AUGUST 2019 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK 35TRENDSPICTURES: PEDRO PEGENAUTE, ANDREW RAWAT
country’s most successful exports – the
creative directors of furniture brand Stellar
Works are, so far, the only Chinese winners
of Designer of the Year at the annual ELLE
Decoration International Design Awards
(in 2017). The pair were guests of honour
at this year’s Stockholm Furniture Fair and
Canada’s Interior Design Show Toronto.
Word of China’s design revolution was
also on the lips of those at Maison & Objet
fair in Paris, where six Chinese creatives
were singled out for its Rising Talent award.
‘Chinese design today is like many flowers
blooming together,’ says Fan Zhe, curator of
a showcase dedicated to Chinese creativity
of the past, present and future at the Design
Biennale in Saint-Étienne. ‘The country is
producing outstanding work, and there’s
a huge demand for its individual pieces.’
‘China has established itself as a major
international player in design over the past
five years, with the culture shifting towards
innovation and originality,’ says Zhuo Tan,
director of Design Shanghai. A relative
newcomer on the design show circuit
(launched in 2014), the event has flourished;
this year it will play host to over 400 brands
from 30 countries. ‘When we launched, we
found only a handful of Chinese participants
who were dedicated to furniture. In 2019,
we had 60 brands – it shows how quickly
China is absorbing the movement. The world
is looking to us. It’s an exciting moment!’
But what of the ‘Made in China’ label that
came to signify mass production and low
quality? While Chinese architects were able
to prosper thanks to rapid urbanisation, the
design sector had remained weak. ‘There
was no concept of brand, and no willingness
to pay for independent creatives,’ explains
ELLE Decoration China’s Lee. Designers
were often imported, or looks simply copied.
The recent boom is seeing those negative
connotations turned on their heads. Now,
the country’s infrastructure of incredibly
efficient factories can be regarded as a huge
advantage, with original designs able to be
developed and produced at a fraction of the
time and cost of that in the West.
There is now an ever increasing group
of young furniture makers, all hungry for
their slice of the global interiors pie. ‘Many
of them,’ say Neri & Hu, ‘see the Chinese
stereotype of mass production as the driving
force to do better. They’re striving to be
more inventive to reverse this negative view’.
The results are noticeable and, according
to Zhe: ‘Forming a visual language that’s
contemporary and characterised by our
Chinese heritage is only a matter of time.’Turn the page to see work by some of the
hottest names in Chinese designPrevious page Traditional parasols on show at Biennale Saint-
Étienne This page Chinese designers Neri & Hu and some of their
projects, including (from top) New Shanghai Theatre, Canton Table
restaurant, Mercato Shanghai and Le Meridien hotel in ZhengzhouCHINESE DESIGN
ON THE RISE
2014 Design Shanghai,
the first-ever design show
in China, launches
2015 The Chinese
government invests £2
billion in creative industries
2017 Neri & Hu win
Designer of the Year at
the ELLE Decoration
International Design Awards
2019 Maison & Objet
champions Chinese creatives
with its Rising Talent award,
and a major Chinese
exhibition is part of Design
Biennale Saint-Étienne