INSPIRING SHANGHAI

I have just arrived back from Shanghai which I can only say has been nothing short of inspiring. Meeting individuals in the creative industry has been a truly wonderful experience with the interaction being open and so incredibly full of humility.....something which I find so lacking on South African territory. The energy and buzz in the design world is so tangible and there is a willingness to share information and  to collaborate which one can attribute to the reason that it is fast becoming a creative capital of the world accompanied by the fact that China has just been named the second super power of the world.

So here are just a few things which caught my eye in Shanghai.

A brilliant book featuring the work of 30 graphic designers who are all in their 30's!

Furniture by Design MVW

Chen Hangfeng - Graphic Designer

Han Feng

One of the highlights of my trip was reconnecting with a Han Feng - an endearing and seriously talented designer who I had met earlier at the Design Indaba this year. Han's work fuses elements of Chinese cultural themes and motifs but is contemporary and directional. Her recent costumes for Handel's 'Semele' premiered at Brussels La Monnaie Opera House to great acclaim and she is currently working on the costume for Italian opera Misfortune to be directed by Chen Shi-Zheng with music composed by Judith Weir and opening in 2012 at Covent Garden, London.

Costume for Handel's 'Semele' by Han Feng and directed by Amy Tan