KL Design Week 2010 Update

By Miranda Yeoh  •  31 Mar 2010 in Design

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A few weeks back, we at JUICE announced the amazing exhibitions and conferences that will be happening at KLDW this year from 1 to 16 May 2010. As the official magazine for this event we’re thrilled to finally announce the speakers that will be attending our own world renowned design festival, and it’s mighty impressive!

There will more than 15 key speakers from around the world that will be attending KLDW. For the Typographic Conference are speakers like Reza Abedini from Iran, Hideki Inabi from Japan and Douglas Young from HK whom JUICE has had the pleasure to interview last year! In the Creative Magazines Symposium conference (one that we’re sure every student and professional will be looking forward to) will have speakers from Creative Review UK and Designboom Italy attending.

Passes for the conference are now available for booking and if you’re really looking forward to this event then you better get to it because seats to the conferences are very limited! 2 conferences, the Typographics Conference and the Creative Magazine Symposium (my personal favourite) and the Ani-motion Conference will have only 400 seats each available that will be divided equally amongst students and professional designers. Booking early has its other perks too – if you book before 15 April 2010 you will be able to catch KLDW’s early bird offer, which entitles you to a 20% discount. Every ticket that you purchase will also come with special KLDW memorabilia items.

International List of Designers at KLDW 2010

Typographic -Speakers List

Reza Abedini (Iran)
Reza Adedini, professor, graphic designer, and artist is recognized as being in the forefront of Iranian graphic design. Abedini’s work is deeply rooted in the rich history, tradition and poetic sense of his Persian culture. Having studied Persian visual traditions and painting in art academy, his interest veered towards Persian type and typography. The reason for this is that he is concerned with the slow ruin of the ‘glorious history’ of Persian type and typography, he hopes that with his work, he is able to revive the ancient Persian script used in calligraphy with modern adaptations in graphic design, handing it’s inherently rich tradition, aesthetic and history to a new generation and into the future.

Me & Mister Jones (Belgium)
Me and Mister Jones are creative duo Tom Merckx and Fanny Khoo. Previously ex-Flink, this husband-and-wife team has helped many companies define their brands and corporate identities with their broad creative skills and strategic thinking. Their passion has also led them to collaborate on projects such as The Flink Paper and the UseAgain Exhibition, amongst others. Tom and Fanny are currently residing in Singapore and head the creative team at Equus.

Hideki Inaba (Japan)
Gains attention with his innovative graphic design for the magazines +81 and SAL magazine from the late 1990s. Has a solo exhibition NEWLINE in 2004. Publishes a monograph, ~NEWLINE, in 2006. Launches a collaborative collection with Shu Uemura, BTB24-graphic design by hideki inaba, and holds a solo exhibition Graphic Line in 2007. Enjoys high acclaims at home and abroad, as indicated by a cover feature on Taschen’s popular Graphic Design Now.

Andrew Byrom (UK/LA)
Andrew Byrom was born in Liverpool, England in 1971. After leaving university in 1996 Byrom worked briefly in the design department of Routledge, a leading academic book publisher. In 1997 he opened his own design studio in London and worked for various clients including Penguin Books, Time Out Online and The Guardian Newspaper. In 2006 he moved to Long Beach to take up an Associate Professor position at California State University. He now divides his time between teaching, designing for various clients and playing with his sons. He has recently been commissioned to design typefaces and type treatments for The New York Times Magazine, Surface Magazine and Du Magazine. His work has been exhibited in design venues across the US and has been recognized with Certificates of Excellence from the AIGA and The Type Directors Club.

Douglas Yong – GOD (HK)
Goods of Desire (abbreviated GOD) is a lifestyle brand company based in Hong Kong. Its name is derived from the phonetic translation of the Cantonese words meaning “to live better”. Founded in 1996 by Douglas Young and Benjamin Lau, GOD. fuses the traditional and modern, taking inspiration from past and present Hong Kong culture and pioneering the future of lifestyle and fashion retailing with cutting-edge designs.
GOD. has collaborated with such companies as Coca Cola, Greenpeace, and the SPCA. There are currently 5 store locations in Hong Kong. In addition to this, the company sells products to boutiques in cities such as London, New York, Sydney, Shanghai, Singapore, and has plans to open stand alone stores in Asia. Taking inspiration from the condensed urban jungles and serene rural environments which tend to populate Asia, GOD. is heavily influenced by the concept of the eastern lifestyle as an alternative to the established western way of living. The idea of such a cultural contradiction is especially prevalent in a city like Hong Kong, a city that boasts a modernized way of life combined with traditional Chinese practices.

Rian Hughes (UK)
Rian Hughes has been called “one of the most successful and prolific designer/illustrators of the past 20 years” [Roger Sabin, Eye magazine]. Hughes has since worked extensively for the British and American comic industries as both designer, typographer and illustrator, notably creating many logo designs for DC and Marvel, including Batman and Robin, Batgirl, the X-Men, Captain America, Wolverine, The Spirit, The Invisibles, Shade the Changing Man, and The Atom. He has designed CDs and vinyl sleeves for indie labels such as Transient and Automatic, with whom he recently collaborated as illustrator on a series of 6 children’s books. His advertising typography earned a Campaign Press Awards Silver in 1996 and a Merit Award from the New York Art Director’s Club in 2000. He was an early contributor to FontShop’s seminal FontFont range, and now fonts designed for clients such as Mac User, 2000AD, Newquay Steam and PC Format magazine are released via his own label, Device Fonts.

Creative Magazines Symposium – Speakers List

Patrick Burgoyne – Creative Review (UK)
Patrick Burgoyne has been the editor of Creative Review magazine since 1999. Before joining the magazine (as Staff Writer) he worked in marketing, first for the Body Shop and later for the University of Westminster, whilst also moonlighting as a writer for magazines such as The Big Issue. He is also the author of several books on design and visual culture and has written for many publications, including The Independent, Scotland on Sunday, Arena and La Repubblica.

Birgit – Designboom (Italy)
Birgit founder of Design Boom with more than 2,500,000 readers a month from over 175 countries, (including 250,000 subscribers to our monthly newsletter) designboom.com is the leading independent publication for key contemporary issues and the critique of all aspects of design, especially those topics which enrich the dialogue between design, creative professionals, industry and society. the milan-based, free internet resource o_erssnapshot reports from major international design shows, architecture and art exhibitions; interviews and portraits of the protagonists in the contemporary creative scene; design history and in-depth information on the creators of design classics.

+81 (Japan)
Born in Tokyo. Studied Western art history in Aoyama Gakuin University College of Literature, Department of History. Yamashita Established DD WAVE in 1990, where he now serves as president. In 1997, DD WAVE launched +81 magazine, at which Yamashita has been active as publisher and creative director. In 2001 +81 was awarded the NY ADC Prize. Twelve years have passed since the magazine launch as a global, creative publication, which is now circulated in about twenty foreign countries. In 2009, he produced the new projects called Tokyo Visualist and Tokyo Graphic Passport. Tokyo Visualist is an art book published by Yamashita, which consists of 8 famous curators from Tokyo and New York. He organized the Tokyo Graphic Passport which became the first and biggest creative conference in Japan

Sven Ehmann (Berlin)
Sven Ehmann is a freelance creative director based in Berlin / Germany. He develops concepts and contents across all media with a focus on print, digital and environments. Since 2002 he edited more than 20 publications for international art and design book publisher gestalten. With the design studio onlab he developed the redesign for Italian architectural magazine Domus. With attraction designers Flying Saucer he created the interactive environment at the visitors center of chemical company BASF. His personal projects include the publishing platform etc publications, which aims at promoting the idea of the designer as an author of serious contents.
Sven lectures and gives workshops on a regular basis about innovation, concept development and visual storytelling.

Super Ani-motion – Speakers List

David Oreilly (Berlin)
David OReilly is an Irish-born Berlin-based filmmaker. His work is regarded as amongst the most groundbreaking in contemporary 3d animation and has met worldwide critical acclaim. He was the youngest winner of the Berlin Film Festival’s “Golden Bear” for his short film “Please Say Something” , the only animated film to win the award since Pixar’s first short film. He has given lectures about his work across the world at several Universities, Conferences and Film Festivals. He most recently directed the music video for U2’s next single “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight”

Feng Zhu (USA)
Feng Zhu is the founder and creative art director at the FZD School of Design. His broad design skills has allowed him to reach across into many_elds from hit movies, to triple-A games, memorable TV commercials and toy designs. FZD School of Design is his latest addition to the studios he has founded in Los Angles and Beijing. Founding his own design company, Feng Zhu Design (FZD), his clients included  Industrial Light+Magic, Warner Brothers, Lucas_lm, and many other top studios. In Hollywood, he has worked directly with some of the biggest directors in the world such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, and Michael Bay. His recent projects include the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, Star Wars Episode III and the Hollywood mega-blockbuster, Transformers.

Niko Stumpo (Amsterdam)

The Norwegian-born Stumpo, is first and foremost an artist, with a total conception of what he is creating. To account accurately for the range of his talent, Stumpo’s work must be considered that of a painter, photographer, illustrator, web-programmer, sculptor and film maker. He is a true visionary, who uses the best means available to communicate his world. The extraordinary freedom of Stumpo’s work often takes us by surprise. As an artist he takes elements from everyday life and raises them to the very limits of abstraction, making his art a bridge between our dreams and his own imagination. Niko’s universe is inhabited by unique abstract cartoon-like drawings, characters which emerged from his childhood and have now become the trademark to a very identifiable and in demand style. As a former art director of Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, Niko has developed visual communication and award winning campaigns for such high profile companies as MTV Italy, Sony PS2, Nike and Heineken. He’s just opened Hanazuki, a creative studio and a store, together with Hanneke Metselaar, where they developing their own products and produce works for clients such as Nokia, Nickelodeon, MTV and Reebok among others.

Kanaban Group (Japan)
From the 3DCG animation studios Kanaban, comes the side splittingly funny and disarming animation short Usavitch. The story is_ based on the social of 1960’s Russia, the central characters being two Russian jail – rabbits, with personalities on the extreme opposites. We see their everyday life in their jail cell, and their break out from prison. Joined by their side
kicks, a wide eyed chirpy bird and a frog apt to get into impossible situations, the animation short, initially created for a screening on mobile phones, for some portable fun, has now gained as an international cult following of sorts on the Internet.
Utilizing a children’s story book illustration style, the creators of Usavitch stress their dedication to giving their audiences a feeling of familiarity, un – bogged down by unfamiliar concepts. It is pure entertainment, with gags and adventures that keep the viewer hanging for more. The Kanaban team comprises for the core designers, writers, animators and directors who keep busy in the studio, churning out delightful entertainment that is sure to brighten up one’s day.

Fantasista (Japan)
Utamaro is also a member and founder of Mashcomix, a collective of Manga and comic artists established in 1999. This new generation of Manga artists collaborate to present to the world di_erent approaches to the traditional and typical Manga style. Apart from regularly putting out their comics, Mashcomix also puts out animation shorts and paints live as a group. Utamaro has represented Mashcomix in a live painting battle with Berlin pop artist icon Jim Avingnon. He is also a director of side splittingly funny videos, one of his cult running series, “The School of the Kung Fu Panda”, is a bizarre and witty story rife with memorable characters. Utamaro has worked for clients such as Nike and Tokion.

Forums
Business of Design – Speakers List

Nancy Chen (Taiwan)
Nancy is a graphic designer, producer, art director, as well as a creative business developer. After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University with degrees in Economics and Business, she moved on to obtain her Master’s degree in Design from Parsons in New York City.
After working in various fields in design, PR, and finance, in 2004, she set up her design company [ESP], a boutique web advertisement agency in Taipei. [ESP] offers various types of design and advertising solutions to a diverse range of corporate clients. With its unique style and functional approach, [ESP] has built an innovative reputation with many industry insiders.
After winning several awards in advertising, including the Young Entrepreneur Award in Taiwan, in 2008, Nancy transformed the agency into a product R&D company. Additionally, she set up an arts & culture foundation: [ESP Foundation]. The two tracks were to seperate the growing commercial clientele from the social design direction of the company. In late 2010, [ESP Foundation] will unveil a creative hub in Taipei, complete with design business center, gallery, shop and cafe. Currently, Nancy works mostly as a creative business developer, bridging between artists and designers with potential business opportunity and partners. Privately, she works as a producer and art director for her personal projects.

Akinori Kojima (Tokyo)
with more than 16 years industry experience, Akinori has been involved with a number of internationally known companies’ projects with many talented illustrators. Akinori released several books of Japanese illustrators to many countries, it attracts attention among illustrators around the world. Akinori founded Asterisk Agency in 1999 and started PICT-WEB that have become well known to creative people in Tokyo. PICT-WEB representing selected leading Japanese illustrators and has successfully earned commissions world wide for many clients that are leaders in their industry including: Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Microsoft, Nike, Red Bull, Adidas, Puma, 55DSL, Gap, Shu Uemura … the list goes on.

Devil Robots (Japan)
Devilrobots is a 5 men design team. Established in 1997, and they are based in Tokyo. Main works are graphics, character designs, audio-visual, web designs, toys, CD jackets, clothing, and more!
There have been over 45 types of TO-FU KUBRICK Series released by December 2007. Yujin has released over 30 types of TO-FU capsule toy by December 2007. CS Fuji721 put the TO-FU animation on air. TO-FU 34/102 and 68/102 has been published by Fusosha. TO-FU wrist watch was released by o.d.m. in 2006 which came with mini figure and special package. 20inch TO-FU figure was released by Kidrobot in June 2007, 16inch GUM TO-FU figure was released by Play Imaginative in October 2007, and 18inch evirob figure will be released by Play Imaginative in 2008.
Collaborated with Hello Kitty in October 2007. Chogokin(die cast metal) TO-FU Oyako was released by Bandai in January 2008.
Have collaborated with global brands such as Avex, Bandai, Coca-Cola, Disney, Dream Come True Entertainment, EMI Music Japan, Geshtalten, Graniph, Hewlett Packard, IdN, Levis, McAfee, Medicom Toy, Mos Burger, Nike, Nokia, Paul Smith, Sanrio, Sony, Uniqlo, etc.
Dee Dee Mix is a long run project with Yujin to create sundries by re-designing Disney characters. Has re-designed over 30 Disney characters, and first one to re-design “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas”, Disney’s villains, Pixar characters officially. There are projects lined up till Spring of 2010.
They currently have official inside the park limited products at Tokyo Disney Sea. Other outstanding re-design character are Gachapin & Mukku, REBORN, Sanrio, Sesame Street etc…
Collaboration with Hip Hop musician KAME & L.N.K on their song “I LOVE TOFU” was made possible in December 2008.
Creation of DJ TO-FU and MC TO-FU, not only designing CD Jacket, but made promotion video and help them to debut in Taiwan.

To book you passes and to see the full list of speakers attending KLDW 10 log on to www.kualalumpurdesignweek.com.my.