Pearl Lam Design is proud to present January 4th, a group design show that will be on view for the first time at the Pao Galleries, Hong Kong Art Centre, October 13-31, 2011. The exhibition will showcase a diverse mix of limited edition designs by three renowned international artists André Dubreuil, Patrice Butler, and Danful Yang.

Similar to traditional tales in which fate brings people together, all three featured designers were born on January 4th in the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘80s. This exhibition uses their birthday as a starting point to explore cross-cultural design through these designers’ aesthetic confluences and differences, which are representative of their different generations and nationalities.

Pearl Lam draws together these diverse designers through a shared fascination with traditional Chinese craftsmanship, materials and imagery, which challenges the Western conception of Industrial design. The three designers incorporate their contemporary prospective with traditional Chinese handmade craftsmanship.

French designer André Dubreuil is a leading figure in the contemporary decorative arts world. Dubreuil’s “decorative artwork” can be found in the permanent collections of some of the most important museums, including the Louvre, The Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Vitra Museum. For this exhibition he will present his Fabrique en Chine by Dike Shoes (2010). With this handmade porcelain piece, he aims to illustrate that the Chinese can make beautifully crafted objects, overcoming the European misconception that everything in China is poorly constructed.

Patrice Butler is a British-trained architect, who first came to Asia in 1993. Butler’s aim is to create a polyvalent-design, which originates from high tech graphics and is transformed into Futurist “Chinoiserie”. He creates a new decorative language, which incorporates the multi-cultured complexity of a contradictory modern world. Butler’s Nixon and Kissinger chairs are fun cashmere, vinyl and polyester re- interpretations of office furniture of the early 1970s.

Chinese designer Danful Yang’s playful works combine objects and materials in unexpected ways. She uses both traditional Chinese art and craft techniques, as well as, modern Western materials.

This reflects her own cross-cultural experiences in cosmopolitan Shanghai and abroad. culture. Her Fake series is a bombardment of visual stimuli, turning imitation into originality and reflecting the onslaught of a globalized consumer Commissioned especially for the exhibition, Yang’s new work Meh Meh Yang aims to remind people of ideals, highlighting the need for “heroic dreams” in our busy lives. Yang says, “Dreams, like diamonds, should not fade with a busy life, but become brighter....”

About Pearl Lam Galleries
Pearl Lam Galleries was originally founded as Contrasts Gallery in Hong Kong in 1992 by Pearl Lam. Both the Fine Art and Design galleries are at the forefront of the global art and cultural scene.

Pearl Lam Fine Art focuses on nurturing and promoting a stable of cross-cultural and cross-discipline Chinese artists along with a select handful of international artists, all of whose work is a recreation and extension of traditions. These artists react to and against Western influences and the established Western cannon to create a new aesthetic or visual language. As part of this mission, Pearl Lam Fine Art collaborates with renowned curators who present influential and groundbreaking shows that question perceptions of Chinese contemporary art and explore the crossing of cultures, East and West.

Pearl Lam Design shows works by established and emerging international designers, at its design gallery in Shanghai and design fairs around the world. Designers are invited to push the boundaries of traditional Chinese art and craft techniques to create new works that often reflect their experiences in China or some notable aspect of Chinese culture.