Design Dialogue with Grant Recipients

24. 2. 2017

A recent Design Dialogue saw six Design Trust Grant Recipients; Adrian Blackwell, Michelle Poon and Lionello Lunesu from Dim Sum Labs, Kanta Kochhar-Lindgren, Markus Wernli, the team of Sara Wong and Yanki Lee, and Sharon de Lyster, discuss their cross-disciplinary projects about design and research in Hong Kong and the Greater Pearl River Delta.

Each grant recipient presented their projects and discussed the end goals they had in sight. Blackwell discussed his book about neoliberal urbanization in Shenzhen. De Lyster presented the digital platform “The Textile Atlas” that is helping preserve dying practices of heritage textiles crafts. Kochhar-Lindgren discussed her work on “travelling architectures”, creating performance installations inspired by Hong Kong’s Pai Dongs. Poon and Lunesu discussed progress in writing a D.I.Y hacking manual about innovations created in Dim Sum Labs. Wernli discussed his PhD research project, where he is encouraging the public to fertilize and grow their own plants using the nutrients in their urine. Finally, Wong and Lee talked about their study with Louise Wong of self-built homeless communities in Hong Kong.

After the presentations, various topics such as education in Hong Kong were touched on. Questions were raised about education within Hong Kong and whether it was more focused towards business rather than individual empowerment. De Lyster elaborated on how giving online exposure to smaller heritage artisan practitioners can give manufacturers a platform to survive in the wake of conglomerate textile corporations. Poon and Lunesu discussed the ethos of hacking, where open-source technology and community-sharing are essential to creating.

What each Grant Recipient’s project shared with DESIGN TRUST was the importance of public participation with design innovations, reaching out to the wider population and creating positive public change through community-scale “micro” works.

Participants
Marisa Yiu (moderator), Co-founder, Executive Direcotr, DESIGN TRUST
Adrian Blackwell, 2016 Design Trust Seed Grant Recipient
Kanta Kochhar-Lindgren, 2016-2017 Design Trust Feature Grant Recipient
Lionello Lunesu, 2016-2017 Design Trust Feature Grant Recipient
Markus Wernli, 2016 Design Trust Seed Grant Recipient
Michelle Poon, 2016-2017 Design Trust Feature Grant Recipient
Sara Wong, 2016 Design Trust Seed Grant Recipient
Sharon de Lyster, 2016 Design Trust Seed Grant Recipient
Yanki Lee, 2016 Design Trust Seed Grant Recipient

Venue Partner