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A guest post from Jeanne Boden
I wonder at what time exactly the Chinese started to use dairy products. When I first went to China in the beginning of the 1990s they already did. This was my favorite yoghurt (maybe it was the only kind they had at the time!).
Globalization brought Danone to China. Danone set up joint ventures with leading Chinese brands, the biggest of all being Wahaha in which Danone owns 51%. After a good start the relationship went sour and they are now wrapped up in legal debates. Danone accuses Wahaha for trademark infringement because the company produces the same products outside the joint venture. In a country without separation of power, how do you defend yourself as an international company? China is working on it, but it might take a while before the Chinese reality follows the policy of the government. Luckily there is no debate about my favorite Chinese brand in earthenware mugs with paper top. Even if Danone ever leaves it will still be there.
You might remember this from the cover of Design Week a couple of weeks ago. It's some lovely wallpaper (called Lagoon, but also known as Waves) designed by Edward Bawden in 1928. You might also have read the accompanying article telling you all about an exhibition of crafts assembled from three public collections and curated by Alison Britton. It's on now - and for the rest of the year - at the Crafts Study Centre in Farnham, Surrey. Do make an effort to go: as Design Week says, "this is something that will resonate with designers".
Well, I have the great good fortune to have designed the exhibition, so I've had the chance to spend a little bit of time with the objects on display. And my pick?
It's Edward Johnston's first drawing, dated 6 February 1916, for the London Underground alphabet (actually, to be totally accurate, it's a later lithographic copy, not the original drawing itself). But for anyone interested in type, this alone would make the trip worthwhile.
Hanging around the streets of Beijing, which I love, I bumped into these calligraphy writers engaging in their daily practice of endlessly writing Chinese characters with water on the ground. When complimenting the man for his nice handwriting he asked me if I could write in Chinese characters. So I took his brush and wrote my Chinese name 包德贞 'bao de zhen' which in Chinese sounds a bit like my Western name Jeanne Boden. Happily surprised the man consequently wrote for me 'welcome to China Jeanne Boden'. It made me feel very welcome. These are the things I love about China.
It's coincidence, of course, but one that neatly illustrates why students - and especially graphic design students - should be blogging.
First up is Ben, who has taken the bull by the horns and shoved his London College of Communication students into the glare of the spotlights. Which has probably come as a big shock to Katie and Masum. Especially when the feedback is me pulling their legs (and apologies Katie and Masum: I am only pulling your legs).
Meanwhile, over at the Cardiff School of Art & Design, Tom Harle poses the question of whether students should be blogging as part and parcel of the process of preparing for 'professional practice'. (Actually, Tom, it's a life of insecurity - that's what you need to prepare for.)
But Tom's tutor reckons that blogs are a little self indulgent. Well, yes, they are if you only speak to yourself (which, I admit, bloggers are prone to do). But perhaps, Tom, you could ask your tutor how else you are going to make the connections that constitute all of the links in this post, this post and this post? Consider that and suddenly you can begin to see that the rest of the world is there at your fingertips.
And if you're a student reading this, let me tell you a little anecdote. I happen to live right opposite a sixth-form college and I learnt very early on not to walk down the street at 8.45am or 3.15pm. To do so would be akin to trying to walk up the down escalator. Waves of students whose way of dealing with the fact that I was trying to walk in the opposite direction was to pretend that I didn't exist. I recounted this once to a friend who taught at the college, who remarked "Ah, you need to remember that they haven't yet learnt the social skills to be able to interact with anyone outside of their own age range." A lesson to be learnt there, if you're under 21.
So my advice to you today, dear student, is to get out of bed, get off of Bebo, get off of Guitar Hero, and start blogging*.
(*My wife once asked me "what's the difference between blagging and blogging?" I still haven't come up with an answer to that one.)
If you don't keep any eye on the comments over on the left there, you might have missed the one from Katie about the 'Seventy Years of Penguin Design' exhibition, which has now reach the fine city of Gateshead and The Shipley Art Gallery. It's on now until the 31st May: and if you're in any way involved or interested in graphic design, it really is a must-see.
If you've been coming here for a while, you might recall that I reviewed the exhibition when it was at the Holburne Museum in Bath last year. And it's good to see that entrance to The Shipley Art Gallery is free of charge, which takes care of one of my little gripes. So you can afford to take your whole family.
If you didn't know by now, today marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year: the Year of the Ox. So Happy New Year to you all. May it bring you peace, good health, contentment, happiness and perhaps even a little wealth.
Speaking as a Taurean born in the Year of the Ox (I'll leave it to you to work out which one), I have news for you: watch out world, our time has come! (I even have a left-handed Ox in the White House to back me up.)
And while we're talking about all things Chinese, let me introduce you to my great friend Jeanne Boden:
What Jeanne doesn't know about China is no odds to nobody. And after a lot of encouragement and a little persuasion from me, Jeanne has chosen this day to become a blogger. Do pop over and say hello - and give her a warm welcome, please.
You'll be hearing some more from Jeanne in the next few days.
gong xi fa cai!
恭喜发财
From The Guardian, 19 January 2009:
Perhaps the sub editor had in mind the Lake Wobegon line "Minnesotans use irony like they use curry powder - sparingly".
Look, I'm sorry if it's been a bit quiet around here for the past few weeks. It's just that I've been really, really busy. But I haven't forgotten about you. Honest.
I've decided that 2009 is a year for looking forward, not back. Nevertheless, there's still a bit of housekeeping to be done. Part of which is keeping an eye on those ten down at the bottom of the left-hand column. Actually, I'll let you into a secret: I do watch a few more than those; but these are the important ones. Important because they're all (in my own humble opinion) 'best in class' when it comes to blogging about design.
And it's meant to be that I review and update the list at the beginning of each year. So, two weeks late and the news is that we gain two and we lose two. The two newcomers are (ooh, I so wanted to write new twocomers):
Mike Dempsey; and
Sian Louise.
I'm not going to tell you anything about them, except that they come from opposite ends of a career in graphic design, and that they both started blogging in 2008. Welcome Mike and Sian. Go and pay them a visit (if you haven't done so already).
I'll not mention the two that have been lost. Perhaps they'll be back again next year, eh?
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