HONG KONGKEY ASPECTS

BENJAMIN CREEK

S3083541

RMIT INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

TEDDY LO

Hong Kong-based LED artist known for his work in the “tech-art” scene. He has held exhibitions in the United States, Europe, and Asia.Lo studied advertising design at the Art Cen-ter College of Design in Pasadena, California, where he began exploring the use of light-emit-ting diodes in art; he relocated to New York City after his graduation in 2002. He began his ca-reer in the advertising industry, but at the same time pursue art-using LED as his medium.In 2003, Lo held his first solo art exhibition, Morphology, in New York City. He was named in Lighting magazine’s “Who’s Who of Lighting 2004”, for his contribution to the lighting industry.Since then, Lo has held solo exhibitions in vari-ous locations, including Russell Simmons’ Art for Life in NYC, Luminal in Frankfurt, the 2006 National Day Singapore Expo at The Esplanade and Microwave’s “A-Glow-Glow” outdoor Media Art Exhibition at Hong Kong Museum of Art.Lo is currently undertaking a master’s degree in lighting technology offered by the Queensland University of Technology in Australia. In addition to continuing his artistic pursuits, Lo is the founder and Chief Vision Officer of LED Artist Limited, an innovative LED experience de-sign company with offices in Hong Kong, Shang-hai and New York.

1. PhaeodariaTeddy Lo’s audiovisual interactive exhibition held in Hong Kong combining mobile and LED art.

2. Hong Kong’s First 100% LED lighting illuminated office complexLEDARTIST designed Hong Kong’s first office illuminated with 100% LED lighting in both its interior & exterior spaces. This 600sqm space is powered by over 10 different types of LED fixtures with 70% of the lights are controlled by motion sensors to provide convenience for staff and minimize energy con-sumption.

3. Interior lighting InstallationLEDARTIST’s interior lighting design for the showroom at Cotco’s head office in the Science Park of Hong Kong. (Teddy Lo pictured)

4. LED façadeLEDARTIST’s fully animated mega-scale LED façade festive lighting for the developer’s Tsim Sha Tsui Centre and Empire Centre in Hong Kong. Merging creative lighting design and environmental LED technology, the installation consists of the design of lighting for 3 building façades. Utilizing LED lighting consumes the façade uses 80% less energy than traditional alternatives.

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PEOPLE

LORRAINE JUSTICE

Dr. Lorraine Justice is currently the Swire Chair Professor and Director of the School of Design at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She has served in higher education for the past 20 years, in the areas of design research, industrial design and computer interface design. Dr. Jus-tice was responsible for co-organizing the First China-USA Industrial Design Conference in Bei-jing, and the first Doctoral Education in Design Conference in Ohio, both well-attended inter-national events. She also serves on the edito-rial board of three international design journals, International Journal of Design, Design Studies and The Design Journal, as well as jurist and reviewer for international conferences. She has twice served on the Business Week/IDSA IDEA jury for best products and is a jurist for interna-tional paper competitions. Professor Justice was named one of the top 40 influential designers in the world by I.D. Magazine in New York City for 2006. In September 2008, she gained the IDSA Education Award which was regarded as one of the highest honors in the educator profession.

“I see Hong Kong having something to offer that no one else does. And it’s that mix of East-meets-West. Hong Kong is the entrée into the East. People coming from the West can feel very comfortable in Hong Kong. It’s not as much of a cultural shock. But it also has a very good understanding of the East. That’s what is so unique about Hong Kong right now -- the cul-ture and the location. But Hong Kong has really had the freedom, in a way, to do what it wanted. Entrepreneurial-wise, they are years ahead of mainland China. So they’ve got this savvy. Hong Kong also has this service aspect to it that is unequaled.”

Eastman Innovation Lab interview of Lorraine Justice February 2006

1. Dare to Design Student Exhibition

2. Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design

3. Dr. Lorraine Justice (2009)

4. Zarah Hadid’s design for the Innovation Tower for Hong Kong Poly-technic University, scheduled for completion in 2011.

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PEOPLE

ROGER BALL

Over the past 20 years, Roger Ball has been a leading force in the world of international top selling consumer products.

As a co-founder of Paradox Design in Canada in 1987, he created high performance sports products for clients such as Itech Sport, Burton Snowboards, Bell Sports, Brine Lacrosse, Nike/Bauer, Fisher-Price and Smith Goggles, winning the American BusinessWeek magazine’s Award for Best Product of 1998 with the Skycap Snow-board helmet. Roger’s extensive experience in anthropometrics, manufacturing and testing contributes to his membership on the ASTM committee currently developing safety stan-dards for sports headgear.

Currently located in Hong Kong, Roger serves at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University as an As-sistant Professor in the School of Design , and as Leader of the Asian Ergonomic Lab.

As a founding director of the new SizeChina.com, he is closely engaged in its first research project, the groundbreaking Perfect Fit Asia. This anthropometric study will create the first-ever digital database of Chinese head and face shapes, permitting revolutionary developments in ergonomic head gear for the Asian market.

1. SizeChina.com - Roger Ball with head structure stereotype models compiled from 3D scanning human specimens.

2. Paradox Design high performance sport product

3. Horse riding helmet deigned by Roger Ball

4. SizeChina.com office at Hong Kong Polytechnic University

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PEOPLE

SIZE CHINA

Size China is a design based research project to create the first-ever digital database of Chinese head and face shapes. Currently, consumer products such as sunglasses, motorcycles hel-mets and hygienic face masks are designed using data from Western sources which fails to properly consider good fit for Chinese users. Size China will meet the design need for accu-rate data by creating a practical, sophisticated design measurement database for use by indus-tries developing the next generation of perfect fitting products.Using state-of-the-art digital scanning equip-ment, digital data will be collected from six differ-ent regions in China, in collaboration with local mainland industries and universities. Data col-lected will be used to create digital virtual mod-els for application in medical, optical, entertain-ment and sports industries.Directed by Roger Ball at the Hong Kong Poly-technic University with industry sponsors from international sport and medical corporations as well as support from the Chinese and American authorities.Size China is a highly important project to ben-efit consumer products and facilities for the Chi-nese public.

1. Chinese public

2. Preparing participant for scanning

3. Participant being 3D scanned

4. 3D models of participants head structure

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WORKS

PADDLING HOME

Dr Kacey Wong studied architecture from Cor-nell University then studied sculpture and from Chelsea School of Art and Design and finally received his Doctor of Fine Arts Degree from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He now works out of Hong Kong and teaches at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University School Of Design under the helm of Lorraine Justice. He is both an educator and a very active visual artist in Hong Kong, curating many art exhibitions ex-ploring issues of space and city. Kacey Wong’s experimental projects such as the Paddling Home explore the poetics of space between men and their living environment.

Paddling Home is a 4’x4’ apartment floating on the sea. The concept of this project was inspired by the extremely expensive living condition in Hong Kong where people can only afford a tiny apartment, having to spend their lifetime repay-ing the mortgage. The artists think the image of a helpless little house paddling away in a vast dangerous ocean towards the infinite shoreline is similar to using 20–30 years to repay a huge mortgage loan; it is dangerous and creates feel-ings of helplessness. Paddling Home is about mobility and compact living, freedom and the search for a better place.

1. Kacey Wong Drifter project

2. Paddling Home

3. Paddling Home Publicity Poster

4. Paddling Home on its maiden voyage in Victoria harbor

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WORKS

THE STAGE

‘The Stage’, a bamboo construction designed by actor Daniel Wu and architect Edward huang, with lighting installation designed by LEDAR-TIST’s Chief Vision Officer Teddy Lo, was exhib-ited in 2009 HK & SZ Bi-City Biennale of Urban-ism\Architecture.

The Stage” is an amazing outdoor exhibit intend-ing to re-explore the traditional bamboo scaffold-ing, a unique method practiced in Hong Kong for the construction and repair of skyscrapers.

More than 60 high brightness LED spot lights are integrated into the concept, sweeping the traditional bamboo structure, which is partly covered in diffuser material, with dynamic and interactive luminous layers. Powered by the a computer controlled lighting engine the installa-tion providing visitors with an amazing unforget-table lighting experience.

1. Bamboo and PVC sheet building materials

2. The stage - Night view

3. Bamboo scaffolding used in Asian Building works

4. The stage - Night view

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WORKS

DESIGN CAPITAL

Hong Kong is getting mobilized around de-sign. The local government is putting up huge sums of money, including grants for designers into expanding the industry. De-sign as a subject is even being implanted into the high school curriculum. What’s more the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong’s soon to be completed Zarah Hidid designed Innovation Tower will serve as a driving force in the development of Hong Kong as a design hub in Asia. The new Tower will also provide additional space to facilitate inter-disciplinary research and ed-ucation in the field of design. Government is providing incentives such as starting in-cubation programs to support young design firms and giving free to very low rent office space to designers. Hong Kong is going to unseen lengths to support design.

Hong Kong is already well position in the design market of Asia and globally. Sup-porting the full scope of design organiza-tions from committed education organiza-tions to large multi-national corporations to independent design consultations to free-lance designers and related artists.

1. Government funded exhibition at the Hong Kong Design Center.

2. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University has appointed world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid as Chief Architect of its new “Innovation Tower”.

3. Diagram of a portion of Hong Kong’s Design industry and there rela-tion to each other.

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CONTEXTS

POLLUTION AND HIGH POPULATION DENSITY

Pollution in Hong Kong is considered a serious problem. It affects flora and fauna in the area, and the health of residents living there. Air pollu-tion is currently so bad that visibility is currently less than eight kilometers for 30% of the year. Cases of asthma and bronchial infections have soared in recent years due to reduced air qual-ity.

Factories in Mainland China are also a signifi-cant cause of air pollution in Hong Kong. Before the rapid industrialization of Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta region in the 1980s and 90s, smog or haze across Victoria Harbor was rare. The appearance and continue deterioration of this phenomenon may possibly be explained by the rapid increase in the number of factories across the border, as the population and there-fore domestic pollution in Hong Kong has been relatively stable over the last decade.

The dominant pollution combined with the high-density living conditions of Hong Kong has af-fected the priorities. Because of the lack of individual space, quality public space is an in-creasing concern for residents. This has levied public consciousness of the problems with the present systems and opened the possibility of progressive change.

1. Hong Kong’s growing traffic problems.

2. Smog blurred view across victoria harbor.

3. Constant construction and growth in the area means that government initiatives are continually playing catchup.

4. Eating fresh food is an essential to the majority of residents, increasing population problems threaten the quality of produce.

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CONTEXTS

ARTISTIC EXPRESSION & CULTURAL IDENTITY

Michel Foucault: «one should totally and absolute-ly suspect anything that claims to be a return. . . . there is in fact no such thing as a return.Hong Kong was handed over from British to Chi-nese rule in 1997. To the locals of Hong Kong, this postcolonial turn is actually less a decolonization than a recolonization of the capitalist Cantonese city by the mainland Mandarin master. They find themselves helplessly trapped in the dual national-ity of overseas British and Chinese nationals. This existential agony is deftly handled, but through this identity turmoil Hong Kong citzens are forming their own identity different to both the West and East. Its cultural identity is influenced and expressed by and through the arts. The affluence and freedom of expression that were instilled through the liberal democratic philosophies of British rule have cre-ated an atmosphere where the arts have flourished unlike anywhere in China.Hong Kong’s status as an economic centre has also influenced the development of culture in the region. Art is historically a middle class pursuit (see Bourdieu, Distinction: A social critique of the judgment of taste, 1984) and as such the economic prosperity of the region has allowed for a vibrant art scene in Hong Kong. Coupled with the fact that Hong Kong has access to both British and Chinese cultural and artistic traditions, the cultural develop-ment of the region is hybridized and unique.From this explosion of creative activity has devel-oped a vibrant design scene which has been inter-twined within the broader arts culture.

1. Ma Ke Fashion exhibition Her work focusing on personal interpretation and transformation as a way of highlighting the importance of the individual and the inestimable value of life.

2. Weng Peijun His subjects start out as outsiders looking into this overwhelming trans-formation with anticipation, fear and curiosity to being in the centre of it all. Weng then follows and evolves inwardly, shifting his attention from physical changes to emotional and spiritual transformations, from urban cities to rural countries, exploring the possibility of finding an otherworld-ly utopia.

3. The new generations of creatives expanding their influence

4. Design and art projects questioning Hong Kong’s cultural identity

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CONTEXTS

DIY

Do it yourself mentality is prevalent in Hong Kong, Im-part due to its natural and built environments. Citizens have had to carve up the landscape to make it build-able, high-rise housing and sharing space is the reality of living in Hong Kong. People have had to just make do, compromising and working together to achieve what in many other areas of the world would be much easier operation. The public is used to getting their hands dirty and living with ever-changing surroundings and thus taking action and creating change yourself is not a far-fetched idea.Good street furniture is not one of Hong Kong’s strengths, so when people here can’t find a place to sit outdoors, they do the most logical thing: they bring their own chair. In natural gathering spots around the city you’ll come across a motley array of household chairs that have been placed outdoors and tied to a post or railing. You can see them at bench-fewer bus stops, or on steep stairways, sometimes with one leg trimmed so the chair can sit evenly on the steps and sometimes you can come across chairs tied to trees in the woods that are never more than a 15 or 20 minute walk from any part of the city.On many of the rooftops of the numerous 1960s-era high-rise apartment buildings dominant around Hong Kong is another DIY phenomenon Container garden-ing. Container gardening is the ultimate form of urban greening: space-efficient, low-maintenance and pro-ductive and People in Hong Kong have been doing it for generations. So among the lines of billowing laundry you’ll commonly find several clusters of potted plants maintained by the building’s residents. Though many of the more recent high-rise buildings don’t allow rooftop access, communal gardens and green spaces are be-ing integrated into some of the more adventurous proj-ects. What was a DIY marvel of the older generations is now being developed into a design element by new generation of Hong Kong architects.Projects such as the Stage by LEDarists and the experi-mental work of Dr Kacey Wong explore many building processes and cultural phenomena originally devel-oped under DIY conditions.1. Communal gardens informally constructed on many of Hong Kong’s high rise rood tops.

2. Milk crates and other make shift furniture are common place in Hong Kong’s crowded and ever changing public spaces.

3. DIY communal seating in Public areas.

4. Local design student getting their hands dirty with a community farm out side urban Hong Kong.

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GENRES

ART/DESIGN

The Arts is thriving in Hong Kong with annual events such as the Art Walk consisting of over 65 galleries and the International Art Fair - ART HK attracting over 150 galleries from 29 different countries to participate.Such big events are evidence of the larger mar-ket behind it, consisting of many crosses over industries, such as industrial design. Works made by professionals such as Teddy Lo, Mi-chael Young and Yael Brosilovski cross both art and design classifications. Their projects com-munally spread between function, cultural the-ory and self-expression sometime more in one direction than another. The cross over between these areas makes a critically aware and social force within the de-sign community incubating ideas relating to pro-gressive change. The ability for an industry to support such diverse work is one of the high-lighting traits of Hong Kong and unfortunately rarely matched in other Asian capitals.

1. One of Teddy Lo’s Light installations.

2. Yael Brosilovski’s recent ceiling Installation.

3. Kowloon Laneway public space installation.

4.Lam Tung-pang’s visual works experiment with non-traditional materi-

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GENRES

DESIGN FOR MASS MANUFACTURE

Being the meeting point between many western cor-porations and the Chinese workforce, Hong Kong has an abundant of design firms specializing in bringing these two parties together.

Design consultancies like InnoSphere create con-sumer electronics, but they not only come up with the initial design concept but also cater for the wider marketing and production processes. Offering their cli-ents services in brand building and market positioning, prototype testing, mold making, production and project management

Many multinational corporations have design offices in Hong Kong such as TTI and TCL. These offices par-ticipate in the design process but their main role in the larger organization is quality control and refining the design concept into a manufacture procedure.

There are also a number of freelance designers or col-lectives that have setup shop in Hong Kong in order to be closer and have more influence over the manu-facture of their projects. In Hong Kong-based British designer Michael Young’s recent project – Works in China, he explores new technologies and typologies made available to him only by working with highly skilled engineering facilities in Shenzhen, China. As Young explains “I realized that if I could capture the engineering skills employed by local industry and put that depth of knowledge in aluminum research in fur-niture design using a similar mass-produced nature, I could design a state-of-the-art and relevant chair.

1. Edward Burtynsky’s pictures of remnant and newly established zones of Chinese industrialization.

2. Michael Young – Works in China - Chair-4a

3. InnoSphere plastic toy design and engineered inhouse for mass pro-duction in mainland china.

4. TTi industrial design concept development Alex Chunn introducing students to their power tool range designed and engineered inhouse.

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GENRES

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