(Hong Kong, 11 July 2022) Design Trust, a grant funding and community platform established by the Hong Kong Ambassadors of Design, announces the completion of the 2022 edition of Design Trust Futures Studio in partnership with the Hong Kong Palace Museum inspired by Project Twelve.
Curated and conceptualised by Marisa Yiu, Co-founder and Executive Director of Design Trust, Design Trust Futures Studio is a flagship programme of Design Trust that makes visible the processes and positive role of design in the culture of contemporary design and production. Exploring “Heritage is Creative Generation” as a theme, Design Trust Futures Studio 2022 simultaneously challenges complex notions of inheriting and innovating to explore new synergies through experimental processes and add new meanings for our future generation.
“Since late 2021 to now 2022, under the ongoing challenges presented by the wave of pandemic here in Hong Kong, we remain optimistic about cultural production as an act of collaboration to bridge communities during such social distancing measures, and remain active and creative,” says Marisa Yiu, Co-founder and Executive Director of Design Trust. “This year’s Design Trust Futures Studio unlike other earlier editions, a total of six months, includes the research, preparation with a three-month long making and crafting programme as an accelerated, compressed version of Design Trust Futures Studio, spurred further a creative urgency to explore physical/virtual cultural making whilst researching on the history of craft and dialogue around positive values of Chinese heritage and legacy building.”
Design Trust Futures Studio partners with the Hong Kong Palace Museum for the 2022 edition inspired by Project Twelve, a cultural and design exploratory project using a theme of the twelve animal signs of the Chinese Zodiac. During a 12-year period starting from 2008, an outstanding Asian artist or designer, was invited each year to create a masterpiece sculpture, using the zodiac sign of the respective year as a theme. For Design Trust Futures Studio 2022: Heritage is Creative Generation, 12 Hong Kong-based designers/collectives – from architects, to graphic designer, artists and more – have been empowered to each propose and craft a new interpretation of one Chinese zodiac work relating to Project Twelve past works.
“The Hong Kong Palace Museum aspires to become an incubator for young emerging artists, as well as designers from different backgrounds and generations, helping them to collaborate and push the boundaries of their creativity,” said Dr Louis Ng, Museum Director, Hong Kong Palace Museum. “We are delighted to partner with Design Trust Futures Studio to bring together a group of passionate and talented young creatives to create brand-new interpretations of the 12 unique Chinese zodiac signs on display at the museum. This exciting project is testament not only to the HKPM’s vision to foster cultural dialogue across different generations, but also its desire to balance tradition with a more contemporary approach in the Scholars Commons space at the museum.”
This year, a dynamic dialogue and collective mentoring process have been introduced, where masters of design to archaeologists, academics, seasoned design leaders and visionaries and curators contribute along the process, while designers interact and exchange among themselves to share best practices and concepts informed by a series of dialogues, reviews, workshops and visits.
The 12 new interpretations of the Chinese zodiac signs are showcased alongside the Project Twelve works inside Scholars Commons at the Hong Kong Palace Museum. Scholars Commons is an exceptional multifunctional space conceived as the “living room” of the museum which will host a variety of arts and culture-related gatherings and events.
