Workshop at The Village showcases original Chinese designs
by (09/10/23 23:59)
Kung fu chair, 30,000 yuan
Ma Jia, the curator of Original Design Circle
Clock, 780 yuan
Ceramic radio, 388 yuan
Are you kidult series, starting from 10,000 yuan
By Annie Wei
The square-kilometer workshop run by Beijing Original Design Promotion Association (BODA) is a new addition to The Village in Sanlitun.
The workshop, named Original Design Circle, features the creations of more than 50 Chinese designers tapped by BODA, which was established in late 2008 to promote original designs both home and abroad. Many of the shop’s pieces are quirky, and a third of its merchandise is updated every two weeks. Ma Jia, BODA’s secretary and Original Design Circle’s founder and curator, introduced some of the products tBeijing Today.
Keeping childlike wonder
“Kidult” refers to an adult with a kid heart, which serves as an inspiration to designer Liu Feng. His furniture tries to reflect the world of a kidult: in it there is no “sophistication” and “worldliness,” only minimalism and simple joA kidult’s atitude toward life reflects simplicity and easy cheer. Perhaps this can be seen as sagacity in another form as most modern urban designs appear too cold and hard. Liu tries to create space to nurture people’s innocent nd child-like side.
A graduate of the Central Academy of Art and Design, Liu has done a variety of design work, including sculpture art-research, landscape design, device art and in-depth pan-urban phenomena survey.
As the founder of PEP Design Company, Liu witnessed the “warm-up period” of the country’s contemporary art and design industry. And as a co-founder of Brand League of Chinese Household Designs, he boasts of an extensiinfluence in the country’s household design sphere. The cheery “post-contemporary proverb” has become a running theme in his desig
