Tales from China

This month’s issue of Commercial Interior Design has a distinctly Chinese feel to it.

First off, we were lucky enough to be invited to attend the official launch of Philippe Starck’s newest invention, the Sensowash Starck, which was unveiled in tastefully understated fashion in Shanghai at the end of May.

It sees Starck partner with sanitaryware specialist Duravit for the fifth time, to create a ‘shower toilet’, a toilet seat with an in-built bidet function. This was the first time in its nearly 200-year history that Duravit launched a product outside of its home market of Germany, and was a reconfirmation of the increasingly global nature of design. A German company drawing on a predominantly Asian and Middle Eastern ritual, working with an internationally-renowned designer to develop and launch a product in China.

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It was also a striking reminder of China’s growing significance when it comes to design. Whilst in Shanghai we had the opportunity to visit the Expo Shanghai 2010, where countries from all around the world have gathered to present themselves in all their glory. This six-month spectacle of humanity is expecting to attract some 70 million visitors and is a design fiesta of mind-boggling proportions. From the Thomas Heatherwick-designed UK pavillion, or Seed Cathedral, to the UAE’s sand dune-inspired structure by Foster + Partners, innovative, sustainably-led design is the expo’s primary protagonist.

Shanghai was also the site of the 2010 Bloomberg Business Week Global Green Business Summit, where Woods Bagot and Buro Happold unveiled a new and revolutionary model for large-scale sustainable development. Zero Emmissions Design, or ZERO-E, challenges the industry to take leadership in creating a zero carbon economy and is an extremely important advancement in the sustainable buildings debate.

Closer to home, but with an equally Chinese flavour, is this month’s case study on the newly-opened Hakkasan restaurant in Abu Dhabi (page 31). The so-called Chinese Nobu has set new standards in Chinese cuisine and contemporary Chinois design since it was launched in London in 2001.

We speak to the designers of the new Abu Dhabi restaurant, Gilles & Boissier, about the challenges of translating a distinctly Chinese brand in a UAE setting. Bring back the dragon, they say.