Now in its fifth edition, Design Shanghai (14-17 March) has established itself as the go-to exhibition for talents rooted in the heart of Oriental culture. Held in the Shanghai Exhibition Centre in the upscale city centre, it welcomes brands and designers from around the world to gather and showcase their creativity. Contemporary Chinese design is evolving, and Chinese elements are seen, not merely at the edges but in the nation’s core values – social and environmental – creating a lifestyle that facilitates and enhances its modern urban life. Here, we select our new talent highlights...
Wuu (opens in new tab)
Furong Chen started the brand WUU in 2014 and a year later won Design Shanghai’s China Emerging Chinese Designer Award. Dedicated to furniture, lighting and accessories design, Chen aims to produce timeless pieces in materials that focus on sustainability.
Jihe Studio (opens in new tab)
Tony Lee’s Shenzhen studio focuses on developing products for the home that are influenced by lines and clean surfaces with a strong minimalist aesthetic. One of his most important designs is Wait, a simple but versatile geometrical floor lamp.
Frank Chou Design Studio (opens in new tab)
Frank Chou Design Studio seeks to find a unique, modern expression of Chinese design while balancing the stylistic differences between East and West.
8 Hour Design (opens in new tab)
Designer, brand founder, businesswoman and mother, Sherry Xu aims to use design to balance work with the other aspects of one’s life. Born and trained in Shanghai, her ideas are mostly based on the city.
Endless Form (opens in new tab)
Founded by Zhang Zhoujie in 2014 and formally launched this year, Endless Form focuses on avant-garde, computer-aided designs while providing customisation services to shape and promote a new direction in the digital era.
Tells Studio (opens in new tab)
Tells studio was founded by Xinyu Dang and Jie He in 2015. Basing their work on craft and material research, the studio aims to balance the relationship between creativity and functionalism.
Zao Zuo (opens in new tab)
The brand caters to the rapidly growing Chinese middle class, offering furniture and lifestyle products manufactured in the country. Founder Shu Wei and Italian creative director Luca Nichetto this year launched their collaboration with China-based Japanese architect Shuhei Aoyama and French designer Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance.
Ey-products (opens in new tab)
Raffles Design Institute interior design graduates Jerry Huang and Eva Zhou co-founded Dongwest Design Studio in 2007, specialising in interior, exhibition and furniture design services. In 2010, they established the brand E-Y (which sounds like ‘surprise’ in Chinese) creating products, that aim to surprise.
Urban Craft Design (opens in new tab)
Founded by Ximi Li, Urban Craft seeks to integrate unique cultural elements of different regions around the world into its works. Li, who studied in China and Italy has worked for designers including Andrea Branzi, Luca Trazzi and Neri & Hu. (opens in new tab)
INFORMATION
Design Shanghai is on view from 14-17 March. For more information, visit the website (opens in new tab)
-
S94 Design makes the most of its uptown location to blur the lines of art and designS94 Design brings displays from Kwangho Lee, Donald Judd, Max Lamb and more to its Rafael Viñoly-designed location
-
Oasi Cashmere is taking Zegna back to its roots in the Italian Alps
Oasi Cashmere – an environmentally-conscious, all-embracing cashmere collection – is inspired by the Oasi Zegna nature park in the lush Biella Alps
-
Lynda Benglis’ seductive hall of mirrors and juicy neon eggs in London
American artist Lynda Benglis subverts expectations with new bronze sculptures and otherworldly coloured eggs in a new solo show at Thomas Dane Gallery, London
-
Design Miami 2022: highlights from the fair and around town
Design Miami 2022 (30 November – 4 December) aims at ‘rebooting the roots of our relationship with nature and collective structures, ecospheres, and urban contexts’
-
Design Miami/Basel 2022 explores the Golden Age
Design Miami/Basel 2022, led by curatorial director Maria Cristina Didero, offers a positive spin after the unprecedented times of the pandemic, and looks at the history and spirit of design
-
Design for Ukraine: Bocci and Design Miami join forces to raise funds
The online sale of iconic Bocci pieces will benefit GlobalGiving’s Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund, providing urgently needed humanitarian aid
-
Unique Design X Group champions next-generation designers in Miami
Nomadic design fair Unique Design X Group made its Miami debut in December 2021 with a dynamic, multicultural group of designers presented in the spaces of OMA’s Faena Park building, and with an outdoor skate park installation by Yinka Ilori
-
Avenue Road unveils new gallery concept 5oz in Miami
During Design Miami 2021, Avenue Road founder Stephan Weishaupt presented 5oz, a new gallery concept set within an art deco house, whose name references a party classic
-
Design Miami installation by USM and Joba Studio celebrates diversity in design
Margaret Waiyego Zollinger, Peter Mukhaye, and Amukelani Mathebula are winners of the Hue+Man Design Competition championed by USM, presented through an exhibition designed by Joba Studio at Design Miami
-
Mexican artists and designers experiment with Grupo Arca marbles
At their Wynwood showroom, Grupo Arca presents a series of expressive marble designs from a roster of Mexican artists and designers
-
Maison Perrier-Jouët invites us to connect with nature at Design Miami
Maison Perrier-Jouët presents Embodied nature, an interactive installation by the house’s long-term collaborators mischer'traxler unveiled during Design Miami 2021
