For Charlotte, a young lady from England who is now teaching in Hong Kong, China, the Design Gallery at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center was an interesting place where she could shop for local products of unique designs.
"I like the cakes. I think I have never seen them anywhere else," she said, referring to a couple of cake-shaped puffy pillows on display at the gallery, which goes by the Hong Kong-based brand name Puffy Shop.
Charlotte was one of a monthly total of about 60,000 visitors attracted to the 6,000 products on display. Most visited the gallery on business trips to events held at the exhibition center while some followed advice from locally based friends for souvenirs.
Polly Hou, who has been working in Hong Kong, often recommended the gallery to friends from the mainland as an ideal place to buy presents.
Established in 1991 by the Trade Development Council, the gallery showcases products designed or made in Hong Kong, ranging from consumer electronics, consumer appliances, watches and clocks, desktop stationery, to jewelry and fashion accessories.
Local companies, especially those of small and medium scale, could consign their products of unique designs at the gallery after meeting certain prerequisites and going through selection processes.
Staff at the gallery would also handle enquiries and help potential buyers get in touch with individual suppliers if it was necessary, Wilson Wong, merchandising officer of the gallery, told Xinhua, adding that the gallery would each week remove some of the exhibits and replace them with newcomers, some at the Designers Corner.
The gallery has been a successful matchmaker, generating more than 2,000 enquiries a year and helping Hong Kong-based companies like Puffy Shop expand quickly.
The gallery carries part of Hong Kong's ambition to build itself into a creative capital, a goal set out in length in the recent policy address by Donald Tsang, chief executive of the special administrative region in south China.
"Globalization has brought about the rise of various cultural and creative industries. The markets for leisure goods, advertising, film, television, tourism, design, architecture and art are flourishing," Tsang said. "These high value-added industries are environment-friendly and compatible with the mode of economic development for global cities."
Hong Kong has attained a leading position in the Asia-Pacific region in such industries such as film, television, music, design, etc. with Hong Kong film as its most successful creative product in the global market.
But the city's leading position is under threat as neighboring regions have caught up.
"My view is that to maintain our edge, the development of our creative industries must accelerate in the next five years," Tsang said, outlining plans on developing projects like the West Kowloon Cultural District and financing training programs.
Senior government officials said they wanted Hong Kong to be a "creative capital" or "technological serving hub" in the region. The strategy was delicately different from efforts in the previous years to develop a technological edge with projects like the Cyber port and industry parks concentrating on electronics and Chinese medicine.
Frederick Ma, secretary for commerce and economic development of the Hong Kong government, said last month "creative industries are part of our life ... involving various fields such as film, television, design architecture, urban planning, etc."
Design, one of the elements of creativity, has come to feature prominently, as it has been obvious with the recent Innovation Festival 2007. Organizers of the two-month festival placed an innovation expo, a design exhibition and some Design Tech workshops.
The Trade Development Council was preparing for the upcoming In no Design Tech Expo in December, which organizers said would feature practical technologies and design solutions to help trading, manufacturing and service sectors to enhance their capacity.
Wong said Hong Kong has witnessed changes in creative industries and the gallery was receiving an increasing number of applications, with some designers queuing.
"Most members of the public nowadays have an idea about what design is and what design means. They like to buy products of innovative designs," he said, adding that the gallery was in line with government efforts in promoting unique designs.
Frederick Ma said Hong Kong, as Asia's world city, called for the development of creative industries, which could drive economic growth and help enhance life quality.
Hong Kong government said it was planning to establish a committee headed by senior officials and charge it with the duty of formulating strategies to revitalize Brand Hong Kong and step up publicity efforts.
The World Expo in Shanghai in 2010, with the theme of "Better City, Better Life", would be an excellent opportunity to publicize Hong Kong's position as a creative capital, Chief Executive Donald Tsang has said.
Source: Xinhua
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