The Institute of Textiles and Clothing (ITC) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) held the “Designing Future Techstyle” International Symposium and “Techstyle for Social Good International Competition 2019” \.
The event was held at The Mills and was endorsed by two world design academies: Royal College of Art in London and Tsinghua University in Beijing.
The Symposium was packed with world-renowned speakers from cutting-edge international design brands, world-class luxury group and sportswear brands. This was the first-of-its-kind event to promote a new design approach – tech-style (i.e. intersection of technology and style) – in Hong Kong.
In collaboration with the innovation arm of The Mills, and with the sponsorship of the Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Symposium aims at creating awareness of new design approaches to tech-style, and highlighting the industry’s needs to work collaboratively across disciplines as technology and consumer demands evolve.
The vision of the collaboration aims to discover distinguished designs that integrate technology and modern style and explore “techstyle for social good” projects. Through this partnership, the hosting organisations also want to promote sustainability in techstyle industry, and to support the young entrepreneurs who aspire to develop in this area.
The opening ceremony was officiated by several high-ranking government officials, leading industry players and academicians.
Addressing at the ceremony, the Executive Vice President of PolyU stated that Hong Kong, as a creative capital, strives to play a leading role in encouraging design-led technological innovations for social good. Fashion now concerns more than addressing apparels and wearables but fostering change to fashion products and systems towards sustainability and a higher sense of social responsibility.
Recognised as one of the region’s best schools in textiles and clothing, PolyU will continue to be the hub for nurturing talents and cutting-edge research in fashion, textiles and design in Hong Kong, and in the region.
The Assistant Head of CreateHK expressed her gratitude to the ITC for successfully organising the event to promote design-led technology for social good.
Featuring keynote talks and a discussion forum with internationally renowned academics and experts in techstyle, the Symposium provided local creative communities, design students and the general public a valuable opportunity to exchange ideas and get international, interdisciplinary design perspectives particularly for creating social impact.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost of the Royal College of Art stressed in his presentation the significant contribution of techstyle and talked about useful innovations that are impacting our lives.
The Flyknit Innovation Material Design Director of Nike also shared her insights into the process of designing sports shoes.
The Co-founder of CuteCircuit discussed the synergy of design and technology and the new dimensions for human experience.
Well-known for her viral colour-changing hair dye, the Founder of THEUNSEEN, presented newly-created, self-activating beauty products that change colour in response to heat, wind and UV light, and discussed their implications on natural beauty.
The Project also included the “Techstyle for Social Good International Competition 2019” which awarded the winners with cash prizes, residencies at The Mills Fabrica and opportunities to further explore the potential of their projects. Prototypes of shortlisted participants were showcased at the venue to demonstrate their design-led technology innovations for social good.
Hong Kong’s Government is clearly working hard to push technology in all its forms. In working together with academic institutes, global companies and organisations, Hong Kong is making headway with regards to its Smart City and digital transformation goals.
