Design in China: Elegance or Expedience? or Both?
February 24, 2009 | Levent OZLER
In China, industrial design is often seen as an add-on or nice-to-have veneer based entirely on the appearance and style of a product.
It is certainly not seen as a strategic discipline that can make the difference between success and failure.
However, as China's economy develops, Government has recognised the importance of design as well as the value it can bring, and has positioned it as a strategic part of its current five-year plan - encouraging its corporations and small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to make the transition from "Made in China" to "Designed in China".
There are more than 100,000 designers graduating from a thousand universities in China to underpin the government's initiative, but will this new wave of designers be able to meet the needs of consumers in both the East and West?
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