The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design (PolyU Design) and the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Hong Kong co-hosted a kick-off event for the Design Dialogue between the Czech Republic and Hong Kong to seek new opportunities in design education and the industry.
Intending to explore the new collaborative possibilities in both academia and the business of design, higher education institutes and businesses from both regions gathered together to kick off the dialogue through introductions of past and current projects, exhibitions, technologies and creative works of each.
“Generally, in Hong Kong people don’t have good enough knowledge about the Czech Republic, so we have a project called Czech Day. Design dialogue is the first dialogue we’d like to establish under the Czech Day promotion, and hopefully will move on to art and education to have more intensive dialogues,” said Mrs Klara Jurcova, Consul General of the Czech Republic.
As the representatives of the Hong Kong side, Prof. Kun-Pyo Lee, Dean of PolyU Design; Dr Lay Lian Ong, Principal of Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI); Dr Joseph Wong, Executive Director of Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC) and Mr Barry Tai, Senior Manager (Business Development) of AiDLab presented their current research, students’ works, school facilities, methods in design education, industrial collaborations, the latest Artificial Intelligence technology in design and more aspects of design developments in Hong Kong.
Led by the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Hong Kong, speakers from sectors of the Czech design industry delivered the scope of Czech design, which laid a foundation for discussions about possible collaborations in the future.
Speakers from various design promotion organisations, including Ms Pavla Sebestova, Consultant for Design of Design Centre Czech Trade; Mr Patrik Florian, PR Manager of Designblok; Mr David Karasek, Vice-Chairman of the Board, Co-Founder and Creative Director of mmcite at Association of Czech Industrial Design, walked the guests through a series of art and design exhibitions and other major events of the country.
In academics, Ms Jitka Sosova, Vice-Rector for Internationalization and Development at the Academy of Arts; Jiri Bartos, Head of Department of Design of Architecture and Design at the University of J. E. Purkyne (UJEP) introduced their sophisticated design education programmes.
As for Czech design businesses, Mr Vojtech Havrda, Associate GM (Hong Kong) of Lasvit, and Ms Magdalena Maxova, Business Development Manager of Preciosa showed the guests a glimpse of the wonderous Czech aesthetics in glass installations and lighting designs.
During the dialogue, both parties conveyed their anticipation and willingness to bridge up for further collaborations in all kinds of events to advance and promote design. Future collaborations may involve academic research, student exchange, business collaborations, exhibitions, technology sharing, etc.
“There will be many opportunities to have a two-year degree, student exchange, or co-teaching classes in the future. We are pretty much looking forward to what will be happening after this short meeting,” said Prof. Kun-Pyo Lee, Dean of PolyU School of Design.
“We may give talks to students of PolyU Design and HKDI about glass design production, inviting the directors from the Museum of decorative art and the curators from the Museum of Glass. Also, I am positive about the idea of education exchange. The platform of AiDLab Design Block will be in use this year. I’m looking forward to the concrete projects and workshop,” said Mrs Klara Jurcova.
PolyU Design looks forward to forging connections with the Czech design industry to bring more international exposure and cross-cultural interactions into design education.
For those who have missed the event, you are invited to watch the video here:
| Topics | News | PolyU Design Collaborates |
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