One, two, three, go!

On December 3rd, C Foundation celebrated its anniversary and also availed itself of the occasion to look back before marching forward.

This year, C Foundation celebrated its fourth anniversary and the path of design for public good it has traveled for four years.

On December 3rd, C Foundation, together with KUKA Home, hosted Warmth | Design for China · 2018 C Foundation Charity Night. Over 300 experts, scholars, designers, entrepreneurs and media representatives from all over China gathered in Himalayas Center, Shanghai, jointly contributing to foundation’s commitment to design for public good, a mission that asks the design industry and designers to take on more social responsibilities for the wider world through involvement and engagement in charity work.

All Directors of C Foundation expressing gratitude on the stage

C Foundation: Living up to its mission

Liang Jianguo, Executive Chair of C Foundation 2018-2019

Director Liang Jianguo will serve as Executive Chair for another year and lead C Foundation to forge ahead.

In 2018, C Foundation has seen an increase in the number of Directors, Secretariat staff members and volunteers. According to the summary of Executive Chair Liang Jianguo, the number of Directors increased from 10 at the onset to 13 in 2017 and then 17 in 2018, all of whom play an active part in decision-making; the Secretariat of C Foundation has set a work group in Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai respectively, and the volunteer system has been initially put in place. It is worth noting that the 2018 China Design Forum held in September this year reiterated the social responsibilities of designers and stated that design should be more valuable.

For the year ended November 31st, 2018, C Foundation altogether financed 14 non-profit projects and operated 9, spending a total of RMB 6.9694 million on the projects. Every donation is treated earnestly and cautiously, and every expenditure is transparent.

Executive Chair Liang Jianguo reviewed the major events and milestones of C Foundation in 2018

The focus of 2018-2019 is four-pronged, specifically (1) developing education; (2) improving rules and mechanism and value-based goals; (3) expanding and upgrading quality projects; (4) enhancing brand understanding and adopting new and more professional approaches to operate the foundation.

Executive Chair Liang Jianguo, along with all the other Directors of C Foundation, expressed special thanks to the strategically partnering enterprises, enterprises and individuals making non-profit contribution and the general public that have supported C Foundation’s work in the year. Towards the end of the charity summary report, he promised, slowly but firmly: “C Foundation would make the best use of time and live up to your expectation and its mission!”

The 2018 Charity Night of C Foundation

Charity work exhibition zone of the 2018 Charity Night

Strategic partners of charity

Seeing beauty in design

One common reason for foundations that can thrive and chase dreams is the kindness and support they receive from many different entities. For C Foundation, Red Star Macalline and KUKA Home are two such examples. The two enterprises, leading players in the Chinese home decoration market, are co-hosts of the 2018 Charity Night, annual strategic partners for charity and also witness to the development of the foundation. Executives of the enterprises shared their vision about Chinese design making life better.

Che Jianfang, Vice General Manager, Red Star Macalline Group Co., Ltd.

“The Charity Night is about design, charity and our home. We have been working with C Foundation to do something together. Red Star Macalline is very happy about that and grateful to C Foundation for the opportunity,” said Che Jianfang, Vice General Manager of Red Star Macalline Group Co., Ltd. She also expressed the hope that designers can give more support to the home decoration industry and bring elements of design to innumerable homes.

Gu Jiangsheng, President of KUKA Home Group Co., Ltd.

This year is the fifth year that KUKA Home has been a strategic charity partner of C Foundation and the second year that it has co-hosted Charity Night. KUKA Home has always believed that the primary productivity of original design enterprises is definitely productivity. “Good designs need to be showcased on a platform. Only when home decoration manufacturers, sales platform and designers work together can we jointly usher in an era of design for Chinese home decoration and establish a global presence for Chinese home decoration,” said Gu Jiangsheng, President of KUKA Home.

Representatives of public-welfare projects

Gratitude goes beyond words and doubling down is the only way to express appreciation

What are donations that embody donors’ good will used for, and how are they used? Representatives of public-welfare projects funded by C Foundation answered the questions during the event.

Zhou Guoyue, Executive Vice President of Hangzhou Nabel Ceramics, a strategic partner of charity for C Foundation, took the stage with some ceramic tiles as a special gift and expressed his gratitude: “I want to thank C Foundation and in particular Mr. Zhang for applying traditional craftsmanship to our ceramic tiles.”

As the audience was wondering what that was about, Zhang Lei, founder of “From Yuhang” Rong Design Library, explained that Rong Design Library, financially supported by C Foundation, had completed a general survey of traditional craftsmanship as well as materials and processes over the past three years. The survey is the most basic source of information and the root for Chinese designers where you can find all the DNA and origin of design.

Building on this general survey, Rong Design Library moves into a new phase starting from this year, which is in-depth research of craftsmanship processes in the 31 provinces of China. The first project in the new phase is “research of colors and textures of traditional materials”, a project carried out in cooperation with C Foundation and Nabel Ceramics, and research outcomes of the year was released in the freshly concluded Guangzhou Design Week.

Designers of “From Yuhang” Rong Design Library

“The gratitude we harbor for everything goes beyond words, and the only way to repay our debt of gratitude is to double down on our efforts,” Wang Xingze, Director of Rong Design Library, affectionately said following the release of the color research project in Guangzhou.

Su Yijun, head of the “Miniature of Beijing City in Qing Dynasty” project

Another representative of public-welfare projects is Su Yijun, the post-90 head of the “Miniature of Beijing City in Qing Dynasty” project. He said: “I want to thank many people tonight. Thanks to C Foundation’s financial support to our project, Miniature of Beijing City in Qing Dynasty, our team was able to artistically revive the ancient Beijing city with pixels on a game platform.”

Representatives of public-welfare projects receiving financial support are increasingly young, which indicates that more promising young people are cutting a figure. The Chinese design community is charged with more responsibilities for charity and thus has a greater mission to fulfill.

Outside, the night is getting darker and colder, but inside we feel warm and energized. We will continue to march forward with gratitude.