We look to all areas of UK design to showcase the most exciting and best work outside Britain. Design is amongst the most powerful and influential areas within the arts in Britain today. Covering a vast range of disciplines, from the fine arts through to the very latest in digital technologies, the UK's artists and designers are pushing the boundaries of their practice to the limit and looking to the future with their innovation and high standards of production.

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Sino-British Creative Industries Forum
Date:9 November 2007 during Beijing 2nd China International Creative Industries Expo

Please click here to download the draft programme (WORD format).

Host:

• Beijing 2nd China Cultural Creative Industries Expo. Organiser (General Administration of Press and Publication, Ministry of Culture, State Administration of Radio and Film TV, Beijing Municipal government)
• UK Trade & Investment

Organiser:

• China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) Beijing
• China Britain Business Council (CBBC)
• Beijing Gehua Cultural Creative Industries Promotion Centre,
• Zhongguancun Yonghe Park
• University of Arts London Beijing Creative Connexions

Supporting Party: Beijing Industrial Design Promotion Centre

Objectives: To understand Chinese cultural creative industries status and promote UK creative industries excellence and design, branding excellence in both government policy and commercial strength, in order to strengthen the dialogue with Chinese government, companies, academics in creative industries and create business co-operation between UK creative industries organisation and Chinese organisation.

Attendees: Chinese government officials, academics in creative industries and companies and organisations which have needs in branding and design

Venue: Dongyuan Theatre
Address: Changpuhe Park, Nanchizi Avenue, Dongcheng District, Beijing
Tel: 010 85115372

RSVP: Angela Wang, CBBC Beijing
Tel: 010 85251111 ext 309
Fax: 010 85251001/85251101
Email: angela.wang@cbbc.org.cn

UK Trade and Investment (UKTI)
UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) is the Government organisation that helps UK based companies succeed in international markets. We assist overseas companies to bring high quality investment to the UK's vibrant economy. In design, UKTI is planning to hold several events to promote China-UK cooperation.

In Sep 2007, UKTI is planning to support Chinese companies to attend London Design Festival for trade and investment promotion. During the 2nd China Beijing International Cultural & Creative Industry Expo this autumn, UKTI is planning to host the China-UK Creative Industry Forum.  A UK design delegation is planning to visit Beijing then.

If you would like to cooperate with UK designers, please contact Yan.zhang@fco.gov.uk.

Design in Britain website
Welcome to this website and read from a selection of lively interviews and biographies of Britain's famous and up-and-coming designers. You can discover more about the UK designers, architects and design movements that have influenced the development of modern and contemporary design all over the world in Design in Britain, the online archive of the British Council and the Design Museum. There are some important names you cannot miss:

1. Zaha Hadid

The first woman to win the Pritzker Prize for Architecture in its 26 year history, ZAHA HADID(1950-) has defined a radically new approach to architecture by creating buildings, such as the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, with multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry to evoke the chaos of modern life. Please click here to read more.

2. Tom Dixon

Both as a self-taught designer-maker in early 1980s London and as head of design at the Habitat retail chain and now Artek, the Finnish furniture manufacturer, TOM DIXON (1959-) has combined the creative with the commercial throughout his career. Please click here to read more.

3. Paul Smith

One of the few British-based fashion designers to combine commercial success with critical credibility, PAUL SMITH (1946-) is renowned for his idiosyncratic take on traditional British styling -'classics with a twist' - both in his fashion collections and his shops. Please click here to read more.

4. Daniel Brown

One of the pioneering generation of self-taught web designers, DANIEL BROWN is noted for the humour and playfulness of his interactive animations often inspired by nature. Please click here to read more.

5. Foreign Office Architects

Projects such as the Yokohama International Port Terminal and the forthcoming BBC Music Centre have established Alejandro Zaera Polo (1963-) and Farshid Moussavi (1965-), the husband and wife co-founders of FOREIGN OFFICE ARCHITECTS, as leaders of the new generation of architects who are defining a new design language to reflect the speed, ambiguity and uncertainty of contemporary life. Please click here to read more.

6. Industrial Facility

Since founding INDUSTRIAL FACILITY in London in 2002, Sam Hecht and Kim Colin have applied their elegant, yet rigorous take on design to projects for companies such as Epson, Magis, Lexon and Whirlpool as well as Muji, for which they are the European creative directors. Please click here to read more.

7. Graphic Thought Facility

By defining a distinctive graphic style to a diverse range of projects, GRAPHIC THOUGHT FACILITY has emerged as one of the UK’s most influential – and productive – graphic design teams. Founded in London in 1990 by Andy Stevens and Paul Neale, GTF now works for such clients as Habitat, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and the Design Museum.  Please click here to read more.