Aric Chen: Creative Director, Beijing Design Week
Aric Chen is cooler than you. Just check out the spelling of his name. He’s also a regular contributor to the likes of Modern Weekly, Wallpaper and the New York Times. He’s currently keeping busy running Beijing Design Week.
On his background
I’m Chinese and born in the US, but please don’t call me an “ABC
On Beijing
Why do we love Beijing? Most of us aren’t bankers who were sent here against our will on assignment. It’s not for the traffic jams or the air quality. The shopping malls are convenient but I don’t think anyone really loves them. We love Beijing for the spirit and the soul and the people who are here. We hope through BJDW to try and capture a bit of that.
On what went right last year
We’re not a biennial that curates and dictates everything that happens. We’re more concerned with creating a space for grassroots designers.
On what went wrong last year
This year we’re focusing on expanding our distribution points as well as developing a smartphone app. It ’s a huge citywide event with lots of venues, so we need to do a better job making sure people can find them.
On what to look out for this year
Dashilar will be really fun – we have about twice as many venues and participants as last year. There will be a great mix of pop-up bars with their own Dashilar brews, pop-up stores in hutongs being revitalized, gourmet jianbing carts, exhibitions from the World College of Art in London, Beijing’s own maker spaces, film and lomography projects. 751 will have the Design Fair, the Dutch, and a workshop with kids and architects using hundreds of thousands of Legos.
Our new zone in Caochangdi will host a conceptual project called Shanzhai Biennial questioning the ideas of originality and copying, and making the argument that shanzhai is actually an incredibly rich font of innovation in China.
On what the Chinese have to learn
I always say Chinese designers should pay very close attention to what designers around the world are doing, but then they should forget it.
On the current state of design
In China we’re still in the phase of painting everything red or abstracting latticework.
On where creativity comes from
Cities who do well with creativity do well because there’s an intangible soul to them that’s not found in shopping malls and shiny office buildings and 20-lane roads.
On this year’s opening ceremony
Less laser lights, more stuff about design.
BJDW runs Sep 28-Oct 6. Check out the full BJDW schedule at www.beijingdesignweek.org.
Click here to see the October issue of the Beijinger in full.
Photo courtesy of Aric Chen
