After the success of last year’s Beijing Design Week, China’s design festival will land in Milan this April, for the annual Milan Design Week, generally known as Salone del Mobile. Bringing a series of events and projects to Italy, Beijing Design Week aims to confirm Beijing’s role as  interpreter of the latest Chinese creative trends, as well as to further enhance the cultural and commercial exchanges with Italy and Italian design. Beijing’s presence at the Salone will act as preamble to an even major cooperation between the cities of Milan and Beijing, set to take place during the 2012 edition of Beijing Design Week, when Milan will bring its creativity to China’s capital as the protagonist of the festival’s Guest City programme. The collaboration has been launched after an extended dialogue between the City of Milan and the City of Beijing, and announced at a press conference held last February by Stefano Boeri, Councilor for Culture, Design, and Fashion for the Municipality of Milan. The projects that Beijing will bring to Milan set the goal to show the diverse and up-and-coming scene of Chinese design to the world through different perspectives, from the creative approach of a contemporary design exhibition, to a more business-oriented platform in the form of a B2B Forum, passing through research and education programs. Beijing Design Week will participate to the Salone del Mobile with:

• “Slow Seating—Contemporary Chinese Design” Exhibition
• B2B Forum: LET DESIGN BECOME THE BEST BUSINESS
• Red Star Dream Factory
• “Milan Teaches Design”
• Beijing Design Week Night: Milan “Guest City” for BJDW 2012
• Lenovo Night

Slow Seating—Contemporary Chinese Design From “Made in China” to “Designed in China” at Spazio Ex- Ansaldo, April 17-22 2012 Aimed to shift international attention from the words ‘Made in China’ to ‘Designed in China’, and to assert the role of design as a crucial one for China’s growth and progress, Beijing Design Week will present for the Salone del Mobile “Slow Seating—Contemporary Chinese Design”, a major collective exhibition of Chinese design. Running from April 17 to April 22 at the industrial ex-Ansaldo space, in the Zona Tortona area, the exhibition will be curated by renowned designer Zhu Xiaojie, who already participated to the Salone del Mobile 2011. Sponsor of the retrospective will be Red Star Macalline Group Corporation Ltd. Mr. Zhu has selected over 60 Chinese designers to reflect upon the significance of the chair, theme of the exhibition, as an object apt for meditation and rest. Moving from the design process of creating chairs, stools, and sofas, the designers offer their own interpretation of slow seating. In traditional Chinese thinking, resting and pausing have always been given great importance as essential habits for a healthy lifestyle. From tea ceremonies to calligraphy, Chinese culture interprets the idea of stopping to meditate not only as a practice for self-cultivation and enrichment, but also as an occasion to consolidate social and family relations. The creative works displayed in “Slow Seating” reinterpret such traditional legacy into new, contemporary experimentations. Vittorio Sun, Deputy Director of Beijing Design Week Organizing Committee, stressed that the most essential aspect is that “with ‘Slow Seating’ , Chinese designers will share their genuineness and their vision with the world – proving that China can create original designs.“ According to the curator Zhu Xiaojie, “This exhibition explores the relationship between development and continuity, technology and craft, from a Chinese perspective. Against this restless world, perhaps is it time to slow down – sit down.” Source: Beijing Design Week