National Stadium- The Main Stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games Beijing. © Herzog & de Meuron

LONDON.-The V&A’s spring exhibition, China Design Now, will be the first in the UK to explore the recent explosion of new design in China and the first to attempt to understand the impact of rapid economic development on architecture and design in China’s major cities. From the 2008 Olympic stadium, and other significant architectural projects, to the latest in fashion and graphics, China Design Now captures a dynamic phase as China opens up to global influences and responds to the hopes and dreams of its new urban middle class.
The exhibition will focus on three rapidly expanding cities – Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. It will display the work of Chinese and international designers, focussing on architecture, fashion and graphic design as well as film, photography, product and furniture design, youth culture and digital media. Around 100 designers are featured, more than ninety five per cent of whom are Chinese.
Mark Jones, Director of the V&A, said: “China is now the world’s biggest market for mobile phones and is set to overtake the United States as the second biggest consumer of luxury goods after Japan. At the same time, there is more construction in China than anywhere else. The tremendous pace of change has inspired a whole new generation of designers and architects who are shaping fashion, product and urban design in China’s big cities. We need to understand what is happening in China and the aim of this exhibition is to help people to get a snapshot of the development of design in today’s China.” (www.artdaily.com)