Design Shanghai returns in 2019 for the sixth edition of the fair. Focused on bringing together exceptional design, quality and inspiration, Design Shanghai is Asia’s biggest design event, welcoming almost 70,000 visitors from across the world as well as some of the most recognised and established global design brands and emerging design talent from China and beyond.
For the next edition, Design Shanghai will introduce a sixth design hall, New Materials and Applications, which feature some of the most innovative and experimental works at the fair. This new hall joins Contemporary, Classic & Luxury, Collectible, Kitchen & Bathroom, and Workplace design halls to make six in total, offering over 400 design brands. 2019 will also see Design Shanghai expand its footprint at the exhibition centre by +20% - offering more space for brands and exhibitions.
“Design Shanghai continues to set the standard for the design industry in Asia. As the region’s largest industry trade event we’re pleased to be able to engage the world’s best design brands with China and also celebrate the increasingly high-calibre local design talent to our international audience. We recently marked the success of Design Shanghai with the start of Design China Beijing this year to engage and interact with an even wider Chinese audience,” says Mike Dynan, MD of organiser Media 10 China.
“Design Shanghai continues to grow in 2019 taking over more space in the Shanghai Exhibition Centre and the addition of a new design hall that celebrates the cutting-edge advances in product materials and applications across design. We’re also pleased to introduce a new matchmaking system at Design Shanghai 2019 and the first The Kelly Hoppen International Design Awards that will recognise the very best in interior design across China,” says Zhuo Tan, Design Shanghai's show director.
The fair will feature some of the world’s best-known design brands such as Roche Bobois, Knoll, SieMatic, Zaha Hadid Design and Saint Louis, which will present their latest collections as well as unique pieces for the Asian market. In partnership with one of the biggest international event organisers, Medinit srl- Veronafiere Group, this year’s CasaMedinit Shanghai will invite designers Giovanni Siard and Luigi Siard to design the 300 sqm space at Design Shanghai with a collection of Italian design brands.
Alongside the strong showing of international talent, Design Shanghai will also present some of the best in Chinese design from emerging and established brands and designers.
For the third year, Design Shanghai will extend its reach beyond the exhibition centre with the Xintiandi Design Festival. This year’s theme, Back to the Social Origin: Building Connections in the Real World, will explore the relationship between social interaction and design from the most basic human needs through to the use of information and data in our increasingly globalised community. Four curators – Hou Zhengguang, Sun Xinxi, Du Xinyue and Simone Chen – will interpret the theme with bespoke installations and talks during the festival.
This year’s Design Shanghai Forum, delivered in association with Kohler, will investigate the relationship between craft and technology. Regarded as a pre-eminent platform for debate about design, the Design Shanghai Forum will tackle the big questions facing design and the concepts and ideas these questions are shaping. This year’s theme, Technology, Craft and Creativity – Friends or Enemies, explores how automated processes will affect the design industry, the relationship between AI and creativity and how technology will impact on society across the world. Speakers in March will include over 40 local and international speakers including European designers Marcel Wanders, Kelly Hoppen, Lee Broom and Daan Roosegaarde, while local architects and designers such as Frank Chou, Zhang Zhoujie and Jamy Yang will also join the forum.
Design Shanghai will take place at Shanghai Exhibition Centre from 6-9th March 2019.
