Is it Futile to Study Design?
Is it futile to study design? What can design achieve? What is design?
When in school, one’s mind is filled with wonder and questions. Everything is baffling—but fun. Then, after the monumental and excruciating final year project, what lies ahead? In this bewildering time, what role and responsibility does a designer embody?
In this dialogue, four up-and-comers—designer Yau Tsz Chun, architectural designers Anson Kwan and Ryan Tung, and Paul Chung of AIR 23—share their thoughts on the ups and downs of design, under the moderation of Adonian Chan and Chris Tsui, respectively co-curator of deTour 2021 and co-founder of Trilingua Design. Don’t miss this chance to take a real look into the design world and the gaps between idealism and realism, study and practice.
HOST(S)
Trilingua Design
Curatorial Team
Trilingua Design is a multidisciplinary design studio, established by Adonian Chan and Chris Tsui, in 2010. Its design services include branding, visual identity, website design, publication design, exhibition design, and spatial design.
The “Hong Kong Beiwei Zansyu” typeface design is its ongoing, self-initiated project to document and research Hong Kong’s visual culture, that has been conceptualized in the form of various art installations and commercial design projects.
To Trilingua Design, graphic designers are “visual culture participators”. They hope that through active research and conversations on Hong Kong’s aesthetics, we can build the foundation for Hong Kong’s design and our city’s identity, which is often neglected in this time of information overload.
SPEAKER(S)
Lau Tsz Chun
Creator of "Gratitude 2021"
A Red Dot Award: Design Concept winner in 2019, Jordan Lau graduated from Product Design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2021.
Lau believes that design is inspired by life and thus collectively defined, thus bringing new perspectives to the community. To create good design, in addition to fulfilling functional needs, he explores the potential of objects beyond their physical form. By endowing everyday objects with new values, he hopes to create designs that inspire better living.
Paul Chung
Co-founder of AIR 23, Co-Creator of "Dancing with the Light"
AIR 23 is an inflatable structure research team founded in London in 2020 by Paul Chung and Johnathan Ma. It began as part of the architectural master programme at the University of Westminster. The team focuses on digital inflatable-motion design and works on experimental installations that explore the potentials of air structures for the future.
Anson Kwan, Jackie Cheung, Ryan Tung
Co-Creator of "Work in the Woods"
All graduates of the Bartlett School of Architecture, University of London, Ryan, Jackie and Anson share more than an education and a professional background in architecture; together, they also seek to document architecture in formats ranging from conceptual design and virtual reality to animation and art practice. Interactive architecture is their recent focus, and by bringing physical and virtual worlds closer together through the development of games, films and virtual reality, it has become their means of greatly expanding the production of space and objects.