Greening the Beige (GtB) is an eco-minded arts collective and not-for-profit community network based in Beijing. The organisation acts as a public platform to promote environmental awareness through the arts, frequently collaborating with other organisations and artists dedicated to sustainable development. After signing up to the 10:10 campaign, GtB is now focusing on their annual event – 10/10/10 – which will take place later on in the year. We sat down with founder, Carissa Welton, to unearth more.

Where are you originally from, and what brought you to Beijing?

Carissa: I was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, one of the top 10 greenest places to live in the USA. I then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1999, and received a BA from San Francisco State University in 2003. Whilst I was there, I focused my thesis on the contemporary cultural representation of Xi’an through the Tang Dynasty and studied Chinese for 2 semesters. Eventually, in the summer of 2002, I found myself in China taking a boat tour up the Yangtze River to see the Three Gorges Dam.

Can you give us a brief insight into Greening the Beige (GtB) and what you do?

Carissa: I founded Greening the Beige in 2007. The focus is to promote environmental awareness through art, cultural, and communal activities – in other words, an eco-minded artist collective. I run the show as the director, and the platform operates 100% on volunteerism. Read the rest of this entry »

Much of China’s rich cultural heritage is at risk. This is mainly due to lack of awareness and poor enforcement of Chinese heritage-protection laws, which are well conceived but poorly implemented. In a time of extreme economic development and social change, Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center (CHP) – a non-profit organisation – helps to support local communities and fights to protect their cultural heritage.

Beijing’s landscape is dramatically changing. Gone are the small hutongs, once characteristic of the city, as well as the way of life associated with courtyard lifestyle. Now, ubiquitous towering skyscrapers dominate instead. To highlight the importance of preserving Beijing’s unique cultural heritage, CHP celebrates old Beijing with Do You Hutong? – a cocktail party featuring a collection of individually commissioned siheyuan (courtyard) gate artworks.

“Smart and Mini Architecture for Local communities and Low income,” or SMALL Architecture, was founded by architect, Li Ye, and is the Beijing chapter of Architecture for Humanity. Barely a year old, SMALL have undertaken a number of socially-led projects to offer design as a service to the often forgotten local Chinese communities. We met with Li Ye this month to discover more about the organization and working as an NGO in China.

Notes on Design: Can you tell us about SMALL Architecture. When was it founded and why?

Li Ye: SMALL was formally founded in July 2009. We provide an architectural service to those who require non-commercial work, and our clients are usually local communities who do not have much money (i.e. low income). In this context, we consider design as a social service.

The concept for SMALL was actually formulated in the summer of 2008 when I was ready to graduate from Tsinghua University’s School of Architecture. Most of my classmates chose paths like real estate or architectural firms for quick money or fame, but I felt I wanted to do something different. I took a break between university and “starting a career”, and tried to do something non-profit; I wanted to see what I would learn this way.

Fortunately, I found my partner, Xiao Zhen, who works in real estate. Also in our team are Hao Xue (law background), Rong Xiao and Huang Zheng (architecture) and Zara Arshad (design). We are currently focusing on small projects to fulfill SMALL’s vision.

Tulou Housing project, Fujian province.

Notes on Design: What is your relationship to Architecture for Humanity (AfH)?

Li Ye: SMALL was registered as AfH’s financially independent Beijing chapter. Chinese regulation, however, enforces very strict control over border cash flow. If you operate as a branch of a foreign firm or NGO, you cannot accept local donations or investment. This severely limits our work, so we decided to run the financial aspect of our organization independently. Our aim, however, definitely remains the same as AfH – bringing design services to communities in need. Read the rest of this entry »

NLGX is a Beijing-based design community and brand founded by Ed Hung and Michel Sutyadi in 2008. After witnessing first-hand the changes taking place in China’s ancient capital city, Michel and Ed decided to capture the new spirit of the city with a fresh and unique lifestyle brand. Inspired by Beijing’s development into a multicultural melting pot of artists, entrepreneurs, travelers and global-minded individuals, together as NLGX they create original designed apparel. Notes on Design spoke to Ed and Michel this week to uncover more about the NLGX journey.

Notes on Design: Where are you both from, and how did you meet?

NLGX: Ed was born and raised in San Francisco, USA whilst I was born and raised in Germany. Both of us, however, are of Chinese descent, which makes our move to China a bit of a homecoming (albeit, a generation or two later). We actually met in Beijing back in 2005, after each having spent some time at Wudaokou (Beijing’s “student central”) studying Mandarin.

Notes on Design: Why did you decide to set up NLGX?

NLGX: The sequence of events that led to the birth of NLGX were quite random and opportunistic, like many new ventures; from a friend’s Christmas party, Ed deciding to “rough it” by living in the hutongs (the Old City of Beijing), a blog about a trendy hutong neighbourhood in Beijing called Nanluoguxiang, a lunch at a backpackers café, to a small “For Rent” sign on a dusty window. Our flagship store, subsequently, opened in March 2008 on Nanluoguxiang. Read the rest of this entry »

Zara Arshad is a British designer currently based in Beijing, China. Having also lived in the UK, Syria and Indonesia, she continually promotes internationalism as well as the potential of design to solve social, economic and political issues. Previous experience includes working with the British Council, and Don’t Panic and Icon magazines; she is also a persistent volunteer for Architecture for Humanity, which she represented at 100% Design, London. As well as practicing as a freelance, multi-disciplinary designer, Zara is now working as Greening and Environmental Support Officer for the British Embassy in Beijing. Zara is joining the Notes on Design team this month, to bring us design news from China, so we caught up with her journey to date to welcome her to the team!

Notes on Design: Where are you originally from?

Zara: Good question! My family are originally from Pakistan, but I was born and raised in London. Over the years though, I’ve also been fortunate enough to live in Jakarta, Damascus, and Beijing where I am currently living.

Notes on Design: How and why did you choose a career in Graphic Design?

Zara: This was actually an accident. I’ve always been creative; from a young age, I was constantly producing drawings. My family are fairly traditional and were not very keen for me to engage in a creative career, however, when it came to picking potential courses for university (I was schooling in Indonesia at the time), the only thing that I could think of that I really wanted to do was Design. This was set to be a basis for a career in Advertising – well, that was the plan then!
 I accepted a position on the BA (Hons) Design course at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Coming from a strong academic background, with a limited knowledge of design, the first year was quite a struggle. I had to do quite a lot of catch-up reading on things that everyone else already appeared to know from undertaking specialised design and/or foundation courses, and every project was a new learning experience.

This struggle, however, also helped me to find focus quickly. I soon realized that Advertising was not the right choice for me Read the rest of this entry »