[Image: Zhao Jian]

New in Iridescent: The Approach of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts

Design education based on regional traditions and cultural diversity

Mr. Zhao Jian of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts challenges his fellow academics to make every effort to maintain optimism, self-motivation and foresight, and to appropriately adjust approaches and reach beyond the comfort zone, all for the purpose of maintaining the momentum for the school.
Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts of China (GAFA) has always been attentive to and accepting of local styles, such as the Guangdong regional culture of "inclusiveness and accommodation", the Lingnan artisan spirit of "folkways and optimism," and the strong tradition of "business orientation and pragmatism" that Guangzhou shares with Hong Kong and Macao.

Given that Guangdong's economy assumes a "leadership" role in China's sustainable development, the design at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts has always emphasised pragmatism, concreteness, and high degrees of completeness, all of which brand the design at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts with a distinctive focus on "application". For these reasons, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts sets up its design education in a way that is markedly differently from that at other academies of fine arts.

In recent years, design education in China has been undergoing rather profound changes. As other academies of fine arts in the country, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts has been closely monitoring these changes and implementing necessary adjustments in an effort to "keep up with the times".

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Above banner: Traumgedanken, a 2010 :output award winning design by Maria Fischer (Germany)

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