Fame at Thirty, Three Hundred Awards - Professional Designer Kan Tai Keung

"I have been designing stamps for the Hong Kong Post Office since 1969. In the history of Hong Kong postage stamps, I have made much contribution, especially the Chinese horoscope ones. In Hong Kong's first horoscope series, I designed five out of the twelve years. In the second series, one designer was appointed to design the entire series, and I won the appointment. The last one of the horoscope stamps appeared in 1988."

"There are also several other awards which must be mentioned. I designed many company logos. The one with the largest impact must be for the Bank of China in 1980. It is displayed in over ten thousand locations across the country, in streets and alleys in Hong Kong, and in branch offices in other countries. The logo has won a lot of praise, and some people consider it to be the best company logo in China in recent times. It has also won many awards in international circles, including the American CA award, which chooses three hundred odd winners from over tens of thousand entries."

"For packaging design I worked on the hundred year old Two Girls brand, successfully giving it a new image, and it won many international awards."

"The cultural posters which I designed was also praised, especially the ones from 1980 to 1990 which featured a strong Chinese cultural identity with a personal style. Recently there was a series using Chinese characters to express emotions which was also awarded a CA award."

"Last year, I had a series of posters for watches which were created on computer. The posters were awarded overall first prize in the First Biannual Poland International Computer Arts Exhibition. I was very touched, and even went to Poland to collect the prize."

A Witness to the Development of Modern Design

"Hong Kong's development in modern design can be considered a miracle. Our generation had no proper training in design, but yet is able to reach international standards in twenty, thirty years time and carve a reputation for itself. This is definitely not easy."

"The rise of modern design can be traced to the Industrial Revolution of the last century, and is at least a hundred years old. We started off slower than others, but in terms of Asia Pacific standards, we are only second to Japan."

"Talking about development, I think China has very high potential. China has opened its doors for fifteen years, and modern design in China has also been developing for about fifteen years. Within this short time, China has produced designers of very high standards. On a proportional basis, China's pace is even faster than Hong Kong's. In the 21st century, the strength of the Chinese people's design talents could very well with China. If the new generation of Hong Kong designers doesn't work hard, they would certainly be surpassed by their counterparts in China."

Early in his career, Kan has involved himself in the education of the next generation of designers. At first, Kan established a design school with a friend. Later, he taught design at the evening classes of the Polytechnic. In 1980, seeing that there were not enough places for design students at the Polytechnic, he founded the "Ching Ying Design School" with a friend. In spite of his busy schedule, Kan still teaches the graduating students of each year. In addition, Kan is the author of many books on design. Still, he is concerned with Hong Kong's design education.

"I believe that to develop design education, we should start from the foundations. Hong Kong is still lagging behind in the education of the arts, and this situation is far from ideal. The society in general pays little attention, nor they appreciate the arts. This has led to a general deficiency in art education." "The introduction of computers inevitably revolutionized in the field. Although it is a great design tool, and is able to open the doors to greater visual possibilities, design is still design, and there are fundamental requirements to be met."

Design and Printing Goes Hand in Hand

"It is very important that design work is co-ordinated with the printing process. Even if the design is brilliant and meets customer needs, it would still be wasted if the design cannot be executed. I see two rather large problems in the Hong Kong printing industry: the quality of the printing and the attitude towards technically challenging designs."

"In Hong Kong, not many printers can give us satisfactory results, so it is essential to find a suitable printer to work with. I hope that Hong Kong's printing technicians would continue to improve their skills. Money can buy the best machinery, but it is still the technician who operates them."

"Work attitude is very important. In Japan what impressed me was that they regard work as more than work, it is an art to them. They are involved, are not afraid of troubles and challenges, and strive for perfection. This attitude is seldom seen in Hong Kong. This could be due to the Japanese culture, which view many facets of life as an art form, such as kindo, the tea ceremony. Actually these traditions are learnt from the Chinese, but the Japanese are able to do them better."

A Wish

"I hope we can continue to develop China's design industry, for example in promoting academic exchanges, and to strengthen the ties between Chinese and the global design communities."

"I hope China can produce a truly authoritative, globally important design journal to communicate the world's design news to China, and to show the best of China to the world. This will be a bridge to increase interaction, and will help raise the standards of China design to international levels."