Zollverein School Blog

I’ve just returned from Paris the other day (hey, it was for business purpose! ;-). I’ve spent the nights at a big hotel (chain) where also several airline crews stay while they have to take their downtime. For breakfast I’ve been placed next to a table where some 15 members of China Eastern Airlines had their breakfast as well and I’ve found it interesting to observe the different eating habits compared to our European ones (please do not read this as biased; I mean “different” in both ways!)

Later on while walking through the streets near the Centre Georges Pompidou and Hotel de Ville I’ve passed a street with one Chinese wholesaler next to the other. Nothing fancy just plain showrooms filled with shipping boxes containing products ranging from consumer electronics over handbags to clothing as well as hats. Unfortunately was on my way for a meeting, because otherwise I would have loved to spend a closer look at the various items and designs. However I’ve been lucky enough to spot some items with familiar logos and shapes which reminded me on something I thought I’ve seen in a quite different sales setting ;-)

Anyway no matter if you are a cosmopolitan traveler or just a plain tourist in the meantime we have all seen similar settings somewhere around the globe and these experiences have clearly influenced the stereotypes we have about China, India, Taiwan, etc. Unfortunately the downside of a stereotype is that it’s hard to be erased once it has been confirmed once or twice. In many cases it finally takes an on-site experience to be convinced of the contrary.

However instead of having to travel to China in order to get useful insights about the Chinese perspective of doing business, copying objects and developing a design industry Zollverein School is organizing an open evening in collaboration with Yue Li, Jian Guo as well as Thomas Hofmann and Thomas Hirt from discover design. They will report about Design and the Design Industry in the business centers of Peking, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

The motto of the open evening with free admission is: “Original and Copy – Design in China today and in the future”. The event takes place on June, 29th 2006 at 19:00 hrs. on the Zeche Zollverein area (Schacht XII, Halle12, Saal 100). An advance note via email is highly appreciated! In any case: You’re welcome!

This entry was posted by Ralf Beuker on Wednesday, June 28th, 2006 at 23:23 pm and is filed under Announcement, Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.