The 2017 China Design Forum

In the golden autumn of Beijing, with the arrival of autumn breeze came the coolness and also a major annual public-welfare event of design exchanges. September 16th saw the grand opening of the 2017 China Design Forum hosted by C Foundation.

China Design Forum is one of a series of events hosted by C Foundation. Themed “Design and Life”, the forum of 2017 is an enlightening event for philanthropy enthusiasts, designers and the public and inspires them to think further about life and design.

As the first voluntarily organized non-profit foundation in the design community of China, C Foundation is about to celebrate its third anniversary; in the morning session of the forum, Steve Leung, Executive Chair of C Foundation, looked back on the journey the foundation had taken and proposed the plan to establish C Foundation Academy and build it into the “West Point” in the Chinese design community, perpetuating C Foundation’s commitment to preserving heritage and developing design education.

Steve Leung, Executive Chair of C Foundation, looked back on the journey taken

Afterwards, representatives of some excellent public-welfare projects selected and financed by C Foundation shared the background, challenges and outcomes of their project.

Fan Ling, founder and CEO of Tezign

Design & Artificial Intelligence Report

Zhang Junru, founder and president of Beijing Golden Wings Arts Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Children

Project: Art Makes Dream Come True for Physically Challenged Children and Youngsters

Wang Mingchuan, President of Taiwan Association of Interior Designers

Taiwan-Strait Hand Drawing for Interior Design Competition and Relevant Exchanges

Shen Shaomin, artist

Documentary “Disappearing Villages”

Wang Lei, deputy design and architecture curator of M+, Hong Kong’s new museum of visual culture

Rethinking Pei: A Centenary Symposium

Luo Min, personnel in charge in Pule Tongxing Public-welfare Development Center for the Young, Yucheng District, Ya’an City

C Foundation Academy Project A: Xingchen Plan – C Foundation Academy, Xinhua Village

Yin Yanming, President and Design Director of Shenzhen Chuangyu Art Design Co., Ltd.

C Foundation Academy Project A: Third Space Renovation at Hewai Elementary School, Yuxi, Yunnan

Zhang Lei, Founder of “From Yuhang” Rong Design Library

Traditional Chinese Craft Materials Library

Directors of C Foundation granting certificates to excellent public-welfare projects

After the sharing by public-welfare projects, a representative of C Foundation volunteers earnestly and sincerely stated that “let the beauty we love become the thing we do”, which officially marked the beginning of C Foundation volunteer recruitment. The foundation called for more designers, students, employees and art enthusiasts who love creative industries, love life and love beauty to join the public-welfare design undertakings.

Representative of C Foundation volunteers read out the volunteer recruitment statement

In the afternoon, the roundtable forum themed “Design and Life” invited experts and scholars, artists, media representatives, designers and curators from various fields, including Zhu Qingsheng, Director of the International Committee of the History of Art and well-known art critic; Leslie Lu, Principal, Hong Kong Design Institute and Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (Lee Wai Lee), and Academic Director of Design Discipline in Vocational Training Council; Tang Keyang, Professor at Southern University of Science and Technology, curator, art critic and architectural designer; Fei Jun, artist, designer, initiator of Interactive Beijing and Head of CAFA Media Lab; Liang Shanying, head of Alipay UED, Ant Financial; Wei Yiping, CEO of Songguo Life, Sanlian Life Weekly; Zhang Xiaodong, book artist and inheritor of intangible cultural heritage – Dragon-Scale Binding; and Steve Leung, Executive Chair of C Foundation and President-elect of International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers (IFI) 2017-2019. Together the participants discussed the contemporary and future life and design, the social responsibilities and humanistic approach of art and design, the pathway for design to become actually and quintessentially relevant in people’s life, and the new connection and bond between designers and the public in the Internet context.

At last, Zhu Qingsheng, chairman of the roundtable meeting and also Director of the International Committee of the History of Art and well-known art critic, summarized the views expressed and shared his own thoughts as a conclusion: The issues we discussed seem to, on the surface, concern aesthetic value and appeal, but they boil down to responsibilities of art and design. The aesthetic is the foundation of design. Nowadays we realize that design is no longer just about decoration or visual things on the surface; it is essentially about people. The relationship between designers and recipients is undergoing a profound change, which, in a sense, is the manifestation of democratic participation in the design community. Designers, whether they are senior or young, all have the responsibility to show their care to the society so that the design community in China becomes an active community that consists of truly responsible people.

Summary by Zhu Qingsheng, Director of the International Committee of the History of Art and well-known art critic