Design Trust 2023 Awardees | Honouring Dr. Victor Lo, celebrating Chi Wing Lo and Cao Fei

Design Trust is honoured to present Dr. Victor Lo as our honouree of the Design Trust Legacy Award at Design Trust Gala 2023, as part of our mission at Design Trust to advocate for the positive value of the processes of design. This is in recognition of Dr. Lo’s prolific contribution to driving design, education, and innovation in cultural arts. Without his leadership there would not have been the shaping of West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong Design Centre, PMQ and various other institutions. Most important of all, he championed the development of Hong Kong Ambassadors of Design in 2007, a precursor to the DESIGN TRUST initiative in 2014 alongside a great community of collaborators and supporters. We are also honoured to have Design Trust International Advisor Council member Dr. Lars Nittve to present the award with Ms. Marisa Yiu to Dr. Victor Lo. The Design Trust Legacy Award 2023 Trophy was created by AE Folio.

 “I take immense pleasure in accepting the Design Trust Legacy Award. Being a believer of design at heart, I see design as the force of transformation and the driver for people and life-centric innovations. Great designs are way beyond aesthetics, with the ability to emotionally connect with people and create meaningful impact. How to integrate that design mindfulness and “creative problem solving” ability into policymaking, business and education has been my passion and my long time pursuit. I am grateful to the trust that the local design community, including our SAR Government, has bestowed upon me since early days and the staunch support of so many strategic partners and friends over the years. This has enabled me to advocate advancement in the city across innovation, design, technology, culture, as well as education, through policy advisory and chairmanship including HKSTP, PolyU, HKDC and M+, and directorship at PMQ and WKCDA. Thank you again!” By Dr. Victor Lo (Feburary 2023)

Dr Victor Lo is the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Hong Kong-listed Gold Peak Technology Group Limited, the holding company of an Asian multinational group with industrial investments in the batteries and electronics industries.

Dr Lo is a director of Hong Kong Design Centre and PMQ Management Company Ltd.  He is an honorary president of Federation of Hong Kong Industries as well as an advisor of its Design Council of Hong Kong.  He is also an honorary professor and an honorary member of the School International Advisory Board of School of Design of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU).  In addition, he is a member of the Board of Advisors of Institute of Design of Illinois Institute of Technology, US (IIT). Dr. Lo was the chairman of the council of PolyU from 2004 to 2009, a member of the Executive Council of the HKSAR Government from 2005 to 2009, and the chairman of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation from 2001 to 2007.  He was also Chairman of Hong Kong Design Centre from 2007 to 2016. He was presented the Young Industrialist Award of Hong Kong in 1989 and the Industrialist of the Year Award in 2005.  He also received the Outstanding Achievement Award from The Professional Validation Council of Hong Kong Industries in 2008.

Dr. Lo graduated from the Institute of Design of IIT with a Bachelor of Science degree in Product Design. He holds an Honorary Doctorate in Design from PolyU. He was also named the Honorary Fellow by Royal College of Art, UK in 2014.

Design Trust is honoured to present to Mr. Chi Wing Lo the Design Trust Heritage Innovator Award, to highlight his pursuit of timelessness from art and design accomplishment to cultural and philosophical exploration. His generous mentorship from Design Trust Futures Studio 2022: Heritage is Creative Generation has not only nurtured the mentee designers involved, but will continue to inspire the generations to come. Mr. Goodwin Gaw and Ms. Marisa Yiu presented the award to Mr. Lo. The Design Trust Heritage Innovator Award trophy was created by AE Folio.

Recipient of the World’s Outstanding Chinese Designer award 2015, Mr. Chi Wing Lo’s works encompass the fields of architecture, sculpture, interior, furniture and object design. His prolific output has long been recognized, in and beyond the eminent circle of contemporary Italian design, for his evocativeness in thought, gracefulness in form and meticulousness in every detail. Infusing poetry with usefulness, Mr. Lo’s works are inspired by materials and techniques that have passed on to our generation. He wishes to unite wisdom and sensibility of past and present, creating works that are lasting, simple and essential.

Design Trust is honoured to present the inaugural Design Trust Arts Prize to Ms. Cao Fei in recognition of her contemporary artistry as an artist from the Greater Bay Area region. Together with Serpentine Gallery in London, she received Design Trust Feature Grant for the Blueprints Exhibition in 2020, in which she addressed the urgent issues from the rapid globalisation, urbanisation and post-industrialisation of contemporary China to the international audience through her unique artistic approach. Design Trust’s former Board Chairman Mr. Alan Lo together with Ms. Marisa Yiu presented the prize to Ms. Cao Fei. The Design Trust Arts Prize trophy was created by AE Folio.

Ms. Cao Fei (b. 1978, Guangzhou) is an internationally-renowned Chinese contemporary artist. Currently living in Beijing, she mixes social commentary, popular aesthetics, references to Surrealism, and documentary conventions in her films and installations. Her works reflect on the rapid and developmental changes that are occurring in Chinese society today.

Ms. Cao Fei's works have been exhibited at a number of international biennales and triennales, including the Shanghai Biennale (2004), the Moscow Biennale (2005), the Taipei Biennial (2006), the 15th & 17th Biennale of Sydney (2006 and 2010), the Istanbul Biennial (2007), the Yokohama Triennale (2008) and the 50th, 52nd & 56th Venice Biennale (2003, 2007 and 2015).

Ms. Cao Fei’s major projects in recent years include a solo exhibition at MoMA PS1, New York (2016), a solo show at the Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2018), a retrospective at K21 Düsseldorf (2018), a solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2019), a solo exhibition at the Serpentine Galleries, London (2020). Ms. Cao Fei’s recent projects include a major retrospective at the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2021), and a solo exhibition at the MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome (2021).

Ms. Cao Fei is a professor and a master advisor of the School of Experimental Art at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. She was also on the jury of The Selection Committee for the Curatorship of the 8th Berlin Biennale (2014), the jury of The Bonnefanten Award for Contemporary (2016), and the jury of Hugo Boss Asia Art Prize (2019). Ms. Cao Fei is the nominator of the Rolls-Royce Art Program Muse (2019) and the winner of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize (2021).