WEAVE: East meets West

Here at .Cent, we love to weave different cultures, trends, and creative industries. Collectible Design director, Morgan Morris is one of the key innovators encouraging a transition into how we in the West experience and view eastern art, and is bridging the gap between the two.

We spoke to the director of Collectible Design and Perfect Crossovers, about Design Shanghai 2015, the best up-and-coming artists, and weaving cultures through art, fashion and design.

“The great success of the launch of Design Shanghai in 2014 has provided a fantastic platform to deliver another wonderful show for this year’s upcoming exhibition in March 2015. ” Design Shanghai experienced massive success after it’s launch, attracting over 47,000 visitors, and become one of the most successful design trade events launched in China. Morris finds the success of the exhibition as being attributed to the professionalism of the team, and growing design sector in China. “You have the incredible professionalism of a trade show group such as Media 10 who have the expertise and experience to put this together, as well as an extremely propitious moment for the design sector in mainland China.  People are excited to ‘curate their lives’ and embellish their surroundings, therefore you have a general professional and public interest which is outstanding.”

Morris is the director of the Collectible Design Hall, and this is one of the many exciting initiatives alongside her company Perfect Crossovers, co founded by Philip Qu and Jérôme Sans. “In addition to Collectible Design Hall, I am also the director and co-founder of Perfect Crossovers, which is the first platform of talent for cultural communications, which aims to create cross-pollinated experiences between Asia and the rest of the world.”

Juggling both roles is something Morris loves to do, as she continues to pave the way for Chinese design merging with the western world. “It is always difficult to generalize about the categorical difference between “Western” and “Asian”.  However, I do find it fascinating how Chinese design in general pulls us back to nature and certain spirituality, linked with their fundamental beliefs in Feng Shui principles.  The true elements of balance and equilibrium are an underlying common element which is sometimes not identifiable in our material based western notions of design principles.”

Meshing western cultural and Chinese culture is something Perfect Crossovers focuses on, and are keen to change the perception of China to mainstream western art. “The bridges between east and west have laid the foundations of life, cultural exchange and philosophy for over 5000 years.  This dialogue is essential to continuously build for our future generations.  But moreover, the misconceptions in the west about what is happening is China today need to been overridden as it is truly one of the most dynamic and fascinating places I have discovered as of yet. ”

Perceptions will be changed, and ideas challenged, and that is what Morris is all about and wants to bring to the forefront. “There are so many talented designers, like Shi Jianmin, Jing Jing, Liu Feng – just to name a few, and we are so excited to be in a position at Design Shanghai where we hope to facilitate a more global awareness of this exciting scene.”

“The interrelation between these industries is inevitable.  The crossover isn’t just between countries and their cultural boundaries, but also the crossover between different areas of creativity.”