(3 December 2011, Hong Kong) BODW 2011 Off to a Flying Start Today, HKSAR Chief Executive Mr.

Donald Tsang opened BODW 2011 as the Guest-of-Honour, officiating the opening ceremony and announcing 2012 as Hong Kong Design Year. BODW 2011 will last for three days (1-3 December), starting with a speech by industrial design maestro Dieter Rams. Rams, who recently turned 80, is part of Germanys industrial design elite. His works and ideas are hugely influential, earning him a spot on the Top 50 Designers list. Rams counts Apple Incs designer Jonathan Ive as an avid fan. We are proud and privileged to have Rams to personally be in Hong Kong to give a speech. He spoke of the importance of sustainable development and the relationship between customers and development. He elaborated on his 10 Design Commandments. As consumers and their needs constantly change, so does design. Designers need to make a greater contribution to society in helping create a better living environment. Furthermore, he emphasized minimalistic viewpoints as the key of successful design - Simplicity is key. Designers must overcome their desire to create for self-satisfaction and meet the functional demands of consumers. This is his view on what good design is today. Five
main pillars drive his principles: Functionality, Communicative effect, Aesthetic dimension, Usability/ Purpose, and Sustainability.

Being the premier design event of the year, BODW 2011 features many other prominent designers. Italian furniture designer Antonio Citterio, whose brainchild is the ubiquitous L-shaped sofa, is also a featured speaker. In his speech, he highlighted some of his past works and discussed the importance of the person and the place in design and architecture. He seemed to focus on the experience, and how building a strong relationship and communication with client helps make a successful project. Citterio stressed the importance in continuous learning and use of different materials to really create a new experience and appropriate solutions and products for clients. Another prominent industrial designer, Fritz Frenkler of f/p design GmbH fame, was also invited to speak. His minimalistic approach towards his designs of furniture, AV and telecommunication products have made him a leader in his field. In his speech, the noted the significance of creating an environment that specifically emphasizes design itself to prepare young designers with the necessary tools in solve increasingly complex problems of the future. He elaborated on his design formula and how

technology, ergonomics, social, psychology, and philosophy elements need to be integrated to develop a more functional design process. Frenkler also noted the value for all designers to create products and services that represent company demands, users needs, and address sustainability concerns for the environment. BODW 2011: Highlights of Day 1 1. Brands & Design BODW 2011 features the industrys top brand managers, allowing ideas to be embraced and shared. The first speaker, Markus Miele, fourth-generation co-owner of the Miele Group, the worlds largest manufacturer of high-quality domestic appliances, shared the ins-and-outs of running a large family business with long and rich heritage. Miele spoke about the importance of inspiration, specifically looking and listening, in continuing to the company mission of Immer Besser Forever Better. He noted designers must look and listen to the global community, family, friends, company, and oneself to create better products that address the concerns and challenges of consumers. He believes it can always be better and designers must stay with the problem and use their imagination to develop simply designed high quality items. Another featured designer is Roland Heiler of Porsche Design Studio fame. The global luxury brand features a wide range of products, from pens to luxury yachts. He spoke about the design philosophy of Porsche and the need to constantly challenge the way designers look at a product so you can better change the design and consumers perception. He emphasized the importance of engineering and focus on function in the design philosophy of Porsche. With technical inspiration, simplicity, quality, innovation and perfect craftsmanship, designers must listen to the customer to engineer luxury for the vision of tomorrow. Heir to the fashion brand Hugo Boss and luxury furniture brand ClassiCon Gmbh, Oliver Holy shares his stories in his speech. He spoke about his passion for design and how you must start from the bottom and work your way up in order to truly understand the business. Gaining influence from icons such as Eileen Gray and Konstantin Grcic, he hopes to create a coherent arc that will link design from the past to today - link the classic to the contemporary. In design and in life, Holy mentioned the importance of perseverance and keeping forward momentum to create something special. This commitment and investment in time and resources is what helps create quality and value in unique design, setting them apart from followers.

Finally, allow the ideas of Chinese designer Hou Zheng-guang to inspire us. Hou started his speech with a question: Design for who? He claims whether it is for the masses, minority or self, there should be a balance between more and less in the designers mind. For himself, his aim is to express a humanistic view. He emphasized that, as a local Chinese designer, his work should show important values and heritage of Chinese culture - reflection, balance, control, and continuity, and not to purely follow foreign design concepts. 2. Space & Design Comfortable spaces are essential to a good quality of life. As part of the Space & Design forum of BODW 2011, famed Japanese lighting designer Masanobu Takeishi shares his stories in Light of Atmosphere. Winston Shu, architect of Hong Kong International Airport, touched on environmental issues. Founders of Singapore-based integrated design firm Takenouchi Webb, Naoko Takenouchi & Marc Webb, share their experiences with designing restaurants, bars and hotels. Critically acclaimed homegrown talent Steve Leung talked about his ideas and thoughts on interior design. With such outstanding speakers lined up, this forum was indeed a hit. 3. Communications & Design The power of advertising is truly unparalleled. Speaking at this forum is Henry Steiner, who shares his immense experience in various countries and cultures. Joachim Saute, widely hailed asGodfather of New Media, is co-founder and creative head of ART+COM. He talks about the emergence of new media. He Jian-ping, whose graphic design and posters have attracted worldwide attention and received numerous awards and prizes for groundbreaking visuals that often contain Chinese character elements, talks about his works of posters and his ideologies. John Maeda, hailed by Forbes magazine as the Steve Jobs of Academia, told the crowd about his thoughts on communications and design.