RSS Alert: New Article at Core77: We Got Sick of Hearing About Design & China...
...So we Got on a Plane and Went There.
Bruce Tharp and Stephanie Munson put their (plane) tickets where their talk is. Plus a bonus picture gallery! Here's a snippet:
There has certainly been a great deal of speculation lately regarding the real or perceived rise of Chinese industrial design. We say "perceived rise" to emphasize that their impending world domination in this field is not a foregone conclusion, despite the frequent flurries of listserve chatter and design-conference panel discussions supporting such a notion.
We would agree that China's entrée into the global design community demands careful attention as the stakes are high--remember when US factories weren't filled with yuppies and their Sub-Zero refrigerators (made in China)? But so much of what we have been hearing smacks of alarmism and over-reaching conjecture. We were dogged by the question of what is really going on with Chinese industrial design—education and practice—so we decided to go there and get a glimpse for ourselves. [Full article here]