BODW 2018

Hong Kong’s highly regarded annual  Business of Design Week (BODW) 2018 is Asia’s premier event on design, innovation and brands and features over 70 eclectic and vibrant international speakers.

The conference gathers pioneering designers and creative executives from across the world and different disciplines to share their insights and stories, and to explore new ideas and trends in design, business, technology and branding.

Organised by Hong Kong Design Centre, BODW is an annual international week-long curated programme of inspiration, exchange and opportunity in Asia at the intersection of design, brands and innovation. Every year, BODW brings together the world’s finest creative minds, thought leaders and innovators to explore the changing landscape of design, business and technology.

BODW 2018 is a must-attend event for business leaders, entrepreneurs, design practitioners and key decision-makers who want to keep up with the latest industry and innovation trends shaping today’s successful businesses. Get ready to be inspired and reserve your tickets now (LINK)

The 2018 edition of BODW takes on the theme ‘Think ∙ Collaborate ∙ Create and the programme will focus on design and innovation in branding, space, communication, product, culture and the city.

The lineup of guest speakers include:

Carol Ross Barney
Carol Ross Barney has made significant contributions to the built environment. As an architect, urbanist, mentor, and educator, she has relentlessly advocated that excellent design is a right, not a privilege.

Barney’s projects vary in type and scale, but uphold a deep commitment to the role architecture plays in life quality. This has manifest itself in spaces that transition urban dwellers from point A to point B and enrich the metropolitan experience; to buildings that are environmental stewards, showcasing sustainability in an overtly compelling way; to spaces that inspire young children and the brightest minds of tomorrow to learn, invent, and break boundaries.

Barney is a graduate of the University of Illinois. Following graduation, she served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica planning national parks. She teaches an advanced Design Studio at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and serves on their College Board of Overseers.

Barney’s work has been honoured with over 100 major design awards, including six national American Institute of Architects Institute Honor Awards, over 40 AIA Chicago Awards, two AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten Project Awards, and the AIA Chicago Lifetime Achievement Award, the AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture and the AIA Illinois Gold Medal. She was named as a ‘Gamechanger’ by Metropolis magazine in 2018. Projects include: Chicago Riverwalk, McDonald’s Chicago Flagship, Oklahoma City Federal Building, and CTA Stations.

Tony Chambers ©Chris Floyd

Tony Chambers
Tony Chambers, Creative Director and Editor-in-Chief of Wallpaper* from January 2003 to September 2018 was the longest serving Editor-in-Chief of the magazine.

Prior to Wallpaper*, Chambers was Art Director of British GQ and Art Editor of The Sunday Times Magazine. He studied Graphic Communication and Typography at Central Saint Martins School of Art. Two subjects that remain his core passion.

Under his stewardship, Wallpaper* magazine was transformed into a global brand – introducing over 100 pocket City Guides, a highly successful digital edition, an in-house creative agency, an interior design service, the global Handmade franchise and the e-commerce site WallpaperSTORE*. One of his latest projects is to co-chair the development of the Brainstorm Design conference held annually each March in Singapore.

He has worked with creative luminaries such as Jean Nouvel, Philippe Starck, Louise Bourgeois, Jeff Koons, Karl Lagerfeld, Hedi Slimane, Christian Marclay, Kraftwerk and Zaha Hadid on guest editors’ issues. He has twice been named the Professional Publishers Association’s Designer of Year and twice Editor of the Year for Lifestyle Magazines by the British Society of Magazine Editors. In 2015 he was the recipient of the Mark Boxer Award for outstanding services to the Publishing.

Li Edelkoort ©Photo by Thirza Schaa

Li Edelkoort
Li Edelkoort is arguably the world’s most famous trend forecaster and colourist, working in industries from design and fashion to food, architecture, communication and retail. Founded in 1986, her company Trend Union produces trend tools for strategists, designers and marketers at international brands. She is also a publisher, humanitarian, educator and exhibition curator. In 2011, she launched an interactive online trend forum called TrendTablet.com. She has been named by TIME Magazine as one of the Most Influential People in Fashion and by Icon as one of the Most Influential People in Design. Since 2015, Edelkoort is Dean of Hybrid Studies at Parsons in New York, where she has founded Textile Month each September and a Textiles Masters in 2018. Her much-talked about ANTI-FASHION Manifesto was the first to raise awareness about the shifts and upheavals currently experienced in the global fashion industry.

Ajax Law & Virginia Lung ©One Plus Partnership Limited

Ajax Law & Virginia Lung
Ajax Law & Virginia Lung are the Design Directors and founders of One Plus Partnership Limited, an award-winning Hong Kong-based design firm, designs include cinemas, restaurants, retail stores, club houses, sales offices, branding and product design.

Since its establishment in 2004, One Plus has been awarded over 540 international interior design awards from USA, Germany, Italy, UK, Japan and Korea. One Plus has also been invited to exhibit in renowned worldwide exhibitions, including Venice Biennale 2016.

Ben van Berkel
Ben van Berkel studied architecture at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and at the Architectural Association in London, receiving the AA Diploma with Honours in 1987.

In 1988, he and Caroline Bos set up an architectural practice in Amsterdam, extending their theoretical and writing projects to the practice of architecture. UNStudio presents itself as a network of specialists in architecture, urban development and infrastructure. Current projects include the design for Doha’s Integrated Metro Network in Qatar, ‘Four’ a large-scale mixed-use project in Frankfurt and the Wasl Tower in Dubai.

With UNStudio he realised amongst others the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Arnhem central Station in the Netherlands, the Raffles City mixed-use development in Hangzhou, the Canaletto Tower in London, a private villa up-state New York and the Singapore University of Technology and Design.

In 2018 Ben van Berkel founded UNSense, an Arch Tech company that designs and integrates human-centric tech solutions for the built environment.

ESKYIU

Eric Schuldenfrei
Eric Schuldenfrei is the Associate Dean for Special Projects and Communications at the University of Hong Kong Architecture Faculty. His most recent book The Films of Charles and Ray Eames: A Universal Sense of Expectation was published in 2015 and focuses on architecture, politics, cinema and education. Together with Marisa Yiu, he founded ESKYIU – a multi-disciplinary architecture studio integrating culture, art, community and technology. He has previously taught at Princeton University, Columbia University, and the Architectural Association in London and has recently presented at DLD in Moscow on the topic of Future Cities, at the V&A museum, Harvard University AsiaGSD series, the University of Cambridge, and the Royal College of Art in London.

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