by stylites -

Double Happiness


Photos: Yaang Text: LifeStyle Magazine

Founder of Yaang and chief director of Kieperzapfen Design, Wang Yang studied traditional Chinese painting at the China Academy of Art and worked in Hamburg and Berlin for several years.

1. What are the biggest influences on your work?

Artists including Andy Warhol, Giorgio Morandi and Chen Laolian. I also like Song Dynasty bird and flowers paintings and landscapes from the Ming and Qing.

2. Is your work part of the current drive toward Chinese retro and nostalgia？

Chinese culture has so much to explore and my goal is to make products with a visual language that sparks an emotional response in customers.

3. What are the main challenges for you?

Beyond the issues of cost control, finding new channels, and working with suppliers that we always face, we always seek an attractive design language.

4. Where is China design now?

Chinese design is in its infancy since the proceeding period was so empty. Many clients and customers
remain unwilling to spend on design, though trends are positive. Many designers are working hard to get
China on the design map. Competition is growing, so how to find your place and then settle down and just produce good design is an issue.

 

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Christmas in China

Does China embrace Christmas with greater vigor? Every year, articles like this describe the ballooning popularity of the birthday of Jesus in China as a time for partying and shopping. Is this phenomena different from what happens in South Korea and Japan, for example? I mean, is China exceptional in this aside from its being the country that produces all of those cheap baubles we use around the world?

The numbers in China are naturally the most impressive. The Chinese customs agency reports estimated that 30 percent of the Christmas products manufactured in China are sold domestically and sales at shopping centers is thought to spike by up to 30 percent in this period. Perhaps one motivation for celebrating the day is the inexpensive decorations.

The unapologetic embrace of the most materialistic aspects of this religious event day be because there are not enough of traditional Chinese days that can be used for partying with friends. Home-grown holidays may be too solemn or official. The adoration of this foreign holiday might also highlight the cosmopolitanism and openness of contemporary China. However, at the end of that stylish yuletide dinner at a five-star hotel, Christmas in China is all about fashion – having an international, hip, lifestyle.

Oh yes, and Merry Christmas to all of my viewers wherever they are!

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Magazines, Shares and Chocolate

A few interesting happenings:

– Conde Nast China Managing Director Cao Weiming discusses the rise of Vogue, GQ, AD, and Self in the most important rapidly growing market for print media. Vogue China now has the third highest revenue among the 15 international editions of the publication. I also heard recently that GQ China is expected to surpass the UK one to become the top grossing GQ, right after the US version. More from China Daily on Conde Nast in China.

– Not all is as buoyant as what fashion industry watchers were promised though. Shares in HK-listed Prada have slumped 34% from their price at listing in July. With 42% of its sales in Asia, Prada enjoyed 25% growth in the first nine months of the year and 39% in Asia (outside Japan). Like everyone, investors are worried about slower than utterly exuberant growth in 2012, though Prada in China must still be a very good bet in the medium to long term. The world’s largest listed jeweler, HK’s Chow Tai Fook, also saw its share price drop 8%. Both of these are probably more cases of investors accepting that growth in the Chinese luxury market will be merely strong, rather than overwhelming, at least in 2012.

– On a lighter, or hopefully darker, note, a new chocolate theme park north of Beijing hosted a show with fashions made from chocolate.

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Efficiency-Minded

Photographer Wang Peng has evolved his own rather versatile way of dressing. He has five tailored suits in this exact cut each in a different color. They can be either worn as a suit or mixed and matched. I will have to ask him next time if there are really are a total of 25 potential outfits or if some of the colors don’t really go together. The fabric is canvass that he purchased at Muxiyuan.

 

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Mega Glamour

Among the collaborative projects at the Lane Crawford and Modern Weekly ‘A Plus’ exhibition was a pop-up photo studio by designer Xander Zhou and photographer Trunk Xu. Here is Mega Mengmeng being photographed. Xander Zhou and Trunk Xu collaborated before on the famous Gay China issue of Hong Huang’s Ilook magazine. Here are photos from that issue.

 

 

 

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A Plus Student

Former Hang on the Box frontwoman Gia (Wang Yue) is working on a tee-shirt brand called Bad Taste (more from the Global Times).

She was at the launch of Lane Crawford and Modern Weekly‘s ‘A Plus’ exhibition, which features collaborations between China’s fashion designers and international artists.