Chair DIAGO designed by Tabanda Group, photo: press release.
The Inno Design Tech Expo is divided into the business-oriented Trade Hall and the conceptual Inspiration Hall. Poland appeared in the Inspiration Hall in 2012 with a small exhibition "Unpolished" curated by the Stalowa Wola Museum (the project was executed by the Polish Consulate in Hong Kong). In 2013 the organisers offered 400 m2 of premium space (also in the Inspiration Hall) for the exhibition "Must Have From Poland", prepared by the curators of Lodz Design Festival, Agata Polec and Olga Losiak. The exhibition presented the best Polish design of recent years and was accompanied by a discussion panel on Polish design, moderated by the internationally known Zuzanna Skalska, the author of the award-winning books 360⁰ Trend Report, a member of VanBerlo and the inspirer of Poznan's School of Form. Among the participants were also Polish designers of note such as Oskar Zięta.
Business of Design Week has been the flagship event of the Hong Kong Design Centre since 2002. Every year the biggest names in design from all over the world are invited to participate in this prestigious conference. This year the organisers selected two Polish studios working internationally to give speeches about their work as well as the broader context of Polish design. The studios were: Fontarte (Magdalena & Artur Frankowski), which focuses on custom typography, editorial design and curating exhibitions, and Rygalik Studio (Tomek & Gosia Rygalik), concentrating on furniture design and branding.
The IDP Expo fair and the Business of Design Week are the Adam Mickiewicz Institute's strategic partners in promoting Polish design in Asia and the presence of Poland at both events was the first chance to present it so extensively in this region.
Organizer: Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Hong Kong Trade Development Council (IDT Expo), Hong Kong Design Centre (BoDW)
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