Business of Design Week 2016 The Transformational Spirit of Chicago Winds Its Way to Hong Kong

BODW2016 Press Release

[HONG KONG – 3 November 2016, 2016] The Business of Design Week (BODW), Asia’s leading annual design event, returns 28 November to 3 December, 2016, to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre for another informative year. The conference gathers pioneering designers and creative executives from across the world and different disciplines to share their insights and stories, and to explore new ideas and trends in design, business, technology and branding.

2016 Partner City – Chicago

With an illustrious reputation as the influential centre of American architecture, the ‘Windy City’ in Illinois has long been associated with landmark buildings. As BODW’s 2016 partner city, its ‘ChicagoMade’ slogan will be a theme at this year’s forum. Numerous Chicago architecture and creative experts will offer their insights on design and architectural topics from urban renewal to public space usage.

A prime example is the Chicago Riverwalk, a contemporary urban planning project on public land started in 2001 and completed this year. Its new waterfront has redefined the downtown core integrating a scenic new pedestrian walk with its historic neo-classical skyscrapers. Carol Ross Barney, Design Principal of Ross Barney Architects, the head design firm for The Chicago Riverwalk, will speak on the topic on the first day plenary this year. She will share her architectural insights and experiences on sustainability issues and working on public space. In the same plenary, Carlo Ratti, Director at MIT Senseable City Lab and Founder of Carlo Ratti Associati, will discuss his interactive vision of architecture that senses and responds.

Plenary II will feature the unique creative vision of design thinker Tim Brown, CEO and President of IDEO, as well as Dutch landscape architect Winy Maas, Co-founding Director of MVRDV; and French Botanist & Artist Patrick Blanc.

Online Business Trends

This year’s Brand Asia Forum theme is ‘Brand & Innovation’ and Tencent’s Corporate Vice President Julian Ma will be the keynote speaker imparting his thoughts on growth trends and strategies of Tencent’s map, vehicle connectivity and autonomous driving business.

Two retail experts from prominent brands will enlighten with their expertise. Rowan Lodge, Head of Retail Design and Development at Aēsop, and Miguel Fluxà Orti, CEO of Spanish shoemaker Camper, will lead the discussion with their branding genius and experience.

In addition, Raaja Nemani, Co-founder and CEO of Bucketfeet, the Chicago label specialising in artist-designed casual footwear, will elaborate on his effort in turning art and creative design into economics.

Local Artist Going Global

Hong Kong illustrator Victo Ngai, who will appear in the Communication & Design session, produces works of vivid colours with fantastic imagery. She will detail her inspiring story from dreaming in Hong Kong to achieving success in the United States. Plus, Wesley Grubbs, Founder and Creative Director of San Francisco’s Pitch Interactive, will detail his data visualisation work in infographics.

The Product & Design session features Scott Wilson, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Chicago-based MINIMAL, a design firm known for its innovative product design. He will share his expertise in product development and technology integration. Joining him are Nicol Boyd and Tomas Rosén, who will explain the importance of simple and practical design and why they launched Office for Product Design.

3D Printing for Product Design

Those curious about the potential of 3D printing should check out the Tech & Design session. Speaking is Netherlands’s Gijs van der Velden, Co-founder and Chief Managing Officer of groundbreaking robotic 3D print tech firm MX3D, who has used 3D printing technology to create bicycles and bridges.

For the new Workspace & Design session, South Korea’s Younjin Jeong will elaborate on URBANTAINER, the famous Seoul shopping mall ‘Common Ground’ created entirely from shipping containers.

A ‘Food & Design’ New Entrée

Food-lovers can whet their appetite for the new session titled Food & Design, featuring Martin Kastner who is on the Future Laboratory’s list of the 100 most influential individuals in contemporary design. His company Crucial Detail collaborates with Chicago’s top chefs to create innovative tools and utensils.

Other inspiring guests include internationally acclaimed American artist Janet Echelman, who incorporates wind, water and light to create multi-media public environment art. In the Plenary III: Culture & The City session, she will talk about her experience combining art and technology.

Architect Minsuk Cho, Principal of Seoul studio Mass Studies, and Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher, Helen Hilton Raiser Curator of Architecture + Design at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, will explore the interaction between architecture, design, culture and cities.

Apart from the four-day BODW conference, this year’s schedule will include deTour’s series of exhibitions, workshops and programmes for the general public, and the annual DFA Awards Presentation Ceremony organised by the Hong Kong Design Centre to promote and recognise outstanding industry professionals. The diverse range of events brings the design world’s best to Hong Kong, allowing creative and professional experts to network and exchange ideas, while encouraging artists and businesses to unleash the power of design. It is also a chance for Hong Kong to showcase its dynamic design and innovation appeal.

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About Hong Kong Design Centre

Design for Society is the major undertaking of Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC). HKDC is a non-profit organisation and a strategic partner of the HKSAR Government in developing Hong Kong as an international design hub in Asia. Since 2002, HKDC has been on a public mission to (i) champion strategic and wider use of design for creating business value and community benefits; (ii) promote and celebrate design excellence; and (iii) educate the professions and the community to be resourceful champions for sustained developments through design and innovation.

About Business of Design Week

Business of Design Week (BODW) is a flagship event organised by Hong Kong Design Centre since 2002. The week-long design, innovation and branding event is a valuable platform for participants to network, exchange ideas and explore business cooperation. With CreateHK as major sponsor, each year BODW attracts to Hong Kong outstanding international designers and influential design executives who inspire with their creative thinking and design management.

This year’s partner city is Chicago and the conference theme ‘ChicagoMade’ focuses on reinventing, conceiving and branding development through creative thinking and new ideas. This year’s sessions will explore various topics such as the Brand Asia Forum, Communication & Design, Product & Design, DFA: Design For Asia, Tech & Design, Workspace & Design, Food & Design, and Culture & The City.

Re-imagining new possibilities for cities, economy & wellbeing #bodw2016 #fashionasiahk #hongkong

I take pleasure to share with you the exciting BODW 2016 programme and the speakers’ line-up that we have for you.

In this edition of BODW 2016 (28 Nov – 3 Dec), the BODW 2016 Forum will take place from 30 Nov – 3 Dec. There will be a new FASHION ASIA 2016 HONGKONG Forum on 28-29 Nov. and 10 Asian Designers To Watch through the week.  

Design is beyond aesthetics, functionality and efficiency. The great act of designing calls for our ability to read deep into people’s behaviour, to understand our environment and culture, and to co-create solutions for better quality of living, user experience and well-being. Creativity aside, design is serious business too. 

Facing our future with competition, uncertainty and complexity, BODW embodies great minds, innovative designs and projects that inspires us to re-imagine new possibilities for our city and economy.

For the BODW 2016 Forum, we have a string of business and creative minds from Chicago to substantiate the ChicagoMade spirit of re-invigorating and futuring. Altogether, we have a global mix of speakers, such as:

·       Design Thinking guru Tim Brown (USA)

·       Carlo Ratti of MIT Senseable City Lab (USA)

·       Vertical Wall Garden Designer Patrick Blanc (France)

·       A Great River Chicago Architect Carol Ross Barney and expert in architecture of public places and spaces (Chicago, USA)

·       Illustrator Victo Ngai – Forbes 30 under 30 illustrators & Society of Illustrator Gold Medalist (USA/HK)

·       Infographics & Data Visualization Designer Wesley Grubbs (USA)

·       Designing Smart Cities from Open Data to Array of Things John Tolva (Chicago, USA)

·       Reinterpreting places and spaces, Architect, urban designer & landscape architect Winy Maas (NL) 

·       Urban Transformation Artist & Sculptor Janet Echelman (USA)

·       Beyond typography Graphic Designer, Ahn Sang-soo (S. Korea)

·       Future Work Designers Jeremy Myerson (UK) & Philip Ross (UK)

·       Beyond Product Design for brands & startups Nicol Boyd & Tomas Rosén (HK)

·       Future Wheelchair Designer Satoshi Sugie (Japan)

·       Brand-defining & Venture-oriented Product Designer Scott Wilson (Chicago, USA)

·       Futuring hospitality with digital by Richard Hatter (HK)

·       Charting Future Architect Jeanne Gang (Chicago, USA)

·       Naman Retreat Designer, Vo Trong Nghia Architects (Vietnam)

·       Eating Designer Marije Vogelzang (The Netherlands)

·       Designer Martin Kastner (Chicago, USA), Future Laboratory’s list of 100 most influential individuals in contemporary design, with collaboration with the world’s finest chefs, bars, hoteliers

·       Award-winning architect of Korean Pavilion at World Expo 2010 Shanghai & Venice Biennale 2014, Minsuk Cho (S. Korea)

·       Under-Secretary for the Environment Christine Loh & Design Architect Thomas Schinko: T-Park as a new green force for the community (HK)

·       Vicky Chen (designing Hayashi as a cultural window to Tainan, Taiwan)

·       WKCD updates by CEO Duncan Pescod (HK)

·       Renowned museum leaders and curators including Alice Black of The Design Museum (UK), Zoë Ryan of The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, USA), Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher of SFMOMA (USA)

We also have an exciting line-up of speakers from brands to talk about innovation and enterprising creativity, and strategic deployment of design, digital, art and technology for business strategy, branding, experiential customer engagement and stakeholder value delivery. Participating brands include Tencent, Porsche Design, LG, Aesop, Camper, Airbnb, Hotel ICON, Bucketfeet and many more. 

During the week-long event, there will also be a new FASHION ASIA 2016 HONGKONG Forum (on 28-29 Nov) where around 300 brand creators, strategists, designers, marketers, buyers, media and industry professionals gather to discuss fashion disruption and revitalisation. The 2-day fashion conference focusing on “Commerce Re-shaped” and “Brand, Image & Media” will address key Fashion Challenges faced by brands and retailers and the changing roles of players of the fashion ecosystem in the new economic order.

There will be a mix of talks, interviews and panel discussions. We anticipate the following speakers such as:

·       Burak Cakmak (Dean, School of Fashion, Parsons School of Design)

·       Tom Chapman (Co-founder of MatchesFashion.com)

·       Caroline Issa (Chief Executive & Fashion Director of TANK Magazine)

·       Andrew Keith (President, Lane Crawford & Joyce)

·       Jason Wu (Fashion Designer)

·       Stefano Martinetto (CEO of Tomorrow Showroom)

·       Antoine Floch (Co-founder and Creative Director of MAN/WOMAN Showroom)

·       Fan Yang (Founder of YCO Foundation)

·       Christopher Raeburn (Fashion Designer)

·       Chris Morton (Co-founder and CEO of Lyst)

·       Patrick Li (Founder and Creative Director of Li, Inc.)

·       Ryuta Shiiki (Founder & CEO of Dream Link Entertainment)

·       Luke Grana (Co-founder and CEO of Grana)

There will also be a week-long showcase of “10 Asian Designers To Watch” at PMQ. Among the 10 designers selected, 3 are from HK and others from Mainland China (3), Japan (1), S.Korea (2) & Malaysia (1). They are selected by an international judging panel, out of a list of names contributed by the Fashion Advisory Group members and our consultants/advisors. Each of the 10 designers will present a pre-season /capsule collection with 5 looks to showcase their brand stories, creativity and craftsmanship.

Excellent learning, exchange & networking opportunities. BODW 2016, in association with the new Fashion Asia 2016, will make this week a unique programme of its kind. Together with exhibitions for the public and trades, namely the IDT Expo (HKTDC), other concurrent programmes such as Business of Intellectual Property Conference (HKSAR Government, HKTDC, HKDC), Global Design Network Conference (Federation of HK Design Associations, HKDC) and the deTour (PMQ, HKDC) community programme, this week will attract 100+ international and local speakers, 100,000+ participants from around the world, as well as global media representatives.

The BODW 2016 Gala Dinner will take place at HKCEC on Fri, 2 Dec. There will also be a Fashion Gala Evening on Mon, 28 Nov at Hotel ICON. 

Design is about attitude, aesthetic & cultural sensibility, strategy, competence and solution. Tackling challenges, we need human-centred design, creative mindset, empathy muscles, collaborative synergy and business rigour.  

With a broad scope of Design embracing fashion, product, communication, tech, workspace, food, and culture and the city, the programme is for decision makers, strategists, brand and creative leaders, city planners, innovators, architects, designers, marketers, educators, entrepreneurs, technologists, trend forecasters, researchers, students and the public.

Don’t miss the BODW 2016 programme, see you there!  

Buy tickets now (early bird till end-October)   www.bodw.com; www.fashionasiahk.com 

(BODW substantiates the stewardship and sponsorship of CreateHK in advancing design, fashion and creative industry development. It, together with our other programmes and platforms, underpins the unique public mission of Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC) in shaping wider and strategic use of design as integral part of our city, economy, living and the culture.)