Shenzhen’s creative hub targets APEC to showcase traditional crafts
As Shenzhen prepares to host the APEC summit, its creative industries—accounting for about 8 per cent of GDP—are spotlighted. The OCT-LOFT creative park houses nearly 300 tenants. Designers and artists say Shenzhen’s efficient ecosystem helps turn concepts into works, with hopes to use APEC to promo
Shenzhen, which will host the upcoming APEC summit, has been hailed as “China’s design capital”. The city’s cultural and creative industries are one of its four pillar sectors, contributing about 8 per cent of its gross domestic product, according to industry figures.
The OCT-LOFT Creative Park in the Nanshan district is a major cultural landmark in the Greater Bay Area. It houses nearly 300 organisations covering contemporary art, crafts and design. The park was redeveloped from the former OCT East Industrial Zone, an industrial area from the 1980s and 1990s that fell into disuse. It officially opened as a creative park in 2006 and now holds a creative market on the first and third weekends of each month.
One tenant, Shenzhen design firm Fuxi Culture, has set up an exhibition in its studio. The studio’s designer and manager Zhou Xin said she hoped the APEC international platform would help more people learn about traditional Chinese intangible cultural heritage crafts. She cited Guangxi Zhuang brocade, one of China’s four famous brocades, saying its fabric quality is excellent but not widely known. The studio’s space incorporates traditional Chinese garden imagery into modern architecture. Designer Pang Meifu said the aim was to create a “paradise in the city” where visitors can have an immersive experience of Chinese culture.
Hong Kong copperplate artist Hong Shiya also runs a studio in the park. She said creative industries are not simply about printing patterns on objects but require emotional resonance. She described Shenzhen’s fast pace and efficient, comprehensive creative-industry support, including 24-hour print shops that can quickly turn concepts into finished works.
Park market manager Jian Lingdan said the site retains the character of the old factory buildings, providing artists with “blank space” for creativity. She said the park regularly holds cultural activities and builds exchange platforms, and welcomed more Hong Kong creative workers to experience Shenzhen’s creative vitality.