At the end October 2007 a delegation of 12 designers travelled to Hong Kong and China to meet with Chinese manufacturers and representatives from Kingfisher plc. All designers were selected by Kingfisher to design a range of core products for B&Q and Castorama stores worldwide. The trip included a visit to the Kingfisher buying office in Hong Kong, as well as a seminar organised by UK Trade and Investment.
The project is a joint design initiative between UK Trade & Investment and Kingfisher plc. Hidden Art are partners in the project, alongside Designersblock and Metropolitan Works.
The delegation included 8 Hidden Art members; Martin Blum (Black & Blum), Fred Duthy, Caterina Fadda, Mark Gabbertas, Andrea Stemmer (Kay & Stemmer), Jasper Startup, Magnus Long (Viable London) and Dominic Wilcox. Also participating: Richard Shed, Afroditi Krassa, Charlie Davidson, Lionel Dean, Massimo Fenati and Robert Brown.
The visit showed that there definitely are opportunities for, and interest in, UK designers in China. As a result we will be offering more information and opportunities in 2008. This includes
Specialist Interest Session on China Tuesday 1 April 10-12 noon
For two presentations on China see presentations given at Hidden Art Forum 3rd March at UBS Investment Bank.