The China-Italy Youth Future Fashion Design Competition was officially announced at the Tsinghua Press Salon held on July 8.
Chen Ken, Director of the Global Communication Office of Tsinghua University, delivered the welcoming remarks at the event.
She said that the China-Italy Youth Future Fashion Design Competition was one of the important activities of the “China-Italy of Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship” program, aiming to promote exchanges between Chinese and Italian youth and cultivating leading talents for innovation-driven development.
Co-organized by Tsinghua University, the Politecnico di Milano, and the People’s Government of Keqiao District of Shaoxing city in Zhejiang Province, the competition is open for entries from young practitioners of fashion design under 45 years old in three categories: fashion design; fashion technology; and, fashion lifestyle.
The awarded works will be qualified for free presentation at the special exhibition organized by the China-Italy Design Innovation Hub during the 2022 Milan Design Week. The prize winners will be qualified for free enrollment to the 2022 Tsinghua Global Summer School.
Interested applicants should submit their entries through the competition's official website: http://ciyff.cidih.tsinghua.edu.cn/home/Home.htm
Following the announcement of the competition, four experts from Tsinghua University delivered keynote speeches at the salon from perspectives including “openness,” “integration,” “confidence,” and “innovation” in the global higher education context, and Tsinghua’s unique contributions in these areas.
Fu Zhiyong, Deputy Director of the China-Italy Design Innovation Hub and Associate Professor of the Academy of Arts & Design, elaborated on the intention of the competition. Fu said that the competition will integrate resources in fashion design, innovative education, academic research, industrial incubation, and will deepen the fusion of design innovation and industry-education and tap into the innovative and dynamic talent pool of emerging leading youth designers. It will also probe into the frontier development in sectors of global fashion design, fashion technology and fashion lifestyle, and foster an organic connection of the education chain, talent chain, industry chain and innovation chain. By doing so, the competition will contribute to converting the innovative design into an immense stream of power that will expedite the industrial upgrades of both countries, satisfy people’s aspirations for a better life, and converge the sustainable development of design worldwide.
Su Dan, Deputy Director of the Tsinghua University Art Museum and Professor at the Academy of Arts and Design, discussed the integration of Italian design culture and Chinese design culture. He pointed out that the exhibition of “Design Utopia 1880-1980:100 Years of Design History/The Biagetti-Koenig Collection” at the Tsinghua University Art Museum was a result of the cultural exchanges between China and Italy over the past five decades since the establishment of diplomatic ties. The bilateral cultural exchange is well developed, especially in the field of art design, which has played a significant role in the modernization and contemporary development of Chinese designs. Demonstrating an excellent thread of historical changes, the exhibition has mirrored the integration of the Italian and Chinese design culture.
Chen Nan, Executive Deputy Director of the Research Center of Ancient Chinese Characters Art and Professor of the Academy of Arts & Design of Tsinghua University, delivered a speech entitled “Traditional Chinese Culture and its Innovation.” He talked about the interaction between the thinking and methods of traditional eastern and western designs, emphasizing that tradition is not an isolated historical memory, but a source of inspiration for fashion design. Moreover, he introduced and displayed innovative design works of Chinese characters, such as oracle bone inscriptions and Dongba inscriptions, and talked about the innovation of the combination of traditional Chinese character art and the latest technology.
Li Jinliang, Dean for International Affairs of Tsinghua University and Director of the China-Italy Design Innovation Hub, gave a brief introduction about the construction and development of the hub. He talked about Tsinghua’s global strategy and the origin of the China-Italy Design Innovation Hub and its development principles, construction objectives and pathways, as well as its scientific achievements. Li also mentioned the newly established mirror site of the hub in the Tianfu New Area, Sichuan Province, and the China-Italy Future Fashion & Innovation Center constructed with the support of the People’s Government of Keqiao District.
The Tsinghua Press Salon was attended by journalists from various Chinese and Italian media, including CGTN, Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, People’s Daily and Corriere della Sera.
From China-Italy Design Innovation Hub
Editors: Sangeet, John Paul, Li Han, Huang Fei
