Chinese Arts Centre

Preview 21st March 2013 (5:30pm – 7:30pm)

Designer talk in collaboration with Manchester Craft and Design Centre (MCDC): 25th March 2013 at MCDC (6pm)

Re-conventional is a new graduate Design Show celebrating the works of three UK-based Chinese designers, who work across the North West, London and Scotland. The show aims to highlight the changing shift in contemporary design practice and the increasing desire for young designers to reference back to classic and everyday objects for inspiration for their new products. From this year’s Degree shows, there was a clear focus on Contemporary design courses, both for UK and international students. In particular, the UK-Chinese design graduates work took on an organic approach responding to classic design - a visual consequence of an old idea, a vital function or a feeling towards an object.

Re-working these classic objects enables the designers to create a sense of nostalgia and memory for the audiences to respond to, as both a narrative through the object itself, and as a sensory response through the choice of material and ability to interact with the product.

This graduate design show reflects this focal point from three designers perspectives, each working with a similar conceptual belief but with three very unique end products.

Where

Chinese Arts Centre

Tumbler. indie print in China is a pop-up bookstore-cum-exhibition presented by 3030Press. It will showcase approximately 50 independent art books and ‘zines produced in China over the past couple of years produced by more than 20 artists, design studios and small publishers in Mainland China.

The publications will survey the range and character of selected self-published art books, from personal art projects and portfolios to general surveys and compilations, often produced in small print runs, sometimes by hand, for limited distribution and private sale.

Strict regulations apply to China’s publishing industry yet over the past half-decade self-publishing has become an increasingly popular strategy for young artists and designers seeking to bypass burdensome regulations and control the content of their work, creating an autonomous physical space, an “independent” space, under-the-radar and within the pages of independently produced books and ‘zines.

Tumbler. is created by 3030Press publishing, an independent art and design book publisher based in Hong Kong and Shanghai, China, founded by John Millichap. Many of the publications included in Tumbler. are also be available to buy at www.3030press.com

The Poundshop, founded by designers George Wu, Sara Melin and Sarah Gottlieb in 2010, acts as a platform for designers to sell goods under the strict brief that they are sold within the affordable price bands £1, £5 and £10.They aim to share design, engaging a wider audience by making it accessible through price. For the first time, current members of Poundshop, George Wu and Sarah Melin, will be spreading their designer wings in Manchester, recruiting local designers and showcasing the best of local graduate talent – all at a very reasonable price for you, the lucky customer!

Jennifer Yang is a Taiwanese London-based artist, who graduated in 2012 with a MA in Textiles from Central St. Martins. In her practice, she is interested in bringing unique experiences to audience by using contemporary techniques to re-explore classic and traditional crafts. For the First Step showcase, she will display her new installation “Kaleidoscope”. The work consists of large-scale sections of paper origami, which through the clever use of light and colour interact with the viewer depending on their viewpoint around the stairwell.