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Q – A lot has been written about design in China – from the 200-plus design schools reportedly producing as many as 8,000 graduates annually to its goal of moving from ‘Made in China’ to ‘Designed in China.’ Should designers in the U.S. and Europe see China as a threat or opportunity?
Lorraine – I would say both. First of all, China has a quarter of the world’s population. So the sharp designer is going to try and understand that market, try to set up shop there, or start to court some of the companies they can work with in China. The other opportunity, looking at it in a broader scale, is they [Chinese designers] can raise the bar for the West. That little bit of competition will start to bring new product ideas onto the market. So we’re truly looking at global design issues. And that’s a mentally enlivening thing for everyone. Plus, the hope that more people around the world get better products, when you start adding the Eastern mix to the Western mix. The threats? Yes, they are there. We’re talking huge numbers that can affect salaries paid to designers. In China, they are not paid as much as they are paid in Hong Kong. And price is an issue, especially when you have a market that doesn’t really understand the value of design yet. Other threats? A lot of U.S. manufacturing has moved offshore. All of the countries in Asia are now mobilized, and I mean mobilized, around design. Governments are putting up huge sums of money, including grants for designers. They’re putting design in the high schools now. They’re starting incubation programs to support design firms. They’re giving free to very low rent office space to designers. They’re literally doing everything they can to support design.
Q –The U.S. government has always taken a hands-off approach toward design, leaving it to the private sector. What kind of disadvantage is this for U.S. designers?
Lorraine – It’s a huge disadvantage. First of all, the funding bodies – the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health – are really run by engineers and technical people, who a lot of times either don’t see the value of design, don’t understand it, or, in some cases, are hostile to design. And so they’re not going to support design. I remember the 1950s and 1960s when the U.S. government really started getting behind engineering and science in a big way. They helped companies that invested in engineering. The government should be doing the same thing in design. They should be telling corporations that if you invest in design, you’re going to get some type of a tax break. But I don’t think the U.S. will wake up until it’s in more pain economically or it starts to see what’s emerging in Asia as far as design.
Q – How has your perspective of design in the U.S. changed since you relocated to Hong Kong?
Lorraine – I’ve gained a huge admiration for the makeup of the U.S. and how that has affected creativity. The U.S. is a melting pot of so many personalities and backgrounds and races and everything has created a milieu of opportunity, ideas and knowledge. Add that to the work ethic that used to exist in the U.S. – I don’t know if it’s still there, quite frankly – you’re set up for incredible strides in innovation and design. So when I look at the diversity in the U.S. and how it hangs together, it’s impressive. I don’t see that in other countries, especially in Asia. A lot of their education [in Asia] is memorization, repetitive types of things. The other difference is that in the U.S., a lot of us as youngsters used to go in the backyard or the garage and tear apart stuff and rebuild it – generally make a huge mess that made our parents crazy. But what was happening is we were experimenting the entire time with materials. We were learning how things worked. And we were figuring out how to put things together -- all of that hands-on knowledge that now comes instinctively when we want to design something. This did not occur in Hong Kong where children were raised in apartments and generally did not have those types of opportunities. So there was a freedom of exploration that came along with all of those things we did in our childhood that you don’t see in Asia at all.
Q – Obviously there is a big push on design in Asia. But is there a real understanding of what needs to be done? And how pervasive is that understanding?
Lorraine – I don’t think it’s there yet. It’s starting. Some people get it and some people don’t. They know what they have to do but they haven’t yet figured out all of the pieces to make things happen. When I look at China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, it’s the very structure of the corporate environment that is so different. So each of those areas is going to have different solutions to reaching good design and innovation. In mainland China, there are party secretaries at every level. It’s a very bureaucratic system. We know how difficult it is to get good design through our own corporations in the U.S., let alone adding another layer of government approvals. So what mainland China companies are going to struggle with in relation to design and innovation is getting those ideas through the government bureaucracy. And I predict that it’s going to be worse than we have in U.S. corporations. In Hong Kong, 85 percent of the companies are family owned. When we say family, we’re talking about greater family. So you’ve not only got sons and daughters involved in the business, you’ve got your brothers and sisters and their families. Hong Kong companies are set up a lot differently than in mainland China. In Taiwan, the structure is very similar to the U.S. But Taiwan is competing head on with Japan and Korea. To do business with mainland China, Hong Kong or Taiwan, you need three different approaches. No one approach fits all. And that’s probably something a lot of people neglect or haven’t thought about. For companies in mainland China, you’ve got to find ways to take innovation through the corporate structure. In Hong Kong, companies need to be approached with a low risk method. And in Taiwan, you’ve got to find ways companies can differentiate themselves from Japan, Korea and the U.S.
Q – Are there other major differences between design in Hong Kong and mainland China?
Lorraine – Hong Kong has that East-meets-West aura. Kids grew up looking at a lot of Western images. They’ve been exposed to a lot of Western ways and culture. This was not the case in mainland China. The Cultural Revolution in China did affect the pride, culture and aesthetics and all that. But it’s starting to come back slowly. Mainland designers are feeling pride about their heritage and feeling that it’s OK to be creative. It’s also emerging in Hong Kong. There’s a pride in their future. So there’s a new Asian aesthetics emerging from mainland China and Hong Kong. But, again, it’s going to be different.
Q – You’re in Hong Kong because of your background and understanding of Western design. It’s obvious, too, that Hong Kong wants to be the design leader in the region. How well positioned is Hong Kong to achieving that goal?
Lorraine – I see Hong Kong having something to offer that no one else does. And it’s that mix of East-meets-West. Hong Kong is the entrée into the East. People coming from the West can feel very comfortable in Hong Kong. It’s not as much of a cultural shock. But it also has a very good understanding of the East. That’s what is so unique about Hong Kong right now -- the culture and the location. But Hong Kong has really had the freedom, in a way, to do what it wanted. Entrepreneurial-wise, they are years ahead of mainland China. So they’ve got this savvy. Hong Kong also has this service aspect to it that is unequaled. |