HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 8 November 2023- Hong Kong's annual design festival, deTour 2023, presented by PMQ and sponsored by Create Hong Kong (Create HK) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, will take place from 24th November to 3rd December 2023. Held at the historic site, PMQ in Central, the 10-day detour design festival will present an array of programmes that engage designers and the creative community to experience the power of design and its impact on our daily lives. Highlights will include large-scale installations and exhibitions, workshops, design talks, film screenings, guided tours and more. This year also heralds the 10th anniversary of deTour organised by PMQ under CreateHK's sponsorship. On this occasion, the festival will take visitors through the journey of time to revisit precious moments and iconic installations that witnessed deTour's growth in the past golden decade. 'New Know How' - Crafting Design Future The theme of deTour 2023 is 'New Know How'. It invites the participants to rethink the values behind age-long traditional crafts, and how the spirit of craftsmanship, characterized by attentiveness, precision, a strong sense of human touch, can be applied in design to help the design profession break away from the existing frames, generate new ideas and methodologies with new perspectives, knowledge and experience, which the curators term it "New Know How". This "New Know How" will help shape the development course of the design industry, and transform it into a 'New Craft' which propels social and economic growth. Shin Wong has been the mastermind behind deTour since 2015. This year, Shin teams up with the Founder and Director of Milk Design, Chi-wing Lee, Product Designer and Community Interaction Planner, Kay Chan Wan Ki, and Creative Duo, STICKYLINE, comprising Mic Leong and Soilworm Lai to present a refreshing edition of deTour, which invites participants to appreciate the traditional values of crafts, and examine how such values can re-shape the future path of the design profession, one that benefits the public and communities at large. Interpreting Craftsmanship with Five New Perspectives Exhibitions and Installations are always the highlights of the deTour each year. In the upcoming edition, the curators will bring together a selection of 20 exhibitions and installations from around the world, including Hong Kong, Japan, and The Netherlands. In order for the visitors to better appreciate the design, the curators will group the installations and exhibitions under 5 distinct categories. In each category, we will learn about how design can be applied to bring out the values of traditional craft. The 5 categories are New Value, Innovation, Craft Enhancement, Heritage and Storytelling. 1. New Value Effective design is not only a demonstration of traditional craftsmanship but also its potential to introduce new perspectives and possibilities to modern life and offer new values. Design is not only about aesthetics but presentation as well. By fusing traditional craftsmanship with new values, design can go beyond standard frameworks to create uniquely engaging products and solutions. For deTour 2023, BIOBASED CREATIONS, a Dutch-based creative studio will present the project 'Craft By Nature' under deTour's International Collaboration category. This large-scale installation will portray a house turned inside out. By walking around the house, visitors will discover furniture and objects that are made of natural materials, such as plants, which are also displayed in the garden section nearby. The project invites all the ponder on the use of biobased materials and the issue of sustainability in favor of environmental protection. Toy creators Nice Geeks will feature a nostalgic look-back to Hong Kong in the 1960s when soft vinyl toys were popular, through their work "CTRL+C/ CTRL+V". This exhibition will reinterpret a new value of toy design by combining artistic elements with traditional soft vinyl toy-making techniques, attempting to revitalise the trend of hand-made toys in this modern era. Lastly, as a reflection of Hong Kong's food culture, where traditional practices and local resources seamlessly blend with innovative creations, designers Lui Ka Chun and Cam Wong will present "Together We AppreciEAT". Together they will share with the visitors Hong Kong's food culture, and the stories behind local foodstuff through a specially designed and decorated dining table and materials. 2. Innovation The application of new technology in traditional craftsmanship not only prolongs the lifecycles of products, but it can also give craft items a new look and feel, new functions and a longer life span while retaining the traditional values. Designers Arthur Cheung, Carolyn Tam, and Yvonne Wong contemplate an environmental issue in their joint project "Future Soil": "Humans cultivate the land for their crops, but what happens when the land becomes...