Core77

If you're in or near Portland, Oregon this weekend, a couple of things to keep in mind:

First, the China Design Now exhibition is on, and it's a thing of beauty. One of only two American museums to host it, the Portland Art Museum has done a great job of taking viewers on a crash course of China's rise from global factory to independent creative voice, through surveys of the design scenes in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing. We blogged it last month, but it's re-post worthy.

Second, as part of the exhibition's broader program, visionary and multi-talented designer Freeman Lau will be flying in from Hong Kong to present his work on Saturday, and to discuss the current state of Chinese design from his perspective, right there on the ground floor. Lau's involvement in the development of a modern Hong Kong and Chinese design aesthetic is hard to overstate, both with his studio Kan and Lau, and through his personal work. See one of the hundreds of manifestations of his Chair Play series, above, for an idea of how his work brings industrial design, graphic design, art, and social context into simultaneous play.

Coroflot Editorial Director (and occasional Core77 contributor) Carl Alviani will be doing the interviewing, and designers of all stripes are warmly invited.

>>Details of the event here.