Training course for museum product designers
Designers from domestic museums visit the Bund Finance Center as part of a training course launched in Baoshan District.
A training course has opened in Baoshan District to help domestic museums create products based on their exhibitions in order to cash in on the current tourism boom.
Creative product designers from 154 museums, including the Palace Museum, National Museum of China and National Art Museum of China, are attending the training event organized by the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts through Sunday.
The 8-day course covers theoretical training, case studies and tours around museums and cultural sites in Shanghai and neighboring Zhejiang Province.
It aims to investigate cultural resources from the collections of the museums, further develop the culture and innovation industry, as well as create more innovative products to promote traditional Chinese culture, according to the resources development department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the host of the event.
“China’s culture and innovation industry should develop in a broader scale blending culture and tourism,” said Zhang Xiaoli, an official of the ministry.
The market for cultural products developed by domestic museums has been developing rapidly in recent years. Online sales of creative mechanise has tripled between 2017 and 2019. Over 1.6 billion customers visit the official online stores of domestic museums every year, 1.5 times that of their offline visitors.
The opening session of the training course at the Baoshan International Folk Art Museum.
The city's museums have released over 11,000 such products with annual sales exceeding 30 million yuan (US$4.5 million). Half were sold at the Shanghai Museum.
For instance, the Da Ke Ding, a bronze tripod bowl dating to the late Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BC) and a significant piece in the Shanghai Museum collection, is the inspiration for a popular cup cover.
The academy of Shanghai University has trained over 600 heritage handcraft masters to help them develop their ancient techniques into innovative products. Hundreds of such products have been developed in the past three years.
As part of the training course, designers from the museums have visited the Bund Finance Center, the Fosun Foundation, Power Station of Art and Shanghai Museum to learn the city’s Haipai culture blending the business, art and finance.
Designers at domestic museums visit the Bund Finance Center as part of a training course launched in Baoshan District.
Designers at domestic museums visit the Power Station of Art.
