Shenzhen is on the front line of China's reform and opening up. It has taken the national lead in optimizing its processing and manufacturing industries and a large number of new industrial products have emerged. Since the beginning of the 1980s, Shenzhen-made products have been loved by Chinese people. Those who bought Shenzhen-made neckties or mini-radios were proud enough to have them admired by their friends and neighbors.
Attracting and making full use of foreign investment is an important driving force behind the rapid development of Shenzhen's manufacturing industry. Enterprises with foreign investment are mainly oriented to overseas markets. Preferential policies, cheap labor and a favorable geographical location combine to enhance Shenzhen's value in the international manufacturing industry. Many Fortune 500 enterprises have moved their processing bases to Shenzhen.
A direct orientation with the overseas market has prompted Shenzhen enterprises to attach more importance to product quality and design skills. Modern design philosophy has been gradually infiltrated into the minds of Shenzheners.
Some processing enterprises began to cultivate their own designers to better transform foreign designs into products. Some entrepreneurs cultivated their own company designers and encouraged them to devise products to reduce costs in designing and at the same time upgrade the level of local designers. The concept of Chinese modern design was born in Shenzhen.
At the beginning of the reform and opening up, most businessmen investing and setting up factories in Shenzhen were from Hong Kong, so the design philosophy of Hong Kong exerted the most influence on Shenzhen's modern design. Shenzhen's design style in telecommunications, household appliances, garments, furniture, clocks and watches, toys and jewelry have been greatly influenced by their Hong Kong counterparts. The global influence of Hong Kong design has set an example for the development of Shenzhen's design industry.
At the beginning of the 1990s, some of Shenzhen's manufacturing enterprises sought to set up their own brands based on their own designs, expecting to transform themselves from processing with imported materials or producing for foreign brands to manufacturing their self-designed products. Some enterprises began to set up design research and development departments and recruit their own designers to shake off the disadvantages of processing with imported materials or samples. Some enterprises sponsored and hosted a variety of design competitions. The design industry of Shenzhen has stepped into a new era of growth.
Fiyta, a famous watch and clock brand in China, was established in Shenzhen in 1987. In 1992, the company set up posts for designers, becoming the first in the Chinese watch and clock manufacturing sector to initiate original design. Fiyta is now the only listed watch and clock company in China. In 2003, China's first manned space flight was accomplished, with astronaut Yang Liwei wearing a wrist watch produced by Fiyta. This watch was the first space watch for a Chinese astronaut and made China the second country in the world capable of producing a space watch.
The importance attached to modern design has hastened the development of Shenzhen enterprises, some of which began to expand overseas. Konka is a famous TV set brand in China. In the mid 1990s, the Konka Group set up an industrial design department, followed by two research institutes for industrial design in 2002 and two design studios in Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo, Japan, in 2003.
Market demand for design has prompted the rise of independent design companies. Some designers with experience in manufacturing enterprises set up their own design studios. Joining them were department managers of manufacturing enterprises who were optimistic about the prospects of design. These design companies are flexible in work practices and advanced in design philosophy, which has earned them the acclaim of multinational enterprises. Some companies have won many international design awards, including the Red Dot Design Award.
Shenzhen designers improved their design capacity through practice. With close connections with the Hong Kong design industry, they had broader visions of design and more advanced design philosophy than designers from other cities. Shenzhen's design atmosphere has attracted designers from other cities. Many young designers chose to study and work in Shenzhen.
Within an optimized environment of the market economy, Shenzhen designers paid a lot of attention to clients' demands. Their diligent work, all-round service and sophisticated design helped them build favorable cooperative relationships with clients at home and abroad. Enterprises in other Chinese cities and from around the world seek designers in Shenzhen for their design work.
