Online KISDtalk: “KISDgoes Asia”

“KISDgoes Asia”

Friday, January 29, 11:00 am (CET)

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, possibilities for travelling around the globe and welcoming domestic and international guest speakers are, unfortunately, quite limited. Nonetheless, KISDinternational will be hosting some online lectures in the context of our lecture series of the KISDtalks in which some of our partner universities will be given the chance to present themselves and their study opportunities. On Friday, January 29, 11 am, KISD – Köln International School of Design “goes Asia”. We will virtually travel around Asia, in particular Japan, Taiwan, and China, and get to know the following of our partner institutions and their design programs open for exchange: Tongji University, Shanghai, Hong Kong Polytecnic University, Hong Kong, Musashino Art University, Tokyo, and Shih Chien University, Taipei, Taiwan. The following speakers, together with some international students, will be at your disposal for presentations of their respective design programs.

Kazuhiro Yamanaka, Professor for Industrial, Interior and Craft Design, Musashino Art University, Tokyo

Stefan Sonntag, Senior Teaching Fellow, Hong Kong Polytecnic University, Hong Kong

Eun Ji Cho, Associate Research Fellow of the College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai

Nick Vasiljevic, Assistant Professor in International Business, Shih Chien University, Taipei

Vincent Kao, Director of the International Affairs Section, Shih Chien University, Taipei

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the talk will be held via Zoom. You will find the Zoom-link and the access data below. 

Online KISDtalks Winter Term 2020/21

via Zoom: https://th-koeln.zoom.us/j/88240480389
Meeting-ID: 882 4048 0389
Code: KISDtalks

CVs: 

Kazuhiro Yamanaka is Professor for Industrial, Interior and Craft Design at Musashino Art University (MAU) in Tokyo. Born in the Japanese capital, Kazuhiro Yamanaka graduated from the Royal College of Art (London) in 1997. He is involved in a variety of different fields of design, from furniture design to lighting design and installations. His current client list includes Pallucco, Boffi, Ingo Maurer, Saazs, Alessi and museums worldwide.
The many prizes that he has been awarded include the Design Report Award 2004 (Milan). His creations can be found in the collection of MoMA (New York). In addition, he has also created lighting installations at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Collette (Paris), Designboom, and Laforet Museum (Tokyo), among others. Kazuhiro Yamanaka has been featured worldwide in the following publications: Abitare, Casa Abitare, Design Diffusion News, Esquire, Domus, Elle Decor, md, Metropolitan Home, The New York Times, Vogue, and Wallpaper. 

Stefan Sonntag, born in Germany, is a truly global citizen who has in the last 20 years lived and worked continuously in the Advertising/Communications Industry in various countries across Europe and Asia-Pacific where he has spent more than two decades, including more than 10 years of experience in design education for tertiary level at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s School of Design, teaching in the Advertising Design program in the B.A. (Hons) Scheme in Design. 

With the tremendous changes in our society and industry, Stefan believes that design education and the creative industry should be strongly aligned; that design schools have much to learn from the communications industry, and – with increasing importance vice versa. Only then can we create innovative design solution, relevant for future markets.

Eun Ji Cho is an Associate Research Fellow of the College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai, China, where she teaches service design, and design for social innovation. She received her Ph.D. in Design from Politecnico di Milano, Italy, and a M.Sc. in Design for Interaction from TU Delft in the Netherlands. 

Prior to joining Tongji University, she worked at Hunan University as an assistant professor. Her main area of research is service design for social innovation, with a particular focus on social sustainability and collaborative services. She has been a member of DESIS Network (Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability) since 2010 and worked in DESIS international coordination team from 2010 to 2013. Her recent work includes the translation of Ezio Manzini’s book Design, When Everybody Designs: An Introduction to Design for Social Innovation into Korean language. 

Nick Vasiljevic is an Assistant Professor in international business at Shih Chien University. His focus is on brand, design, and innovation management. Before he joined Shih Chien, Nick led international small to medium-sized businesses and worked on many innovative and disruptive projects.

Some interesting projects he was part of were ahead of their time, for example: flexible smartphones in 2009, a product to help the iPhone make suitable to fortune 500 companies, the first dedicated iPad interactive magazine App in Taiwan, and projects in robotics, for example. 

Nick holds a M.Sc. in Computer Science and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Kent, GB. 

Vincent Kao is the director of the Office of International Affairs, Shih Chien University. He is mainly responsible for the admission of full-time students and handle the exchange students’ questions. He is also an alumnus of Shih Chien University. He has been working in this position for more than 4 years and is very experienced in working with foreign students.