Core77

Bernat Cuni wraps up his correspondence with a report on the third and final day of BODW 2006:

The last day of BODW started with a presentation from Joe Ferry of Virgin Atlantic Airways. He explained how their USD$60 million redesign of Virgin's Upper Class Cabin transformed the flying experience. Joe admitted that Virgin often seeks help from design consultancies in order to challenge the company's design team.

Later on, ECCO Design's principal Eric Chan noted that 80% of the features on an office chair are used only 20% of the time, then further emphasized the importance of searching for "global language" and the "Asian Luxury," unfortunately with little detail.

After a power-networking lunch break with enthused designers and manufacturers, the session resumed with a poetic Yung Ho Chang presenting his works surrounding inside/outside space relations in architecture. Takashi Sugimoto from Super Potato followed with a criticism on the globalization of aesthetics and reclaimed the importance of small and local expressions and trends. He stated that the significance of any design is the atmosphere it creates and the emotions it evokes in people, rather than merely its shape. To illustrate this concept, Takashi discussed the relationship between humans and nature, and the beauty of ordinary things created by ordinary people--the "un-designed beauty" (like the houses built some centuries ago for example).

Christopher Frayling from RCA expressed his belief that design is moving toward center stage to become a major player in the economy. He also shared his vision of "how a school of design should be." After a short and interesting review of European design education history, he concluded that a desirable design school should be like an agency of partitioning professionals, plus a research institute, and that it should stimulate the creative economy, holding a strong focus on designing for the people. He laid out some requirements for desirable students as well. They should engage themselves with the world to be aware of cultural diversity and have an attitude of driving their own agendas. They should be excited by the unpredictable and believe in the possibilities of the future.

Business of Design Week 2006 ended with a presentation from Pininfarina, highlighting the signature styling, engineering and manufacturing applied to their latest concept cars, the Nido and the Maserati Birdcage.

The hall got suddenly emptied as the last speaker barely had a chance to wrap up. Attendees quickly said their goodbyes and thank you's. Here in in Hong Kong, everything moves fast!