In collaboration with the GREAT Britain campaign and the British Council, CAFA Art Museum is producing New British Inventors: Inside Heatherwick Studio, a major new exhibition based on the work of the London based Heatherwick Studio. Curated by Kate Goodwin from the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the exhibition is the first in Asia to focus on the unique projects of the Heatherwick studio. The exhibition highlights the emergence of one of the world’s foremost new design talents and is designed to be at the heart of a wider GREAT Britain campaign to promote British creativity, innovation and design.

Thomas Heatherwick is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects; a Senior Research Fellow at the Victoria & Albert Museum; and has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from the Royal College of Art, University of Dundee, University of Brighton, Sheffield Hallam University and University of Manchester. He has won the Prince Philip Designers Prize, and, in 2004, was the youngest practitioner to be appointed a Royal Designer for Industry. In 2010, Thomas was awarded the RIBA’s Lubetkin Prize and the London Design Medal in recognition of his outstanding contribution to design. In 2013 Thomas was awarded a CBE for his services to the design industry.

Established by Thomas Heatherwick in 1994, Heatherwick Studio is recognised for its work in architecture, urban infrastructure, sculpture, design and strategic thinking. Today a team of 160, including architects, designers and makers work from a combined studio and workshop in Kings Cross, London. At the heart of the studio’s work is a profound commitment to finding innovative design solutions, with a dedication to artistic thinking and the latent potential of materials and craftsmanship. This is achieved through a working methodology of collaborative rational inquiry, undertaken in a spirit of curiosity and experimentation.

In the twenty years of its existence, Heatherwick Studio has worked in many countries, with a wide range of commissioners and in a variety of regulatory environments. Through this experience, the studio has acquired a high level of expertise in the design and realisation of unusual projects, with a particular focus on the large scale. The studio’s work includes a number of nationally significant projects for the UK, including the award-winning UK Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, the Olympic Cauldron for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and the New Bus for London.

The exhibition explores themes and ideas from 20 years of the Heatherwick studio, ranging from Thomas Heatherwick’s early exploratory work through innovations in product design and sculpture to ambitious recent architectural and masterplan commissions. The exhibition underscores the dynamism of the UK’s new design culture. The surrounding GREAT Britain campaign shines the spotlight on innovative British design, engineering and creative industries as a major force for creating future cities.

The tour is aligned with the completion of major new Heatherwick studio projects within the Asian region and builds upon increasing levels of interest in their work. In each city of the tour the exhibition will attract both industry specialists and a general design audience. A major promotional campaign is conducted jointly by the tour partners and is accompanied by an ambitious events programme that includes Thomas Heatherwick launching the exhibition in each city and additional workshops, digital campaigns and participatory competitions.

It is worth mentioning that the exhibition in China will be part of the UK-China Year of Cultural Exchange 2015, which is the first formal UK-China Year of Culture underpinned by a government-to-government agreement between the two countries.

About the exhibition

Curator: Kate Goodwin

Organizer: CAFA Art Museum, the British Council, GREAT Britain campaign

Opening Ceremony: 5th June, 2015

Duration: 4th June – 21st June, 2015

Venue: Lobby Space, CAFA Art Museum

Courtesy of the Heatherwick Studio and CAFA Art Museum.