Designing Circularity
In October 2023, Hong Kong Design Centre took a design showcase to Dutch Design Week. ((Capsule)) Hong Kong Design Showcase filled Microlab Hall in Eindhoven’s Strijp-S district from 21 to 29 October. Story Lab co-curated and produced it with HKDC and Number2, and we designed the spatial arrangement and displays of all projects.
The showcase brought together 14 projects from 21 creative units, under three themes: Consumerism and Waste, Technology and Materials, and Sustainability and Inclusivity. Seven “ingredients” tied them together: Reduce, Repair, Reuse, Recycle, Remake, Redesign and Revitalise.
A circular economy is a loop with no end, so the hall took the same shape. We laid it out as a loop, so visitors could follow one path through the projects and see each idea lead into the next. I shaped the projects according to their relations with one another at a three-tier approach: low, medium, and full height showcases, and designed the displays for each of the work.
A show that travels needs to be easy to mount, move and return. For Eindhoven, we worked with Number2, who had already enlisted a Dutch fabricator to supply rental frames for the temporary showcase.
That choice had clear advantages. Rental parts can be returned and reused, which matched the whole idea of a circular showcase. It also suited a show that has to be built by a third party in another country, without us shipping a custom build across Europe.
It had costs too. The choice of materials was limited, and we could only make what was available, with little room to alter it. Designing within a catalogue is a different job from designing from scratch, and I felt that most in the details. For a show that ran for only about a week, I think it was the right trade-off. But I would be honest that a more custom build would have given circular design more thoughts.
After thoughts
An exhibition like this is always a coordinated effort. Design, production, the fabricator and the client all shape the result, and no one person controls it. I’m grateful to HKDC for aligning and coordinating everyone along the way.
The best part was the people. I met so many well-established designers and there’re already talks of future collaborations!