Shanghai cultivates world-class design talent

Shanghai is building a talent pool of top designers to help fuel the city’s development as an international design capital, authorities said.

Among the latest efforts, a citywide competition to find masters in arts and crafts kicked off on Thursday in the Pudong New Area. The contest is offering a stage to gifted craftsmen, inheritors of traditional handicrafts and others in the industry to show off their skills.

The winners will enjoy favorable policies and one-stop services offered by Pudong to turn their brilliant ideas into products and expand their trade.

Competitions can attract top designers to come, and follow-up incentives can make them stay, according to Liu Boying from the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Informatization,

“In five years, Shanghai is expected to gather over one hundred top designers with global influence and foster over one thousand high-end designers,” Liu said.

Huang Wei, director of Pudong Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, said Pudong is offering strong support to the city’s goal.

“We establish contacts with top designers through high-end construction projects, and later they are invited to share brilliant ideas in improving our grassroots cultural venues,” she said. “So, we’ve built a talent pool and made top designers serve the public.”