Design trends, material innovations and enlightening talks: A wrap-up of Design Shanghai 2024

This year’s Design Shanghai once again celebrated the design industry on an international scale. Exhibitors from around the world showcased their innovative creations, with a special emphasis on the growth of Italian furniture brands that have entered the Chinese market, including Ethimo and Gervasoni.

Hall 1—dedicated to furniture and lighting—was a melting pot of art and design, featuring luxury glassmaker Lalique from France, German manufacturer Bretz, and French furniture brand Maison Dada with their eye-catching and cheerful exhibitions that alluded to the growing popularity of maximalist interiors. French furniture designer Roche Bobois also wowed visitors with a whimsical carousel, the perfect setting to showcase its dreamy furnishings.

In Hall 2, on the other hand, the spotlight was on high-end kitchen and bathroom fittings, including German kitchen purveyor Poggenpohl, Spanish ceramic tiles manufacturer Porcelanosa, and renowned luxury brands like Kohler and Cosentino.

Design Shanghai took the opportunity to honour and platform a wide range of homegrown Chinese design talent, underlining the fair’s role in nurturing young creators. Brands such as Yuya Zhou and Cactus Lighting represented the innovative spirit of new designers alongside renowned local brands like U+, Ziinlife, and high-end furniture purveyor HC28.

The Craft+ exhibition was a significant highlight as well, exploring China’s rich cultural heritage and traditional craftsmanship through interactive experiences and collaborative projects. It aimed to revitalise long-standing crafts through these design collaborations, engaging communities and inviting audiences to rediscover the beauty and value of various artisanal techniques.

Other homegrown features included the Talents 2024 exhibition, which challenged designers to identify and solve practical problems while balancing creativity with feasibility, as well as Neooold, an exhibition curated by designer Chen Min, which merged modern art with traditional craftsmanship, showcasing local and international works in ceramics, metalworking, and weaving.

Hall 4, a new addition to Design Shanghai, captured the latest trends in materials and their inventive applications. This dynamic space invited visitors to explore cutting-edge materials and technologies, often introducing new approaches to more environmentally friendly manufacturing and design.

International exhibitors in this hall included names like Formica and Peelsphere. Chinese exhibitors such as DP Lab and recycled silicone manufacturer Laedana were platformed in this one-of-a-kind space as well, alongside special exhibitions like the “Rong Casting” showcase, which invited over 40 designers and artists to explore the intersection of traditional casting craftsmanship and contemporary design.

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Sustainability was a central theme at Design Shanghai 2024, emphasising empathetic, people-centric design. Talks and exhibitions spotlighted natural materials and environmentally friendly creations alongside interactive experiences like “Elegy for the Arctic”.

Inspired by the devastating effects of climate change, the latter featured an immersive screening of a chilling performance by pianist Ludovico Einaudi in collaboration with Greenpeace, in which he played a specially composed piece of the same name against the backdrop of the Wahlenbergbreen glacier’s melting ice.

This focus on sustainability at Design Shanghai this year was further framed by the Sustainable Design China Summit, which delved into critical themes on the subject over multiple days, exploring the impact of retail design, travel and hospitality, urban living and smart cities, and the intersection of technology and sustainability.

“Good design must now consider environmental impact; architects, property developers and urban planners are the starting point for urban and rural developments,” shared Orianna Fielding, the chief sustainability adviser and content director behind the summit. “They have a responsibility to establish and embed positive environmental, social and circular strategies into urban development policies and building design. The design industry needs to prioritise the implementation of regenerative strategies.”

From the distinctive exhibitions and illuminating talks to the wide range of avant-garde material applications and the push for sustainability, Design Shanghai 2024 was once more an unmissable event for the architecture and design community, setting the stage for the creation of environmentally friendly cities and the journey towards a greener architecture.

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