Beijing Design Week's gift: making ideas a reality

BJDW Design Gift is now working with 15 designers, including established names such as Yeh Yu-hsuan and up-and-coming ones like Zhang Chen, to design under the label BJDW Design Gift.

First editions of more than 100 products are sold in the 751 art zone. They will soon be available at high-end retail stores, gift shops and bookstores around Beijing, as well as online shops, Zhang says.

The products will take part in the New York International Gift Show and the Milan Design Week next year, Zhang says.

BJDW is also collaborating with Lexon, a French design brand that has more than 5,000 stores in 85 countries around the world, to help Chinese designers reach a bigger audience.

Design a better life

Rene Adda, founder of Lexon, says he is looking forward to working with Chinese designers in the near future.

"We haven't got a Chinese designer at Lexon so far, and this is a new opportunity. What I want to say to young designers is that the goal is market, not museum," Adda said at the release of Lexon's 2014 collection at Beijing Design Week.

"The products in the world today are already very diversified, what we need is not more products, but products that are more attractive. So I want the designers to look at our collection this year and imagine what they can add to it."

BJDW 2013 also set up numerous venues in the city that allow independent and part-time designers to showcase and sell their work.

In Nali Patio in Beijing's Sanlitun area, young furniture and accessory designers test the waters with 3-D print jewelry and cutting-edge light fixtures.

At the Design Ideas Taiwan exhibition in the 751 art zone, the exhibits, ranging from modern ceramics brand 3,co to organic grain label Green in Hand, are available for purchase.

"The biggest problem of the previous two Beijing Design Weeks is that they didn't provide many platforms for design trading," says Yih Cheih-chung, curator of the exhibition. "The best way to support a good design is to buy and use it so that you can understand how the designer perceives life."

As Chinese manufacturing transits from "made in China" to "created in China", it also means more opportunities for designers from outside, Yih says.

"Taiwan has a lot of designers; however, the local market is very small. We have to explore the market on the Chinese mainland if we want to have sustainable development."