Colours of Asia by William Harald-Wong

Posted on May 22, 2017 Updated on May 22, 2017

Colours of Asia
William Harald-Wong

‘Colours of Asia’ was the first in a series of studies to examine the idea of ‘Asian-ness’ in the broad field of design—a particular way of thinking and doing, its cultural and spiritual affinities, profound philosophical and aesthetic concepts—that can give multiple meanings and depth to contemporary design.

The research on colours covered 13 Asian countries/regions, exploring significant dimensions of culture such as beliefs and rites of passage that define society, design and the built environment, crafts, food, language and literature, traversing from a rich cultural past to an equally relevant and exciting present day.

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‘Colours of Asia’ was a project undertaken by The Design Alliance Asia in collaboration with Hong Kong Design Institute and Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (Lee Wei Lee), with generous funding from CreateHK, Hong Kong SAR Government.

‘Colours of Asia’ comprised an exhibition, student workshops, forum, seminar, research papers and a publication. It was presented during Hong Kong Year of Design 2012 and in 2014 won the prestigious Special Award for Culture at the Design for Asia Awards in Hong Kong.

Curators: Prof. Ahn Sang-soo (South Korea) and William Harald-Wong (Malaysia)

Research team for Malaysia: Ezrena Marwan, Suzy Sulaiman and William Harald-Wong

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About the Speaker

William Harald-Wong is an urban identity designer, working at the intersection of brand, culture, city and community. William is also the Founder and Chairman of The Design Alliance Asia (tDA Asia), a collaborative network of prominent designers in 13 Asian countries / regions.

He won in the prestigious Design for Asia Awards in Hong Kong twice in a row—2015 Grand Award Finalist and Gold for Museum Sultan Abu Bakar (Malaysia) and 2014 Special Award for Culture for ‘Colours of Asia’.

He was awarded the International Design Achievement Award, China (2010), the Lifetime Achievement Award by DDEC Malaysia (2011), Designomics Leadership Award, India (2012), and Distinguished Chinese Award by Chinese Who’s Who Society, China (2013).

William served as Vice-President of Icograda from 2001 to 2013 and co-founded wREGA, the Graphic Design Association of Malaysia.