Wang Jingli

wangjingli0715@163.com

THE World Designers Congress, part of the 2024 Shenzhen Design Week, took place Saturday afternoon at the Shenzhen Media Group Building in Futian District. The event drew a diverse audience and at the invitation of EyeShenzhen, a group of foreign students and designers also attended the congress.

Alessandro Antonicelli, a designer and Shenzhen Global Communication Ambassador from Italy, noted that Shenzhen Design Week is very important in creating the design culture of the city. “Shenzhen Design Week plays an educational role to train people to think more about design and learn more about design. Then it will gradually make sure that most of the people understand the importance of design,” he said.

The congress speakers included Chinese design insiders and foreign experts, which, in the eyes of Antonicelli, is very valuable. “China is leading in design in many areas like electric cars and robotics. It’s more important to discuss and share with other foreign partners. ... I can see a lot of foreign experts exchanging with Chinese experts,” Antonicelli added.

From the perspective of Nadiia Skuratovych from Ukraine, an international student at Shenzhen University, the event provided individuals like herself, who are not designers, with an opportunity to learn interesting aspects about design.

“I really appreciate that they raise the awareness about the global warming question and how the designers can solve it as well in the architecture manner or in the design sustainability. For me, this question was very interesting,” said Skuratovych.

“The second panel about AI in design is also interesting because AI now is very popular and everyone uses it in different ways. I was very interested in how the designers actually can use it,” added Skuratovych.

Eunbyol Park, from South Korea, attended the event for the first time and noted that it was very interesting to listen to experts talking about fields that she is not very familiar with. “It has kind of opened my eyes,” said Park.

Dhruv Bharat Shah, from Kenya, said: “I learned different concepts of design and what design means to different peers in different industries, and that makes a big difference for somebody like me who’s not a design major student,” said Shah.