Design Trust Futures Studio 2022: Documentary & Publication Launch

Design Trust Futures Studio 2022: Documentary & Publication Launch was held at Magnus Hall of Hong Kong Palace Museum in September 2022, with a special curator-led tour to the Scholars Commons at the museum where twelve sets of DTFS2022 zodiac project works are exhibited along with Project Twelve. Programme collaborators, mentors, mentees, advisors and Design Trust community joined this event to further this cross-cultural dialogue and exploration on cultural heritage for the future.  

The launch event started with opening speech from Lead Curator Marisa Yiu, Co-founder and Executive Director of Design Trust, followed by remarks from Dr Louis Ng, Museum Director, Hong Kong Palace Museum, and Freeman Lau, Founder of KL&K Creative Strategics. After the preview screening of the 17-min documentary, two panel discussions explored Chinese Zodiac’s formal and cultural values as well as sustainable and innovative interpretation of this subject. With Prof. Raymond Fung as respondent, panellists included master mentors Dr. Kan Tai-keung, Chi Wing Lo, advisors Dr. Daisy Yiyou Wang (Deputy Director, Curatorial and Programming, Hong Kong Palace Museum) and Dr. Tianlong Jiao (Head Curator, Hong Kong Palace Museum), as well as designer mentees Bob Pang, Niko Leung, Su Chang, Adonian Chan, Jacqueline Chak, Florian Wegenast & Christine Lew, Julie Progin & Jesse Mc Lin , Alexandra Batten & Daniel Kamp, Mic Leong and Tin Lau.

As part of Design Trust Futures Studio 2022: Heritage Is Creative Generation, the publication serves as a critical documentation of the whole curatorial, research, design and fabrication process from January to June 2022. Ten roundtable sharings from master-mentors and advisors edited into short essays in juxtaposition with the illustrated design process of twelve designer-mentees and groups in the past six months, presenting a continuing dialogue on exploring new synergies whilst respecting traditional Chinese values of design with contemporary sensibilities. The publication also furthers Design Trust Futures Studio’s mission in making visible the process and positive role of design in the culture of contemporary design and production.

The Programme Documentary narrates the six-month long journey including the curatorial research and preparation with a three-month long making and crafting programme as an accelerated, compressed version of DESIGN TRUST FUTURES STUDIO. “These works are presenting a very particular time of 2022. But in the future when we look back, it could also be part of the heritage of the future,” says Marisa Yiu of Design Trust. “We live in a very creative and complex world. Having the opportunity to interpret our history in new ways is the legacy we want to leave behind. Because heritage can only be sustained and inspired by a deeper understanding of our own culture and history.”

With collaborative partners Hong Kong Palace Museum and Project Twelve, esteemed mentors and mentees involved, Design Trust Futures Studio 2022: Heritage is Creative Generation simultaneously challenges complex notions of inheriting and innovating to explore new synergies through experimentation, that pass on new meanings of our heritage onto future generations. Twelve Hong Kong-based designers were empowered to craft new interpretations of past artefacts and sculptural objects with contemporary sensibilities. For more details on this programme, please visit the website here.