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Art | 12 Oct 2011

Highlights from Beijing Design Week 2011

751 D-Park
One of the back alleys of 751 D-Park - the main hub of the inaugural Beijing Design Week. A striking cluster of disused boiler towers, railroad tracks and chimneys, it once served as a gas power plant, and has become the go-to location for creative events in the city

751 D-Park
’Urban Body’, built out of shipping pallets by students from Tsinghua University, set against the park’s industrial backdrop

751 D-Park
Poster by Goddur, a professor of graphic design at the Iceland Academy of Arts, presented by the Embassy of Iceland

751 D-Park
Another poster by Goddur, who studied fine art alongside Fluxus artists Dieter Roth and Hermann Nitsch

751 D-Park
’Breathing Cloud’ by Dorette Sturm, part of the Liberation of Light exhibition at the Dutch Design Generator

751 D-Park
’Intimacy’, a dress by Studio Roosegaarde, made out of smart e-foils that turns opaque on close contact

751 D-Park

’Strand bicycle’ by Tjeerd Veenhoven is an ’ordinary’ carbon fibre bike, exhibited in the ’Connecting Concepts’ show at the Dutch Design Generator

751 D-Park
Modular yin and yang-inspired seating by Harrison Liu

751 D-Park
Lucite table with traditional treatment, by Zhou Qi Yue

751 D-Park
Shelving unit by Song Tao

751 D-Park
Angular chair by Song Tao

751 D-Park
Experimentations in plastic, by Zi Zao She

Dashilar Alley
Across town, Beijing Design Week also orchestrated a series of pop-up shops, eateries and exhibitions in Dashilar Alley - one of the city’s many hutongs, emphasising the value of these heritage areas to locals and visitors alike. Pictured here is Wonderwater, a temporary restaurant conceived by Helsinki Design Week that factors in the water footprint of its dishes

Dashilar Alley
Assorted tripe stew being prepared at Wonderwater

Dashilar Alley
Ready to break into our our sterilised cups and plates wrapped in plastic

Dashilar Alley
The courtyard within Ab Rogers’ ’A day in the life of Ernesto Bones’ - an exhibition based on the surrealist game ’Exquisite Corpse’ created by creatives including Heston Blumenthal and Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic

Dashilar Alley
The poster for Ab Rogers’ fictional ’Ernesto Bones’ exhibition

Dashilar Alley
Sunglasses on offer at the Wu Hao pop-up boutique. The holistic concept store is a result of Isabelle Pascal’s fascination with Chinese philosophy’s ’five elements’

Dashilar Alley
Each room in the pop-up shop is themed according to the four seasons, like this one, which depicts Autumn...

Dashilar Alley
... and this ’Winter’ room

Dashilar Alley
Tea table, made out of crates, with built in ceramic heater, electric water outlet and water collecting tank, by Nai Han Li

Dashilar Alley
Wu Hao’s in-store teahouse, operated by Tranquil Tuesdays that specialises in unscented and unblended Chinese teas

Dashilar Alley
Tins of Tranquil Tuesdays’ tea

Dashilar Alley
The five varieties of Chinese teas: Pu-Er, white, oolong, green and black

Dashilar Alley
A tea cabinet at Wu Hao

Dashilar Alley
’M2B’ kinetic sculpture by Niko de la Faye, partly inspired by the overloaded bicycles of local junk collectors

Dashilar Alley
Vintage notebooks and ephemera at Lost & Found’s pop-up

Dashilar Alley
The nostalgic interior at the Lost & Found pop-up

Dashilar Alley
Tianjin iron pipe chair, part of Lost & Found’s new furniture collection, inspired by ubiquitous Chinese furniture from the 1950s and 1960s

Dashilar Alley
The furniture boutique, which is based in Guozijian street, also reinvigorating old Chinese trinkets to give them a modern bent, like this enamel mug

Dashilar Alley
A deconstruction of Lost & Found’s Danwei chair - a modern take on the traditional Ming Dynasty chair, known for the way that it is held together without the aid of glue, nail or screw

Dashilar Alley
Limited edition Teasilk collection by avant-garde fashion label Ruxi. The all-natural capsule collection - made from silk and linen - was dyed with traditional methods, such as using mud and root vegetables

Dashilar Alley
Bar, with wine cooler, ice-maker, built-in sink and more, by Nai Han Li

Liang Dian
Party decorations at the opening of Liang Dian, Beijing’s first design centre. Located in an ex-computer assembly factory, the renovated 8-storey building provides studio office space and a gallery for a community of architects, lighting designers and young talent