delight. They will present the global launch of WING, by designer Wang Shengwen. With bold yet subtle design elements and a dual lighting function, WING strikes a beautiful balance between imagination and realisation, seamlessly weaving light into dynamic beauty. designshanghai.com
