From the 19th to the 23rd of October 2009, L’Ecole de design Nantes Atlantique’s 5th year students will work with Shandong University of Art and Design 山东工艺美术学院 students on a project lead by the R&D Center of Seb-Supor.

Seb-Supor 苏泊尔 is a joint venture that was created in 2006. Founded in 1994, Supor is the leader of the cookware market in China and the third largest cookware company in the world. Its headquarters are in Hangzhou 杭州, in Zhejiang province 浙江省 near Shanghai. It owns six production sites and more than 7,000 employees worldwide.

For one week, students will have to work together on a new blender for Supor. They will have to come up with new and fresh ideas in line with Supor’s marketing directives.

The winners will get a mock up of their product financed by Supor Group.

In April, Wang Difei, the design director of Hisense R&D Center asked the thirteen 4th year students to find design solutions for Hisense domestic electrical appliances, television and electronic devices to expand its markets.

Hisense (海信) is a Chinese electronics manufacturer. Products manufactured under the Hisense brand include televisions, air conditioners, LCDs, refrigerators and mobile phones. It is one of the biggest leading companies in mainland China.

The 13 students spread into 3 groups and presented their design solutions on the 23rd of June in Hisense R&D Center. They came up with a total of 16 different concepts that obviously appealed to Hisense Design Director.

CONCEPT EXAMPLE : LOA – VISIO CONFERENCE SYSTEM (Lise Picard, Quentin Tableau, Rémi Decoene, Anne-Claire Mahéo)

CONCEPT EXAMPLE : GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (Lise Picard, Quentin Tableau, Rémi Decoene, Anne-Claire Mahéo)

Some of these concepts will be developed next year. To be continued.

www.lecolededesign.cn

On April 18, 2009 the 13 students enrolled in the curriculum offered by L’École de design Nantes Atlantique’s Chinese subsidiary seized the opportunity to showcase their projects during the international Ecodesign Fair 2009 held in Shanghai.

As part of an assignment revolving around the theme “Light my Bamboo” the 13 young designers-to-be centered their efforts on this good-value-for-money raw material.

After researching the topic for quite a while they eventually came up with a new concept : a new type of drugstore dedicated to homeopathic treatments meant to cure modern-day diseases such as asthma, the flu, obesity, diabetes.

The specificity of the drugstore thought up by our students lies in its all-bamboo range of products. Not only do the items sold in the store help customers heal their ailments but through their shape and use those items also have a deep impact upon the customers’ body and mind.

This outstanding exhibition – infused with a poetic hue and a sense of committment in the meantime – has aroused the interest of many a journalist and local visitor.

Maud-Andréa Bidet
Coordinator for L’École de design Nantes Atlantique’s
Chinese subsidiary

www.lecolededesign.cn

On Friday the 27th of February, the students have been to the Qingdao French Alliance for a curious event: a “Speed Meeting” with Chinese students.

Willing to understand China better, they thought that follow Robert Stevenson’s thought would be a great way to reach their goal: “we are all travellers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend”. So they decided to seek for their best Chinese friends in a place where they would be sure to find young people they can communicate et share things with: the French Alliance.

In the evening, the 8 French students met with 12 Chinese students. To find their “soul mate”, 5 minutes with each single Chinese student were given.

At the end, everybody had found its Chinese friend. The journey could begin.