WE WILL DESIGN

Description

Picto-Furniture, the exhibition at We Will Design during Milan Design Week 2023, includes selected projects developed within the module IND403, Innovation by Design, taught by associate Professor Vicente Esteban; for this module students had to work towards a specific site and context of two Chinese cities, Shanghai and Suzhou. Tilanqiao Historical District in Shanghai is under an important and strategic urban development, and the most famous landmark is Tilanqiao prison. Our Postgraduate students explored and analysed the district; some chose the history of Tilanqiao prison and the Jewish Settlement; other projects were developed around the old city of Suzhou, specifically the historical area of Shuangta, which is surrounded by canals and small alleyways. The works presented are inspired by old Chinese pictograms, and they corresponding to today’s simplified Chinese characters. These designs are translated from a flat form to a three-dimensional one to become indoor & outdoor furniture to be part of the urban fabric. The outcomes of this exhibition are prototypes and not final designs; however, we can imagine them as site-specific outdoor and indoor furniture that speaks about the area through shape and positions. Our Design Program keeps evolving towards a design approach that aims to encourage students to include the Chinese identity in different forms; in the case of this project, is by using the Chinese graphic language to communicate and materialise the contemporary Chinese culture and produce genuine and original Chinese Design.

Projects selected for the exhibition, include:
Flower Stool designed by Kang Lu
The modular stool, form the Chinese character “花” a general term for all plants and flowers, which symbolises death and life. The project is inspired by Tilanqiao prison, within the Jewish area. The modular seat can be changed and adapted to various needs.

Xian Bench designed by Yihao Huang, Zheyuan Chen, Xiaohan Zhang, Mengdie Wu.
The inspiration of this project came through the student’s site analysts of Pingjiang Road Historical District, one of the best-preserved areas of the old city of Suzhou and the Chinese character “闲”, which means rest. Combining the Chinese character shape, two different functions were integrated. One side is a parking spot for bicycles, the other side is a multifunctional seat with a table. The project support good parking habits.





Peace Lamp designed by Yiwei Liu
The lamp is a synthesis of Chinese pictograph characters from the history of Tilanqiao Prison, which was used to hold Class A war criminals during World War II, and it serves as a constant reminder of the hard-won peace. The lamp is based on the Chinese character for peace, the seal from the historical evolution of Chinese characters. The connecting wooden pegs mean that war wounds are still present.

Balance Lamp designed by Yinghui Wang
Nearly 20,000 Jewish refugees lived in the "Restricted Sector for Stateless Refugees" in the Tilanqiao area. The lamp takes the "平（ping）" of "和平（he ping / PEACE）" in Chinese as the template framework to form a symmetrical structure and also conforms to the meaning of "平（ping）," which serves to BALANCE, SAFETY, FAIR, and PEACE in the Chinese expression. The light symbolizes hope for peace and the future.

Reflection Bench designed by Canghao Yao
There is an old saying in China, " Justice has long arms天网恢恢，疏而不漏", which is the source of the Chinese character "Sin罪". This character is divided into two parts: the shape of "XX" on the top represents the catching net in Chinese, which can be understood as the arms of law, while the shape of "非" on the bottom represents wrong behavior, which means that all the evil under the world will be punished with justice. The bench is based on the Chinese character "Sin罪" in seal script(篆书); this work combines a special waving textile craft that represents the environment in Shanghai and the atmosphere in prison bars.

Period	17 Apr 2023 → 23 Apr 2023
Event type	Exhibition
Location	Milano, ItalyShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International