Hasta La Ideas

It’s a matter of time before China becomes known for innovative industrial design. The country has been saddled with a reputation for design piracy, a reputation earned through legacy systems; but with 1.4 billion people, eventually the designers interested in true innovation will break through.

Sadly this growth process will be largely opaque to those of us in the West; the country’s English-language design media is uncommunicative, to say the least. As a case in point, this design for a rolling carry-on:

That’s a clever feature, presumably aimed at the frequent traveler who likes to load up at the duty-free. The design was listed as a Top Ten Excellent Design Product produced in the city of Shijiazhuang, in Hebei.

The kicker: Only those two low-res images were provided, both of them cut off; perhaps more incredibly, neither the designer, the manufacturer nor even the product name are listed! Reverse-image searches come up empty, so unfortunately we can’t learn more. Here’s to hoping Chinese design media starts promoting their homegrown designs overseas more thoroughly.