Meet the speakers at Design for tomorrow’s customer today
Conference Chair
Xu Sitao
Chief Representative, China
The Economist Group
Xu Sitao is the Chief Representative of The Economist Group in China and Director of Advisory Services for China for Economist Corporate Network. He is responsible for Program development and corporate and advisory services for China. He also provides research and analysis on China for Economist Corporate Network Programs across Asia. Former Head of Economics of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (Asia), overseas flagship of China's largest bank, and chief Asian economist of Societe Generale, Xu Sitao is one of the most influential business minds in Asia. His insights will be of interest to business leaders working with or in China in the creative industries or in the areas of innovation, design, and creation.
Speakers and session leaders
Pan Gongkai is a well-known Chinese painter, art theorist. He is currently President of China Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA). Since 1980s, he claims the Chinese and Western art systems should “be complementary and co-exist, and seek a bidirectional development.” His ink-painting has solo-exhibited in Philip Gallery New York, China Culture Center San Francisco, Japan-China Friendship Center Tokyo, UNESCO Paris, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) Beijing, etc. He has published numerous academic papers within the country. There are many publications about his writings and artworks. Pan was a member of the National Commissar.
Born in Ninghai of Zhejiang in 1947, Pan Gongkai is both a painter and an art historian. He had been to University of California in Berkeley as visiting researcher during 1992 to 1994. In 1991, Pan has been named by critics as "Literati with Special Contribution". He is a painter specialized in Chinese painting and held various solo exhibitions in New York city, Hong Kong and Paris. He has published numerous academic papers within the country. There are many publications about his writings and artworks. Pan was a member of the National Commissar, Vice-Chair of Chinese Artists' Association. He is currently President of China Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA).
Xiao Wei Ma
In 1970, Xiao was born in China. After completed his first BA degree in Sculpture in 1993 at the Central Academy of Art & Design in Beijing, he relocated himself to London. He switched himself as a designer since his arrival to the UK, started from his second BA degree study in architecture and design at the Chelsea College of Art & Design, where he completed his study with a First Class Honors award. After two years work in London, he then pursued his further MA degree study in Architecture at the Royal College of Art.
Xiao sets up his design studio in London in 2004, while he was teaching architecture and design in the universities in both the UK and China. He returned to Beijing and set up his design studio MASAA in 2008. He now lives and works in Beijing.
Xiao passionately believes in the value of individuality in both his life and his design work, he is very interested in exploring the emotional and imaginational perspectives of each project he encounters.
Mr. Liu YuanJun is brand director, board member and vice general manager of Bosideng Men.
Mr. Liu has been working in brand strategic planning and development in fashion industry in China. He was the director in charge of the brand promotion for Hangzhou brunch office of Hong Kong Chaifa Holdings Group between 1995 and 1997; since 1998, Mr. Liu became the director of brand promotion in Meters & Bonwe Shanghai Group, mainly directed the planning, design and arrangement for all their stores. Mr. Liu joined Bosideng Men as the vice general manager since March 2009.
For 15 years first hand experiences of managing the brand, design and arrangement of fashion stores, Mr. Liu has the first hand information and experiences on designing fashion stores in China, as well as the experiences on how to reflect the brand identity, brand culture and increase the sales by good store designs.
For a fashion brand, the fashion store design is a place to focus its brand culture and brand spirit, every design process and detail will influence its sales and market. Today in Chinese market, all fashion collection are going to be similar, therefore a stylish brand image is a good tool to attract people, to build the brand value and to create a good market shares.
Dr Wayne Fletcher is President and Chief Creative Officer with IPG-Sandbox, New York, NY. He was Worldwide Chief Strategic Officer and Creative Director for Universal McCann, London, UK, responsible for strategic development for emerging media services and founding member of McCann World Group’s Creative Collective, a team of creative leaders from various IPG advertising and marketing disciplines dedicated to redefining what it means to be creative and innovative in today’s marketing climate.
He has hugely important experience in youth marketing and entertainment, developing brands for the fast paced youth market and understanding how to maintain brands across international boundaries. He has also been responsible for the development and delivery of strategic and creative media/marketing services for the likes of Coca-Cola, EMI, Adidas and Disney internationally. Wayne holds a PhD in applied psychology and was just appointed Visiting Professor of University of the Arts London.
Yann Mathias is Creative Director at the Design Laboratory at Central Saint Martins College, established as a creative bridge between education and the commercial agenda of industry, consultancy and business. It is a design studio housed in the busy and vibrant atmosphere of Central Saint Martins Innovation and is now one of the most respected and recognised design agencies in the United Kingdom. Clients include Alexander McQueen, LVMH, Adidas, Nokia, The Fat Duck, Robe di Kappa and more.
He is active in every aspect of working practice, responsible for the high standard of work Design Laboratory is recognised for and the first point of contact for its many clients. In 2007, Yann co-founded jotta.com, a creative social network develop in collaboration with the University of the Arts London.
Jorge de Silva is a supply chain specialist in fashion apparel, accessories, fabrics, shoes and textiles. He works with retailers and fashion brands to test the competitiveness of the supply base, speed up the design-to-delivery cycle and source new product categories.
His career background includes working with the Burton Group and Gap Inc where he was Director of European Sourcing and then Director of Global Compliance where he was responsible for GAP's factories in 22 countries throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
In 2002 he started Castor Holdings, a US based consultancy firm specialising in supply chain management, code compliance and CSR. In 2005 he was seconded full-time to French Connection PLC as Group Production Director.
Kay Politowicz is Professor of Textile Design at Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London. During her tenure as Course Director role for BA (Hons) Textile Design at Chelsea, she was co-founder of the Textiles Environment Design (TED) research cluster, within which she now works. This enables her to link current thinking in environmental research and design, with the taught curriculum for undergraduate, postgraduate and research students.
In her practice, Kay is committed to making work which tests the theoretical ideas developed through discussion of design strategies for sustainability. Particle Fabrics (Milan 2002) and Artists at Work (Prato 2003), were the first of a series of projects to explore sustainable structures and products for interiors, using textiles to transform and partition space. This provides designers with the opportunity to: reduce material use by combining product functions; reduce dye pollution by replacing chemical treatments with mechanical pattern; reduce waste by minimal cutting and using magnets to install the work, leaving materials in tact for reuse.
Kay’s proposition that sustainability is a platform and springboard for the designer‘s imagination, is evident in her current project, Creative Connections (India 2009), which links technology and craft as a driver for innovation.
www.tedresearch.net
www.everandagain.info
Peter Antenen has been working with international brands for over twenty years, first in general and brand management roles, latterly as a strategy and brand consultant. Peter graduated with honours with a degree in business administration – his thesis was in consumer behaviour – and he subsequently held management and brand development positions with Allied Domecq and Inter-Continental Hotels.
In the mid-eighties, Peter consulted on over ten million square feet of UK prime out-of-town retail and leisure space, undertaking master-planning, financial modeling, marketing and management activities for blue-chip property clients. In 1989 Peter joined Deloitte Consulting and over the decade led over one hundred projects – including development strategy, M&A, new product development, change management, due diligence – in territories as diverse as Hollywood to Hong Kong, Finland to Cape Town.
Peter established his boutique strategy consulting practice in 1999, offering strategic planning, development, brand management and marketing services to retailers, investors, governments, operators and entrepreneurs. Peter is currently working on projects in China, UK and mainland Europe. Clients range from start-ups to global multinationals, including: Nestle, Mars, Benetton, Jeronimo Martins, Land Securities, World Challenge, MOD, Fazer, Cooperative Group, Dongxiang Sports Development Co.
