210717 – Canton Concept – London > words
China, once a great empire has spent many centuries in stagnation watching the rest of the world progress whilst playing a supporting role as the factory of the world. In a China where anything can be made and labour supply was cheap, Made in China became synonymous with both poor quality and copyright infringement. The recent decades have witnessed a reversal of this role with China becoming a dominant player in world markets and she will soon be a world leader of future markets. I would be very surprised if in the near term China does not dominate space exploration, robotics, bioengineering, green energy and world infrastructure. This new found wealth created from business and engineering will build a confidence in traditional Chinese Heritage and Culture and these in turn will be reinterpreted into new products designs and brands.
As the Chinese take on a leading role their aesthetic will gain in value and no longer need to follow Western styles and this Cultural confidence will influence everything including retail and fashion. I recently had the chance to discuss this opinion with an inspirational retail company. Here there is a huge creative potential for developing online and in store direction within this Chinese aesthetic. An established brand may slowly introduce concepts for packaging, spatial organisation and online animation. These initial conceptual proposals are heavy handed and crude but the aesthetic direction is clear. It would need a lot of work from all members of any creative team to turn these loose concepts into a feasible and deliverable direction. However, by slowly morphing and fine-tuning the existing brand identity, it would be possible to firmly establish a more unique brand identity as the company expands into the Western market. Sadly this is not to be as by being too early it is the same as being wrong, market timing is everything and this was too much too soon. Upon reflection, I have saved for the diary some loose concept images of what could have been. The links between online and in store will still be the main focus of my work for forthcoming projects. It is interesting to note that the role of animator will in the future become an influential position within any retail creative team, a role that at present does not exist.
So now back in the UK I am working again with my partner on the SHFD project – space colonies, terraforming and other such reveries.
Images left to right 1-3 Concept Direction Images
The Surrogate Twin