Gold piggybank from the Chinese Stuff exhibition at Liangdian Design Center
Continuing on the trend of presenting everyday objects curated through a designer’s lens, three exhibitions curated specifically for Beijing Design Week examined the aesthetics of common Chinese objects as artifacts for exploration.
Bye Bye Disco opened up a popup shop on the outskirts of Dashilar for design week. One of China’s first “retro shops,” Bye Bye Disco is the brainchild of Pang Kuan of the Beijing rock band New Pants. The popup store sold Feiyue kungfu shoes, hot water thermoses (also seen in the Chinese Stuff exhibition), retro Chinese board games and our favorite: Fashion Poker playing cards, in an open air hutong tucked behind the more touristy main street.
Bye Bye Disco
38-2 Nanluoguxiang Hutong
Dongcheng District
Permanent Location
Fashion Poker playing cards
Traditional Chinese board games
Hot water thermos
Lighters, army knives and aluminum toys
The wildly popular Chinese actress Zhou Xun worked with Beijing Design Week Creative Director Aric Chen to curate the exhibition, Silent Heroes, centered on oral histories and artifacts taken from the actress’ childhood. Ray Lei and Chai Mi’s beautiful illustrations tied together objects, recorded voiceover narration and photography in the surreal environment of a factory in Dawailangying Hutong. The curators invited local residents of Dashilar Hutong to share their own memories of select objects including bamboo steamers, wooden chairs, a chamber pot, press punch and a geometric pocket puzzle imbuing the objects with specific histories and meaning.
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