Archive for the 'Design' Category

Platform for Chinese design

Published
by
Jason Li
on September 25, 2008
in Art, Blogs, Design, Education, News, Photos and Video Clips
. 0 Comments

ijoi’s Chinese name is 视觉我享, which roughly translates to “I Enjoy Sight.” ijoi is a web platform to promote design(ers) from and in China. They showcase work, conduct interviews and have plans to roll out podcasts (video & audio).

For example, here’s an excerpt from the video interview (subtitled in both Chinese and French) that was done with Weestar 魏星宇:

Translation: In fact, I’ve really liked drawing ever since I was a child.

ijoi was started by Gabriel Jorby, who we profiled here.

It’s a pretty impressive effort so far, and reads like a good and glossy design magazine: Visit ijoi now.

Mokomoko!

Published
by
Jason Li
on September 10, 2008
in Art and Design
. 1 Comment

From my friends over at Khaki Creative (based in Beijing):

An interesting detail: “All MOKOMOKO apparel sizes are Asian standard, which is slightly smaller than European standard. Please reconfirm your order to account for this difference.”

See their store with designer shirts and plush dolls.

Pokemon spotted in Guilin

Published
by
Jason Li
on August 28, 2008
in Art, Design, Environment and Photos
. 1 Comment

A friend went on vacation and snapped these photos in a kid’s park in Guilin.

Photo credits: Aurelie Glorieux.

They’re made of foam, for kids, and the fathers apparently kept putting theirs kids next to them to take pictures.

Pandas pray for your dead computer

Published
by
Jason Li
on August 13, 2008
in Art, Blogs, Design and Meme
. 0 Comments

Aw Guo on IfGoGo:

This is a “panda shaoxiang” version. Shaoxiang, aka “烧香” in Chinese, means go to the temple for burning incense and offering up a sacrifice. The Shaoxiang Panda is a very famous computer virus (worm like) in China during 2007. Once you get infected, all the icons of your files will be a picture like this one.

Then of course, someone applied this image to a real photo and Photoshop:

Via IfGoGo (originally found on Douban).

virtual worlds in china, association

Published
by
Lyn Jeffery
on July 22, 2008
in Design, Education, Games and Virtual China
. 3 Comments

I’m interested in virtuality, experience, and culture; Zafka Zhang is a metaverse researcher, blogger, and evangelist, directs research at China’s virtual world HiPiHi, and according to his Twitterstream, recently started his own youth insights and marketing company, China Youthology青年志; Li Feng is an Instructional Technology Specialist at University of Massachusetts Lowell and Second Lifer.  Along with about 20 others, we’re all members (thanks Zafka) of the Association of Virtual Worlds’ Virtual Worlds in China group. It’s new, we’ll see. Join?

Featured designer: Nod Young

Published
by
Jason Li
on July 14, 2008
in Art and Design
. 0 Comments

My friend Nod has some new work up on the Behance network. It’s a pretty mix of the traditional and modern, of analog and digital.

See the rest of the series here.

online culture and design: Lost Ring blogs

Published
by
Lyn Jeffery
on July 4, 2008
in Art, Blogs, Design, Games and Translation
. 0 Comments

For your viewing pleasure: the homepage of some of the players in The Lost Ring (see previous post).

Mei Hui, China

Diego, Spain

Markus, Germany

Lucie, UK

Monica, Spain

Ariadne, US

Larissa, Brazil

Noriko, Japan

HOMA Libre, Guilin, China

Published
by
Jason Li
on July 1, 2008
in Art, Commerce, Design, Environment and Travel
. 0 Comments

Spotted on the web, a luxury concept hotel in Guilin: the Hotel of Modern Art (HOMA) Libre.

They are the only Chinese hotel that is part of the global Relais & Chateaux (luxury hotel and gourmet restaurants) alliance.

Book one of the 46 individually-designed rooms now! Via concierge.com.

Corporate cross-cultural pollination in action

Published
by
Jason Li
on May 11, 2008
in Art, Commerce, Design, Education, Translation and Travel
. 2 Comments

Was passing by Heathrow and picked up a pamphlet about…

And I checked the website, which said they were co-hosting “over 800 events nationwide spanning art, design, cuisine, culture, science, business, technology, education and sport [that] will capture the imagination and advance the UK public’s understanding of China.”

Their lineup seems pretty impressive, and includes these works:

Above by Chen Shaohua, 1992

Above by Ji Ji, 2006.

There is, in addition, an educational component:

Lastly, they even conjured up a clever marketing ploy: To put paper pigeons in Leicaster Square that act as discount coupons:

For more information, see the HSBC Cultural Exchange website.

Question: Are there similar corporate program(me)s in the US?

Re-usable chopsticks are in?

Published
by
Jason Li
on May 8, 2008
in Art, Design and Environment
. 0 Comments

This happened several months ago, but I think it’s still worth capturing.

From PFSK:

“While single-use chopsticks may be a convenient option for restaurant owners and patrons alike, there is a small group of Chinese DIY designers and young environmentalists who are taking initiative to counter their use. One such group called ‘Unigreen’ has made an open offer online to hand-stitch a free chopstick / soup spoon holder for anyone who pledges to only carry reusable chopsticks.

Original post on PSFK. More pictures of chopstick bags from Unigreen’s blog.