“Milan Design Week - Exhibition of Outstanding Works by Teachers and Students of Design Disciplines in Chinese Universities” is a criterion in the “Ranking of Discipline Competitions in National Universities” published by China Association of Higher Education. Taking the “Philosophy of Wang Yangming” as its source of inspiration, this competition encourages participants to imagine and produce creative works by integrating traditional Chinese skills, culture and philosophical thinking with the needs of modern industry.

From 16 to 22 April, as one of the official theme activities of the Milan Design Week 2024, the “Exhibition of Outstanding Works by Teachers and Students of Design Disciplines from Chinese Universities” returned to the international stage during the Milan Design Week. As the world's leading exhibition of furniture and home design, Milan International Furniture Fair and Milan Design Week are the annual design mecca for furniture, home furnishings, architecture, clothing, accessories, lighting, and design professionals from all over the world. During this event, nearly 200 outstanding design works from teachers and students of Chinese universities were also exhibited at the Milan International Art Centre.

Among them were the design works from Fang Ying, an undergraduate student majoring in Industrial Design (BDI) at the University of Waikato Joint Institute at Hangzhou City University (NZUWI), and Bao Qi, a master’s student majoring in Art Design at the School of Art and Archaeology. Under the guidance of two academic staff, Tao Ye and Zhou Chuyi, their works won two national third prizes in the 8th Milan Design Week 2024 - Exhibition of Outstanding Works by Teachers and Students of Design Disciplines in Chinese Universities.

Academic staff of Industrial Design attach great importance to teaching practical skills and actively promote the teaching reform of “Promoting learning and teaching through competitions, combining teaching and competition” to enhance students' innovative thinking and practical abilities. The works of this competition are all from BDI students' course works, and are supported by the off-campus practice education base-Hangzhou Zaowuyun Technology Co., Ltd. “The students' design creations successfully demonstrate how traditional culture can be seamlessly integrated into modern product design.” Tao Ye, the instructor, said, “We look forward to more wonderful design works by the students on the international stage.”

“During the creation of the work, our design team drew on the essence of Wang Yangming's philosophy, using the concepts of  'Mind is Reason' and 'Knowledge of Conscience' as a guide, and innovated these ideas in product design with a new language and form. During this process, I was very lucky to be able to participate in senior student Bao Qi's Longquan celadon, a green jade glazing, digital preservation project under the guidance of my mentors, Tao Ye and Zhou Chuyi, as well as my enterprise mentor Qiu Yiwu.” Fang Ying said, "We conducted in-depth research on the shape, colour and decoration of various forms of Longquan celadon, such as vases, pots, bowls and plates. Through documentary research and historical exploration of celadon culture, we have come to appreciate the delicacy and purity expressed in the unique glaze and texture of celadon, which is highly compatible with the inner purity and pure morality advocated by Wang Yangming's philosophy. In this design practice, we integrated complex and diverse celadon types into different product designs, and boldly explored how to combine Yangming culture with modern cultural and creative product design. In the end, our works not only demonstrated the perfect combination of traditional celadon techniques and modern design, but also successfully showed the intersection of traditional culture and modern industrial needs, which was very rewarding.”