Much has been lost in China’s rush for modernity, but Nicely Made in China’s guest this week, Mr Kele Ma, proves the exception. He has devoted his life to salvaging countless pieces of beautifully handcrafted ancient furniture which can now be seen at the museum he recently opened in Tianjin.
This week Nicely Made in China’s (NMiC) delivery brings us back to Hong Kong, a city which could well be dubbed ‘the city of design’ as it is literally teeming with interesting designers.Danny Fang, as his name does not suggest, is Dutch. Danny’s great grandfather was Chinese, although Danny grew up in Amsterdam and graduated from the Eindhoven Design Academy in The Netherlands in 1998. He decided to move to Hong Kong in 2006 after spending 6 years at the studio of the renowned Marcel Wanders. In answering NMiC questions, he talked about good design, employee shortage in the Pearl river delta and Western misconceptions about China. Read the rest of this entry »
If you live in Beijing or Shanghai you may have noticed a couple of small shops, one tucked away in leafy Sanlitun (Beijing), the other in the trendy Fuxing Lu (Shanghai) with an attractive and strange name: Rouge Baiser followed by the name Elise. Nicely Made in China decided to investigate and met with the French owner, Elise de Saint Guilhem, to talk embroidery, mixing colors and the differences -or the lack of- between Chinese and Western clients. Read the rest of this entry »
This week Nicely Made in China (NMiC) features Marion Carsten. Marion, a goldsmith from Frankfurt, moved to China in 2000. After a few years there, she moved to Bangkok and recently to Paris where NMiC caught up with her. She talked about square pearls, what inspires her work and how to manage a company in China from Europe. Read the rest of this entry »
This week Nicely Made in China (NMiC) presents a couple who has decided to take on one of China’s traditional crafts – porcelain. Born into a Hong Kong-based Swiss family, Julie Progin and her American husband Jesse McLin, have recently created Latitude Design Studio, a young and promising company. In a double interview they tell NMiC about setting up and working with an artisan community in Jingdezhen. Read the rest of this entry »
For this week’s article Nicely Made in China (NMiC) stays in Shanghai to introduce a Franco-Chinese couple: Virginie Moriette, a French architect who graduated from l’Ecole Nationale Superieure d’Architecture de Paris la Villette and her husband Xu Ming, a designer/interior architect who graduated from E.S.A.G Penninghen in Paris. They run their own company Design MVW based in Shanghai. NMiC interviewed Virginie who talks about what defines life in Shanghai in 2010: high energy, harmony, nature and the Shanghai urban environment. Read the rest of this entry »
This week Nicely Made in China stays in Shanghai to introduce its second -but very different- shoe designer: Denise Huang owner and designer of Suzhou Cobblers moved back to Shanghai from Hong Kong in 2003 with a business idea. Denise kindly accepted to answer a few questions from NMiC and talked about tradition, modernity and a good looking rooster. Read the rest of this entry »
This week Nicely Made in China (NMiC) is happy to feature its first shoe designer. Londoner, Alison Mary Ching Yeung, half-Chinese, half-British, created the brand Mary Ching in 2009 in Shanghai . On her way to becoming the “Louboutin of Shanghai” (according to French fashion magazine ELLE) Mary Ching has become in a short time a much sought after brand by fashionistas in China and beyond. It has already caught the eye of stars such as Beyonce, Cameron Diaz and Zhang Ziyi. In a fast-paced phone interview, Alison tells NMiC what drove her to design shoes. Read the rest of this entry »
Design, among other things, is increasingly part of our daily lives. Having said that, it has been a while since Nicely Made in China (NMiC) presented a designer. So, this week NMiC is happy to introduce Hong Kong-based American architect-designer Sean Dix. After years spent in Fiji, Micronesia and the Philippines (in his youth) and later, many years spent working in Europe (Milan), Sean decided that Asia was the place to be. In 2008 he landed at Chek Lap Kok with family in tow. He recently spoke with NMiC, discussing his influences and what it is like to work in this part of the world. Read the rest of this entry »
