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LONDON : A new exhibition in London called China Design Now is bringing a new wave of Chinese design to an international audience for the first time.
The exhibition will take visitors on a journey through three of China's major cities exploring the recent boom in architecture, fashion and graphic design.
China Design Now also hopes it is vibrant showcase will challenge some preconceptions about China as it prepares to host the Olympic Games.
Work from about one hundred designers is featured here, 95 per cent of them Chinese.
As China's economy grows so too does its creative industry and as the China Design Now exhibition proves, China's design explosion is beginning to be felt around the world.
The exhibition at London's Victoria and Albert Museum is the first of its kind looking at new architecture, fashion and graphics, and hopes to challenge the conventional wisdom about China.
Lauren Parker, Curator, China Design Now, said: "I think people still have in their minds when they think about China, either a kind of classical China, the China of the Forbidden City or dragon robes or these memories of communist China, the sense of Mao suits and bicycles. I think what you get a sense from this show is a new new China - the China of the mid-1990s onwards, kind of the incredible economic, social and cultural transformations that are happening in China at the moment."
China Design Now is divided into three sections which relate to three of China's major cities.
Shenzhen, the city which gave birth to China's graphic design movement is featured, along with Shanghai's latest fashion designs and the architecture of Beijing.
The new exhibition offers an insight into the new consumer culture, where the demand for Western-style must-have items is being driven by China's new middle-class youth.
And as the Beijing Olympics loom, new architectural projects are also at the heart of the exhibition.
Ole Sheeren, Architect, CCTV building, said: "What has happened is really significant, maybe the most obvious is the built environment that has changed, where the number of buildings has simply doubled within this period of time. But also if you really look at the general cultural sensibility as it has emerged - the way that people dress, what kind of magazines are available in the streets, the way even the colour palette of the streets has changed."
As the pace of change in China gathers momentum a new generation of designers is ever keen to make their mark on the global design scene.
Over the next five months China Design Now will showcase the very latest in Chinese design, through fashion, architecture and graphics right here in the British capital. - CNA/ch
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