Asian designers should rise to the demands of flourishing Asian markets through design and innovation.
International design experts at the inaugural President’s Design Award Jurors’ Forum urged the 250-strong participants to tap on their cultures so as to innovate and design for the Asian markets.
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“Culture is the real background behind innovation, design, art or music,” says Mr Werner Aisslinger, an award-winning German designer. He believes that Asian brands should re-interpret their products by referencing their own culture, rather than “float around in a global style” where everyone is mimicking each other and the level of innovation is low.
Mr Dick Powell, co-founder of Seymourpowell, says that the next phase of growth in Asia is for manufacturers to transform themselves into brand owners. “Then there will be a pressing need to innovate…a need that becomes their responsibility rather than someone else’s,” he says.
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Citing the example of Japanese craftsmen innovating to create successful modern lifestyle products, Ms Lei-Mei Julia Chiu, president of Icograda (International Council of Communication Design), explains how the traditional craftsmen re-invent themselves, whilst remaining true to their craft.
Other speakers at the Forum were Mr Bhanu Inkawat and Mr Paul Finch. The forum on 3 August was the second of two forums jointly organised by the DesignSingapore Council and the Urban Redevelopment Authority. The first forum on 1 August covered the topic “Architecture & Design for a Green City”.