Write this down! (Designers unite)

Praseuth Banchongphakdy, Managing Director, BlueGrass Design Group. / P.O.Box 7426, Vientiane, Lao PDR. The solidarity was palpable in C5 as Mr. Banchongphakdy and ten other Southeast Asian designers showed images of their countries and their work. Members of The Design Alliance, a new culturally sensitive association, they presented varying messages and levels of work, depending on the multiplicity of languages, cultures and form of government. Graphic design represents different dreams to each. But in some nations only individual effort will bring results. In Laos there is little formal design, and no design school. So Banchongphakdy's company is also teaching design and has founded a public design library. Please send your design books and magazines here, the only source for design information in all of Laos.
Pham Huyen Kieu says Vietnam, with 4,000 years of history, uses red and yellow, as strongly encouraged by the post-revolution government. South Korean Lee Se-Young explores calligraphic and digital Hangul. Apex Lin(Taiwan), derives C.I. from his culture. The audience applauded when Siam Attariya showed his works for Thailand humor. William Harold Wong explained work in terms of culturally specific icons: Malay and Chinese shadow puppets and the Southeast Asain snake/dragon. The Design Alliance gives us all hope that the Western world will not overtake everyone. (MH)

Writer:Kosuke Ikehata/Norimitsu Korekata/Junko Sakamoto/Nobuko Shimuta/Naoko Hasegawa/Osamu Hisanaga/Sakurako Muto/Naho Yoshioka/Maggie Hohle/Helmut Langer/Nicole Rechia/Andreas Schneider/Trysh Wahlig/Gitte Waldman/Robert Zolna
Photographer:Yoshimitsu Asai/Yasuhiko Katsuta/Fumihiko Mizutani