A design expo in northern China
Last week we were invited to present Morrama’s work to businesses and government officials at Hebei International Design Week. Wanting an excuse to visit clients and partners in the country, we accepted.
We were curious to visit the city of Xiong’an New Area, a new city intended to be a hub of science and innovation outside of Beijing. A pet project of Xi Jinping himself and part of his thousand year plan, it’s supposedly built with consideration for the natural environment and consideration for sustainability and regeneration.
It was underwhelming.
Given the opportunity to start a city from scratch, you’d think that they would be more imaginative with the architecture and infrastructure. Perhaps that would have attracted more people to the area, which is eerily quiet compared to the bustle of the big cities. There is a peacefulness to it admittedly, and lots of beautiful countryside surrounding it, but it felt like a real missed opportunity. Particularly if they wanted to attract international business opportunities to help the region prosper. Also, the insistence from the hotel on replacing every towel in our rooms daily made me question any real care for the environment.
The expo itself was a circus for the parades of government officials. We stood to attention as the mayor of this and the governor of that were shown around, making the odd comment through a translator and otherwise just enjoying the opportunity to meet other international designers and enjoy the delicious food and local beer. As always, the hospitality was exceptional and whilst there were no obvious business opportunities, we are big believers in planting seeds in new fields.
Typically we do business in the south of the country which is more capitalist in nature and exchanges of goods and services happen as you would expect in most Western countries. In the North things are different, with many more relationships between international and local businesses happening only at the permission, or insistence, of the government. And hence why it was the government officials we were supposed to impress. Although it wasn’t clear that they understood the benefit of working with any design agency, let alone an international one that they deemed far too expensive.
The primary question to everything on show was ‘how much’? And when we communicated that something we’d designed sold for £200 in the UK they would be shocked, explaining it would be closer to £20 in China. Explaining to them that that was the point didn’t seem to make a difference. But ultimately that is the point. Much of the work we do with Chinese brands is to enable them to open up markets in Europe or the U.S. that means they aren’t racing to the bottom on pricing and instead can produce lower volumes and sell for a higher margin.
So we left our short time in Hebei feeling that perhaps the message hadn’t got through, but impressed as always by the kindness and generosity of the local people.
Xiong'an is a new city being built in Hebei province, about 100km southwest of Beijing. It is a flagship national project intended to become a hub for science, technology and innovation as part of Xi Jinping's 1000 year plan.
HIDW is an annual event founded in 2018 to connect Hebei's manufacturers with design and innovation expertise from around the world. Its stated aim is to move the province from "Made in Hebei" to "Created by Hebei" and "Hebei Brands." In other words, it wants local manufacturers to build their own design and brands for global markets instead of relying on production capacity alone.
When a product's only selling point is cost, the market becomes a race to the bottom. Considered design gives a product a clear identity, a better user experience and a story that customers in markets like the UK, Europe and the US will pay more for. That lets a manufacturer produce smaller volumes at a higher margin, build a brand instead of supplying a commodity. For many of the Chinese brands we work with, this is the main reason to bring in an international design studio.
