Design contest buoys up city’s pillar sector

Judges comment on entries during the Zhang Jian Cup International Home Textile Design Competition in July. [DING XIAOCHUN FOR CHINA DAILY]

In 10 years, Zhang Jian Cup has played big role in developing network of Chinese designers, Li Fusheng, Shen Xuemei and Li Tong report.

An annual design competition hosted for the past 10 years in Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu province, is putting the city’s textile industry on the global map.

Since the Zhang Jian Cup International Home Textile Design Competition began in 2005, it has attracted more than 28,000 original entries from China and 16 overseas countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and France.

“Originality is what the organizers want to see at the competition,” said Yang Zhaohua, president of the China Home Textile Association. “When companies invest in research and development, the industry will develop sustainably.”

Ma Dejin, an assistant research fellow at Nantong’s bureau of quality supervision, said the competition has played a big role in building up a network of local designers.

“Small companies did not have designers. The competition has helped local enterprises develop their ability in design over the past years.”

He said more than 40 home textile firms in Nantong are capable of creating their own designs and distinctive styles.

“In the past even some mid-sized and large design studios just made do with shoddy designs to simply meet market demands. They did not have their own features,” Ma said.

He said many of them have developed their style and niche in the market, citing the brands such as Luolai Home Textile Co and Violet Home Textile Co, two frequent winners at Nantong’s design competition.

Ma said their participation in the contest has helped their designers progress and also has allowed the two companies gain a better brand reputation in Chinese and international markets.

“Now these companies each invest more than 10 million yuan ($1.61 million) in design.”

The competition is helping turn their designs into products. Each year, prize-winning entries will be displayed at two major home textile markets in Nantong and introduced to local and overseas purchasers.

The competition also offers a platform for local design students. Since 2006, Jiangsu College of Engineering and Technology has been organizing students to submit entries to the competition.

Though not as experienced as professional designers, the students are more likely to think out of the box, said Qian Xuemei, a teacher at the college.

“A student who recently won silver at the contest has gone on to set up his own design studio,” Qian said. “The contest is a good platform for design students to improve their skills. Meanwhile, the industry can pick out designers with great potential.”

He Feng, vice-secretary general of the China Home Textile Association, said that because many designers in Nantong have submitted entries to the competition when they were students, companies within the city have offered them jobs after seeing their works.

“Thus they gradually became professional designers.”

Companies within the city make it a priority to work with local research institutes and universities, offering practical examples for academic studies. Researchers then provide theoretical solutions and research results on the industry’s development trends, said Nantong officials.

Liu Peng, deputy head of the Nantong quality supervision bureau, said the government will make greater efforts to improve the region’s textile industry, a key industry in Nantong’s Made in China 2025 strategy it released earlier this year.

Liu said the government will help establish three to five brands. The hope is that each company can generate sales revenue of 2 billion yuan to 5 billion yuan annually.

Nantong is home to more than 1,500 home textile companies, with 50 of them each generating 100 million yuan in sales revenue.

Contact the writers through lifusheng@chinadaily.com.cn