Expat devoted to building top design school

Writer: Wang Jingli  |  Editor: Zhang Chanwen  |  From: Shenzhen Daily  |  Updated: 2022-11-16

Editor’s Note

编者按

Shenzhen Daily has joined hands with the Information Office of Shenzhen Municipal People's Government to launch a series of reports titled “Decade of Transformation,” to tell the story of Shenzhen in the eyes of expats. Rafael Saavedra, a popular YouTuber who has been living and working in China for seven years, will host the series, showing you Shenzhen, a dynamic and energetic city from the perspective of 60 expats. This is the second story of the series. 

由深圳市人民政府新闻办公室与英文《深圳日报》(Shenzhen Daily)共同策划推出的系列全媒体国际传播作品《我们这10年:湾区老外说变化(Decade of Transformation)》已在各大主流媒体和互联网平台正式上线,该系列将集中展示过去十年以来深圳在各个领域所取得的伟大成就。此次系列作品中,在中国工作和生活了七年的知名网络博主Rafael Saavedra将向大家介绍60位外籍人士,通过他们的脚步和镜头记录和观察一座行进中的中国年轻都市。敬请垂注!


Profile

人物简介

Thomas Kvan is the founding dean of the School of Design of the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech). As the founding dean, Kvan shows confidence about the school’s future development, and says he will devote himself in building it into a world-class design school with distinctive characteristics to show the world the charms of Shenzhen, a UNESCO City of Design. He is also hoping to help improve the quality of people’s life via design.

关道文(Thomas Kvan)是南方科技大学创新创意设计学院的创始院长。作为该学院的创始院长,他对学院未来的发展充满信心,并表示将致力于将学院打造成为具有鲜明特色的世界一流创新创意设计学院,向世界展示“设计之都”深圳的魅力。同时,他也希望通过设计帮助人们提高生活品质。


南科大教授助力深圳建设

世界一流创新创意设计学院 


Expat devoted to building top design school

Shenzhen was designated as a UNESCO City of Design in 2008. In 2019, the Shenzhen Municipal Government entrusted the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) to build the Shenzhen institute of innovation and design, one of the city’s 10 new cultural facilities of the new era.

2008年,深圳正式被联合国科教文组织认定为“设计之都”。2019年,按照深圳市委市政府部署,深圳创新创意设计学院作为深圳市“新十大文化设施”之一,由南方科技大学负责筹建。

The SUSTech School of Design was officially established April 8, 2020 as a department in the university. At the same time, Thomas Kvan was appointed as the founding dean of the design school via a global selection.

作为建设深圳创新创意设计学院第一阶段所创立的校内二级学院,南方科技大学创新创意设计学院(以下简称“设计学院”)于2020年4月8日正式成立。经过全球遴选,学院聘任关道文教授(Thomas Kvan)为创院院长。

Thomas Kvan (C), founding dean of the School of Design of the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), and students pose for a group photo at the end of a school course. Photos courtesy of the interviewee 南方科技大学设计学院院长关道文教授与学生合影。

This opportunity finally brought Kvan to Shenzhen. Before this, Kvan spent over 30 years in Hong Kong and has visited Shenzhen for many times. Kvan said that he has seen Shenzhen emerge into an important city not only in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, but also in the world.

在此之前,关道文教授在香港生活了30多年,期间他曾多次来到深圳。他表示,他见证了深圳崛起成为粤港澳大湾区乃至全世界范围内的一座重要城市的历程。


Design school helps Shenzhen become center of design

设计学院助力深圳成为设计中心

In Kvan’s eyes, establishing a design school in Shenzhen is enormously attractive as a large part of what had been realized in design was created in Shenzhen.

关道文教授认为,在深圳建立一所设计学校非常有吸引力,因为很多的设计作品都是在深圳得以实现的。

Kvan speaks in a class on the design of recyclable products. 

关道文教授为学生讲授“循环再生产品设计”体验课程。

“I was immediately attracted and it is also important to have a design school in a city which is the center of manufacturing and the center of realization of designs. The design school will help Shenzhen realize its ambition to become a center of design, not just design production,” Kvan said.

“在深圳这样一个制造业中心和设计之都城市建设一所设计学院十分重要。它将帮助深圳成为设计中心,而不仅仅是停留在设计生产中心。”

Many designs have been brought in due to the city’s role as one of China’s manufacturing hubs, which also serves as a unique advantage for designers as they could test it out immediately whenever they get an idea with related systems in place, he said.

作为中国制造业中心之一,许多设计师带着他们的想法来到深圳。这对设计师来说也是一个独特的优势,因为他们可以立即对设计想法进行测试。

As Shenzhen develops, Kvan believed that aside from production, more aspects of design activities will permeate the many different other aspects of the city to help Shenzhen develop a rich design culture.

随着深圳的发展,关道文教授相信,除了生产制造之外,更多的设计活动将渗透到城市的许多其他方面,来帮助深圳形成丰富的设计文化。

Kvan delivers a speech at the International Architecture Design & Art Forum, which is part of the Shenzhen Creative Week.

关道文教授在深圳时尚家居设计周国际公建设计艺术论坛发言。

Speaking of the city of design, Kvan observed that the important thing for every city of design is to show the world its commitment to design in every aspect of what it does and to present the value of design to visitors and residents.

谈到“设计之都”,关道文教授认为对于每一个设计之都城市而言,最为重要的一点是向世界展示它将设计应用到每个领域的决心,并向访客和市民展示设计的价值。

“Shenzhen, for example, has a commitment to an urban development of creating a green city, to the design qualities and values in the way people live, and to help design be manifested and created in the city,” he said.

“例如,深圳致力于绿色城市发展,致力于人们生活方式的设计品质和价值,并帮助设计在城市中得以体现并创造出来,”关道文教授说。

Kvan said that Shenzhen, which is a fairly young city, offers a wonderful opportunity to develop a rich design ecosystem where small things gradually grow into place.

他表示,作为一个年轻的城市,深圳有机会发展丰富的设计生态系统。


Local design events boost global discussion

本土设计活动推动全球交流

Over the years, Shenzhen has organized a series of design activities such as Shenzhen Design Week, Bi-City Biennale of UrbanismArchitecture and Shenzhen Creative December.

多年来,深圳成功举办了深圳设计周、深港城市建筑双年展(以下简称“双年展”)、深圳创意十二月等一系列设计活动。

Kvan (L) exchanges ideas with a student of the SUSTech School of Design at the Fashion Shenzhen exhibition.

关道文教授与南科大设计学院学生在时尚深圳展上讨论交流。

“It’s very good that Shenzhen is doing all these design activities. I am very excited to be part of these events both personally and as the dean of the design school,” Kvan said, adding that “the biennale is an important forum for global discussion and global engagement on design, which also brings people together for cultural conversations as design relies upon cultural conversations.”

关道文教授表示:“深圳举办这些设计活动是非常好的。我很高兴能同时以个人和设计学院院长的身份参与这些活动。双年展是全球讨论和全球参与设计的重要论坛,将人们聚集在一起进行文化对话,因为设计依赖于文化对话。

Kvan suggested that design is best explored when it’s put into a public conversation so there needs to be more small and large-scale design activities. “It is very good that Shenzhen has put the effort into starting up many design activities like the biennale,” he said.

他也表示,当设计进入公众对话时,才是最好的探索,因此需要有更多不同规模的设计活动。深圳举办了许多设计活动,这是非常好的一件事。


Design improves quality of life, benefits sci-tech research

设计提高生活质量,益于科学研究


When Kvan speaks about Shenzhen as a city of design, he’s thinking of making design part of everyone’s daily life, he said.

在谈及深圳作为设计之都城市的意义时,关道文教授表示,这是关于未来如何让设计成为每个人日常生活的一部分的思考。

Kvan delivers a speech on aesthetics at the Shenzhen International Urban Aesthetics Forum on August. 

关道文教授在2022年深圳国际城市美学论坛上发言。

“Design is helping people no matter what job they are in. Design is improving the quality of people’s life. Therefore, people value design and what they do will reflect more design. They will create a city where any visitor coming here would see that everyone here understands what design can bring,” Kvan said.

他说:“无论你从事什么工作,设计都在帮助人们。设计在改善人们的生活质量。因此,人们重视设计,他们所做的事情也将反映出更多的设计。设计从而推动城市的发展——在这里,游客会看到城市里的每一个人都了解设计,也清楚设计可以带来什么。”

Helping everyone in the world to improve the quality of their life through design is also one of the design school’s commitments, according to Kvan.

关道文教授表示,通过设计帮助世界上每个人提高生活质量也是设计学院未来的发展方向之一

Kvan also suggested that design’s additional importance is having a major role in conversations with science and technology researchers to contribute to their development of ideas.

设计的另外一个重要性在于,设计在与科研人员的对话中也发挥着关键作用,从而为他们的想法发展做出贡献。

“Designers become intermediaries between society and research since they take researchers’ ideas and translate them into experiences for society. They can also guide research into designed outcomes,” said Kvan.

关道文教授说:“设计师成为社会和科学研究之间的中介,设计师将研究人员的想法转化为社会经验。他们还可以指导研究转变为设计成果。”

Given this, Kvan said that the future of the design school will be tightly linked to industry, production, basic research, and science and technology. Shenzhen, also a tech hub in the country, will thus have a unique design school in that way.

基于此,他表示,未来的设计学院将与工业,生产,基础研究和科学技术紧密相连。作为中国的科技中心之一,深圳也将因此拥有一所独特的设计学校。