Design and fashion take center stage in Shenzhen to showcase local culture

Shenzhen Design Week, which wrapped up on May 6, vibrantly showcased the city's ongoing effort to rebrand itself within the culture and fashion scene, according to local officials.

With the theme "Design for a Better Life", the event kicked off on April 27, featuring a wide range of cultural activities and exhibitions. Besides the opening ceremony, the City of Design Roundtable Dialogue and the World Designers Congress, the Kunpeng Global Design Award ceremony and award-winning works' exhibition were held, along with a series of brand promotion events.

Representatives from the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and the International Council of Design, and industrial insiders from Asia, North America, Europe, as well as representatives from Hong Kong, Macao, designers from cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Chongqing, and experts and scholars from domestic design schools, were invited to the event.

Rebranding city's role

Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong province is known as one of the country's primary tech hubs. In 2023, the city government released a three-year action plan with the goal of building itself into a "City of Design". In the inaugural year of that action plan and the seventh year since the establishment of Shenzhen Design Week, Shenzhen revamped the positioning and operation of its design week event to create a multilayered exhibition and communication platform.

In the new context, more than 20 series of branded events, including the fashion week events and other key innovative design activities throughout the year, are organized under the Shenzhen Design Week framework and serve as an experiential platform for urban management and improving residents' quality of life.

The just-concluded Design Week advocated the fusion of design and creative industries, and utilized various forms of creative design activities to promote Shenzhen's industrial development. During the roundtable dialogue, a special segment was organized to facilitate design industry exchanges among global design organizations, institutions, businesses and schools, catalyzing collaboration and innovation in the global design sector.

Subactivities of the Design Week were organized throughout the city, with each having its own features. One major highlight came from the design work of Dream Wings, which was exhibited at the Rail In shopping mall. The Shenzhen city image film Leading the Way, which premiered at the opening ceremony of the Design Week, has become a sensation. Consisting of more than 700 components in its intricate structure, the work embodies a tangible expression of the spirit of Shenzhen.

An international typography design exhibition, another representative activity affiliated with the Design Week, was held at the Nantou Ancient Town in the city. It showcased a respected attitude to the long-standing Chinese characters and allowed visitors to explore the potential of future design.

Many young students came to the exhibition, among them one surnamed Lu, a sophomore from Guangzhou. "We are very interested in design. We heard the activities of the Shenzhen Design Week are particularly rich, so we finally came during the May Day holiday to see this horizon-broadening event," said Lu.

The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao Digital Creative Design Exhibition also attracted a large number of visitors with its imaginative design, interactive experiences and strong visual impact. A female visitor described the exhibition as "refreshing, as some traditional cultural elements became more vivid and interesting through digital technology. It was delightful to see so many cutting-edge works in Shenzhen that were aligned with new media trends".

In addition, several exhibition areas in Shekou, Overseas Chinese Town and Nanshan Museum have attracted many local visits with diverse traditional craftsmanship revival projects, contemporary art, and light and shadow design.

Appealing award and works

On April 27, the Shenzhen Global Design Awards, known as the Kunpeng Global Design Award, were handed out after evaluating about 5,000 entries from 18 countries and regions. After a professional evaluation by 25 international and domestic judges, a total of 331 award-winning works were selected in the five major design categories of urban design, industrial design, fashion design, digital design, and communication design, with total prize money of 5 million yuan($691,970).

Zhang Ling, head of the city's communication department, said this year marks the 16th year since Shenzhen was awarded the title of "City of Design" by the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, and noted the Kunpeng award emphasizes respecting traditional culture and drawing design inspiration from the long history of civilization and distinctive local culture. "In Shenzhen, every creative idea will be respected. Shenzhen will create a better environment for the design industry and promote the commercialization of award-winning works," said Zhang.

As a core component of the Shenzhen Design Week, the award was supported by the organizing committee of the Shenzhen Design Week and administrated by the Shenzhen Innovation and Creative Design Development Office.

This year's gold award winner in fashion design is the Dragon Flight brooch designed by Shenzhen Yinghe Taifu Jewelry. The brooch integrates poetry, painting and Chinese philosophy, evoking thoughts and nostalgia with its romantic and aesthetic design. Its lead designer, jewelry artist Wu Fenghua, said the inspiration for the piece came from a line in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) poem Spring River in Flower Moon Night. The core design concept aims to express the ultimate life ideal of transforming like a fish into a dragon and benefiting the world.

Ni Qiaobo, a project officer of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and UNESCO Cities Platform, said Shenzhen is the first city in China to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. With the successful organization of the Shenzhen Design Week accompanied by many other activities, Ni said Shenzhen plays a leading role and has achieved significant accomplishments regarding tech-driven development and innovation. It is also gaining increasing recognition internationally.

Alessandro Antonicelli, a design teacher from Italy, said the Shenzhen Design Week was very important for the creation of design culture in the city because it provides a platform for people to think and learn more about design, while Dhruv Bharat Shah from Kenya said:"I learned different concepts of design and what design means to my peers in different industries. And that makes a big difference to someone like me who's not a design student."

The City of Design Roundtable Dialogue is held during the 2024 Shenzhen Design Week event. Provided to China Daily

A major piece of art embodying the Shenzhen spirit is exhibited during the design week event. Provided to China Daily