Chinatown gets a makeover, lean consumption fattens profits and Amazonian Indians create luxury chocolate.
Regeneration
Redesigning Chinatown
It has a wealth of Oriental restaurants, supermarkets, clothes shops, barbers and bookshops, yet London’s Chinatown is set to become even more Chinese.
Westminster City Council has launched a new project fronted by the Prince of Wales, whose Foundation for the Built Environment is already involved in a scheme to preserve Beijing’s historical hutongs (narrow streets).
“The aim is to give Chinatown more character,” says Roger Austin, Westminster Council project manager for Chinatown. “We hope to attract more people by creating more points of interest. If that improves economic vitality, it will be a bonus.”
The present Chinatown is the second incarnation in the capital. The first, in Limehouse, was all but demolished during the Blitz, and in the 1970s immigrant families instead began to set up businesses in rundown Soho.
Enticing restaurant façades, lights and smells will remain. The gates, however, are up for redesign, says Austin: “You wouldn’t see anything like them in China. They’re 1980s-designed faux versions.”
Initial plans, developed in consultation with the London Chinatown Chinese Association, Chinese Community Centre and residents, include creating a pagoda and screen garden, and renaming the district’s nine entrances after Chinese dragons. Architects have been asked to design street corner canopies from stone, timber and glazed tiles.
Consumer trends
The rise of lean consumption
It was Toyota that pioneered ‘lean manufacturing’, streamlining its production processes to maximise efficiency and transforming itself into the world’s most profitable manufacturer.
But as customers become more discerning, companies are adopting ‘lean consumption’, giving them what they want, where and when they want it.
Lean consumption demands that the customer’s time isn’t wasted, and that offerings are continually rolled out to improve brand experience. Goods and services must work together in a complete package.
It’s an ethos that can reap major rewards. In June 2008, Nintendo sold 660,000 of its cheap and easy-to-use Wii in the US, outselling Sony’s PlayStation 3 and the Microsoft Xbox 360 combined. The Wii comes with simple, intuitive handsets and Nintendo’s software is taking it beyond gaming into keep-fit and interactive quizzes.
Meals are also getting lean. Kraft Foods is making more products available in single-serve packets and Domino’s is planning a value menu with smaller pizzas for its American market.
Consultant Jim Womack, who heads the Lean Enterprise Institute, says: “Lean frees up resources by requiring less effort, space, capital and time to match products to precise customer desires.”
Q&A
Furnished for success
Sustainability and craftsmanship are increasingly recognised as ways to stand out from the crowd. Thorsten van Elten – whose company (www.thorstenvanelten.com) showcases and distributes work he produces on behalf of designers – shares his views.
How did your business come about?
I started working with British designers and branched out to include those from abroad. They’re all recent graduates and I produce their designs and put them in my collection. I don’t have factories, so work is all sub-contracted but sold as part of the Thorsten van Elten range.
Will sustainability become important in your work?
I have a different outlook on sustainability. I want to make products that last, that people will want to keep for a long time. That’s the best way to be sustainable. If you buy a T-shirt for £1, it doesn’t have a life afterwards. I like traditional manufacturing techniques. My products carry on living – they can be given or sold to someone else over time. It’s the masses of crap being produced in the world that’s the problem.
How would you describe your design ethos?
I like products with personality. It’s what appeals to me by gut instinct. And it’s about people, too – I have to get on with the designer, otherwise there would be no point. Quite a few designers I’ve worked with have come up with something different, which might have come out of a discussion we’ve had over a beer. That’s the most rewarding part – that and seeing people enjoy the products. My other rule is that every piece I produce I would want to have in my own home.
Will good design go out of fashion?
There’s no indication of that. I’m going to stick to the things I do. People are going to have to realise that if they buy something that will last them, the price will be higher.
Micro-economies of scale
Collaboration, innovation and technology are generating sustainable income in unlikely places and showing new ways for isolated communities to become sustainable. In Ecuador’s Amazon rainforests, the Kichwa people formed their own commercial collective 10 years ago. Recently, they began making organic dark chocolate, which is marketed online and sold in selected shops around the world. This provides income for 800 families, enabling them to continue to live in their homeland. It also tastes good – Business Week has labelled it “the best chocolate in the world”.
Such ingenuity is creating growth in economies where entrepreneurship is a rarity. In Finnish Lapland, winter conditions in Rovaniemi are harsh but perfect for snowmobile-maker BRP Finland. The company has just opened Europe’s only snowmobile production plant, following a £23m investment. Rovaniemi is ideal for testing, while the factory provides much-needed jobs. Snowmobiles are also vital to tourism, the region’s other big revenue generator.
Collaboration is also helping transform the fortunes of Australian Aboriginal artists, who went unrewarded for years. Their work is now available to buy from Aboriginal-owned and managed art centres. Aboriginal art includes painting on rock and bark, wood and rock carvings, sculpture and embellished weaponry. The dramatic increase in its popularity in Australia and elsewhere has created an industry now estimated to be worth £230m.
Creative cities
Belfast
Jobs and investment
Belfast provides 30% of Northern Ireland’s jobs. Financial and business services will create 75% of new jobs from 2007 to 2015. Unemployment has fallen by 75% since 1991. In the UK, only London attracts more foreign direct investment.
Planning for success
In 2003, Belfast City Council developed its first culture and arts plan. Annual grants for arts and heritage projects total £1m and the creative sector is growing twice as fast as the overall economy. There are 1,000-plus creative Belfast businesses, employing 16,000 people. In July, the city launched a new logo, designed by Lloyd Northover.
Child’s play
In 2007, Belfast’s TV and film studios hosted the new Sesame Street, the revamped EMU series and Tom Hanks-produced children’s sci-fi adventure film City of Ember. The Belfast Film Festival is one of more than 50 festivals held in the city each year.
Pulling power
Tourism now supports 16,000 full-time jobs. In 2007, the number of overnight visitors rose by 18% and total visitor spending reached £156.6m. Key attractions include the Titanic Quarter, soon to be one of Europe’s largest waterfront developments.
Standing tall
A £103.9m scheme to improve the city’s transport infrastructure launched in 2006 and is due for completion next year. The city is also growing skywards. The £25m Obel Tower, standing at 80.5m (265 ft) tall and scheduled to open in 2010, will (for a time) be Ireland’s tallest building.
Seat of learning
Queen’s University Belfast is one of the UK’s largest and one of the Russell Group of 20 leading research universities. Almost half its 250 buildings are listed as being of architectural merit. The University of Ulster has its art, design and architecture campus in the city.
Article first published in Design Council Magazine, Issue 5, Winter 2008
Pictures
Chinatown: Getty images
Belfast: Alamy images