CHINA and the Netherlands are focused on cooperating in innovative and creative industries. Symbolized by West Lake and a Dutch tulip, the two-day 2012 Sino-Dutch Forum on Cultural and Creative Industry opened yesterday in Hangzhou.

The forum aims to promote the culture of design and innovation and stimulate cross-cultural exchange between the two countries. More than 200 people attended the event yesterday, including officials from Hangzhou government, the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Shanghai, designers from both countries and journalists.

"It's a milestone for the cooperation by both sides and a new start for future cooperation," Wei Haoben, executive deputy minister of the Publicity Department of the CPC Hangzhou Municipal Committee, told the forum.

Hangzhou, which was the site of civilization 8,000 years ago, is trying to develop itself into a national city of culture and creativity by boosting creative industry. To achieve the target, Hangzhou has introduced many design organizations from Germany and the Netherlands and plans to export its own culture products to overseas markets through natural beauty like West Lake and great cultural background, Wei said.

For example, Hangzhou-based INNOVO is a product design workshop that designs simple sustainable products expressing Chinese culture and environmental protection. From 2005 to 2012, INNOVO won 17 international awards and participated in seven top-level international exhibitions.

In 2011, Hangzhou's culture and creative industry output reached 84.3 billion yuan (US$13.4 billion), accounting for 12 percent of the city's GDP, which makes it the city's pillar industry.

Huub Buise, deputy consul general of the Netherlands in Shanghai, called the forum the latest demonstration of the growing relationship between two countries and a sign of future cooperation.

China and the Netherlands recently celebrated 40 years of diplomatic relations. Forty years ago, Sino-Dutch trade volume accounted for only 0.1 percent of Holland's total trade. That figure has jumped to around 10 percent now, which represents an enormous growing relationship between the two nations. Just like Hangzhou, the Netherlands has 10 key sectors, and creative and innovative industry is the "pillar industry" among them.

Many Dutch firms and designers have established businesses in China and in Hangzhou, creating jobs and stimulating cooperation, according to Buise. For example, MVRDV, founded in 1993 in Rotterdam, has won the international competition for design of the China Comic and Animation Museum in Hangzhou.

Design in architecture, medicine, electronics and other sectors has great potential in China, offering great market opportunities to Dutch designers. For example, Dutch architects and urban planners have created landmarks in China such as the CCTV Tower in Beijing, according to Giel Groothuis, director of Dutch Design Workspace.

The platform for cooperation between designers from the two countries has been established with event such as Pecha Kucha Night in Shanghai, attracting 300 designers, Groothuis said.

Besides national-level cooperation, Hangzhou is also in the process of becoming a sister city with The Hague in the Netherlands.

The two-day forum was organized by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Shanghai, Hangzhou Office of Cultural and Creative Industry, Dutch Design Workspace, Shanghai Daily, Publicity Department of Gongshu District of Hangzhou, Innovation Power Association, Hangzhou Association of Cultural and Creative Industry and Hangzhou Information Office.


Award-winning designs from paper-mache chairs to 'thought bubble' buildings

? Paper-Mache Chair designed by Hangzhou INNOVO Co
This paper-mache chair evokes techniques associated with traditional Chinese paper umbrellas. It is made by gluing layers and layers of thin rice paper onto a wooden base until it is shaped like a chair. The chair has the texture of natural paper and strong enough to support the weight of an adult. It is also shaped to comfortably support the body. The chair is one piece of a "Future Tradition" set, which includes a bamboo lamp and paper-mache lamp. The set won the Salone Satellite Design Report Award in Milan Design Week 2011.

? Interior of Stuttgart City Library in Germany designed by Dutch TOTEMS Co
The cavernous white library is considered one of the beautiful libraries in the world. The white walls and decor are neutral and unobtrusive: the books and visitors provide the color. The interior design resembles the plain, geometric and well-structured concept of the exterior. Special pieces of furniture include movable cubes in book shelves and large cushions that appear to be made of cobblestones. All furnishing elements match the light gray tone of all the other architectural and technical surfaces of the building.

? Dutch Design Chair by Five Spices
The box-like cardboard chair can also be converted to a desk. It was designed especially to furnish a "Holland Lounge" in the Business of Design Week 2009 in Hong Kong. The fun furniture is easily assembled and dismantled, reinforcing the concept of recycling. Around 500 cardboard chairs were used during the Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture.

? Hubin International Boutique Compound designed by Zhejiang Southern Architecture Design Ltd
The Hangzhou high-end shopping compound near West Lake is a business street featuring more than 30 famous global brands, such as Dolce&Gabbana, Giorgio Armani and Hermes. The landscape design makes the street ideal for walking because of natural greenery "crisscrossing" sleek ivory and black buildings. Tall spaces are coupled with gray stones in a pedestrian walkway and in the evening a warm illumination makes the greenery shimmer.

? "Flow" Film Commercial of BMW/Mini car by Dutch BSUR Co
The "flow" commercial demonstrates the versatility of the Mini Countryman by showing every way one can get to a destination, all at once. With many small stories along the way, the Mini splits from one to two parts and even into 100 pieces but eventually reaches its destination, reassembling into one piece. Amsterdam-and-Shanghai-based BSUR is Mini's lead global creative agency. In 2011 the commercial won first prize of the 2011 NYF Advertising Awards.

? China Comics and Animation Museum Designed by Dutch MVRDV Co
The fantastical and whimsical museum in Hangzhou is composed of eight balloon-shaped volumes - "thought balloons" or "word balloons" used in comics. The design creates an internally complex experience measuring 30,000 square meters. It's part of a larger master plan that will include parks, a public plaza and an exposition center. MVRDV architecture and urban design practice has housing projects in progress or on site in Austria, China, France, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries.