OUTGOING

A report on travels, experiences and wonderful people we've come across in the search for Sparks... Join us!




This just in, from our friends at the great home of Hong Kong Design, the InnoCentre
(Hint: click the image.)

Dear Peter,
All of us at InnoCentre wish you a prosperous year of the Rat.



Best Regards,
The Team
InnoCentre
506C, InnoCentre, 72 Tat Chee Avenue,
Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
Tel.: +852 2784 2666






  The Business of Design Week in Hong Kong (www.BODW.com) was terrific. The event brought together thousands of designers in the vast halls of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre,

  designed by the architecture firm Skidmore Owings and Merrill.

We began our visit with the simple goal of meeting designers and exploring Asia's hot design scene. BODW was the magnet that pulled us to Hong Kong. Our first trip here brought us in at night. The skyline of Hong Long Central shimmered like a dragon dressed in Christmas lights...

                                                                                          

The first morning we were a little apprehensive, not knowing quite what to expect, or how to best greet our hosts. We were soon made to feel very welcome indeed.



We trudged a fair distance along enclosed pedestrian bridgeways, which connect many of the spectacular buildings in Central. Two of our favorites have local feng shui issues. As visitors, we get to gape in admiration.

  This is Paul Rudolph's Lippo Building           And I.M. Pei's Bank of China

However, the Expo beckoned and off we went 

The opening ceremonies, with dignitaries from around the world of design 


 
First stop was the Spark display, to add a few finishing touches to the excellent work of Stanley and Phoenix.

Then on to check out the booths and talk to the designers.

  Here's some students from the famous Hong Kong Polytechnic University

and a few    more just taking a break.

One highlight of the week was the exclusive announcement of the architect and plan for HK Poly's new Innovation Tower. Let's guess who this star is.

  And here's her glowing work:    Zaha!

As the week drew to a close, we were able to join with new friends at combined BODW/Holiday celebrations. Here, we found some very cool dudes,

including this Christmas hipster    (He played a mean conga!)

and the great designers Mario Bellini and Massimo Vignelli 

  and the new IDSA Executive Director, Frank Tyneski, with friend.

We have many people to thank for this long visit. Was the trip worthwhile? The smile on this guy's face says it all.

  PFK



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HKDA Awards 07 Exhibition

One of the organizers of BODW, Hong Kong Design Centre has partnered with Hong Kong Designers' Association to bring the "HKDA Awards 07" Exhibition, one of the exceptional Hong Kong design awards exhibitions, to the InnoCentre from 8-30 January 2008.

Organised by the Hong Kong Designers Association (HKDA), the HKDA Awards has been a who's who of design excellence in Hong Kong and Asia Pacific for over 30 years.

It is a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary award for professional designs in the fields of graphic, product, spatial and new media.

The exhibition showcases 90 winning designs from the graphic, product, spatial and new media categories based on the theme of the HKDA Awards 2007, "Design. No Junk Food".

For more  information click here.


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  DESIGN 360 MAGAZINE

Flying high above the Rocky Mountains. Down below, Colorado is getting it’s first dustings of snow and the high peaks look cold and beautiful in the setting sun. We’re snug and warm in this seat on a big Boeing, admiring a copy of Design 360 Magazine.

This is our first look at the publication, although several designer friends have recommended it to us. We have to confess a secret, special interest in magazines… our first job after university was starting a small press mag. We love the Print Media. Before starting the Spark Competitions we were on staff or management of both newspapers and magazines. In the process we met most of the top publication designers and editors—our working heroes.

First impressions: Design 360 just feels good. Its size is like National Geographic, but thicker. It is handy and natural—perfect for reading in a relaxing hot tub! But don’t get it wet—this magazine is a “keeper” that you’ll want to archive and read again. It also has a wonderful, diagonal cut on the right side—i.e., the second page is a little wider than the first, and so on, through all 250+ pages. So you have a slanted edge for your thumb to rest, while you flex the book and page through the features. A wonderful idea and—why didn’t we think of that! A new, perfectly functional feature in the old business of magazine publishing. That’s good design.

  Vivi Zhou, Executive Editor, and Shaoqiang Wang, Executive Director

Writing about Design is of course what this magazine is really all about. It has an omnibus, international approach, apolitical and universal. But we were happy to find a clear window on Asian design and especially Chinese designers. This is appropriate and welcome, since there are many great design talents that are relatively unknown in the West, and they should be more widely promoted.
 

We won’t describe the content in detail, except to say that the features and reports are well-observed, interesting and beautifully illustrated on expensive, coated paper stock—often in full color. Oh yes, the art direction and overall design are quite fine. 360 utilizes very readable fonts, interesting chapter logos and continuing design motifs, and is laid out in such a manner as to minimize the inherent clumsiness of bi-lingual text. This is a difficult feat—many publications don’t manage this problem as well.

Is there anything to improve here? Not much. Perhaps better Chinese to English translation. One generally knows what is intended by the author. Nevertheless, some of the diction is garbled and it could be better. Translation is a difficult task—we’re glad Spark doesn’t do this—yet.

The reader can easily see that this magazine is what we call a labor of love. Talented writers and designers have spent a great deal of time and energy to create this—a most distinguished publication.

So, our “bottom line”—we wish we had found this magazine right from its launch. But we won’t miss any of the first 11, because this high flight takes us to China—and we’re going to grab all the back-issue Design 360’s we can find.

(Hard to find in the States, Design 360 is a window on a very important world of design... If you're interested, hit their website or email Spark's and we'll help find you a copy or subscription.)

Best!
--PK

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