Katsumi Asaba

Art Director of Asaba-Design

Born in 1940 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Katsumi Asaba founded his design studio in 1975, after studying at the Kuwasawa Design School and working at Light Publicity Co., Ltd. Asaba has a particular interest in the rich cultural heritage of writing in Asia and in exploring the relationships between written and visual expression. Representative works include the direction of popular advertising campaigns for Suntory: Yume Kaido, Seibu Department Stores: Oishii Seikatsu, and Misawa Homes: Misawa Design 2009 Bauhaus, and the official poster for the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano.

He is a committee member of the Tokyo Art Directors Club, the chairman of the Tokyo Type Directors Club, the president of Japan Graphic Designers Association (JAGDA), and the representative of Japan to the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI). He is a visiting professor at Tokyo Zokei University and Kyoto Seika University, and the 10th president of Kuwasawa Design School. He is also a councilor of the Japan Table Tennis Association and is ranked at the sixth level in the sport. He has received many awards, including the Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, the Yusaku Kamekura Design Award of JAGDA and in the spring of 2013, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette from the Government of Japan for his contributions to culture and the arts.

Jianping He

Creative Director of Hesign

Jianping He was born in 1973, China. He is now living in Berlin, working as a graphic designer, professor and publisher.

He studied graphic design at the China Academy of Art (1991-1994), Meisterschule of Fine Arts in Berlin University of Arts (1997-2001) and had his PhD. of cultural history in Frei University of Berlin in 2011. He has been teaching in Berlin University of the Arts, employed as a guest professor by Hong Kong Polytechnic University and China Academy of Arts in Hangzhou, and also as the doctoral supervisor of China Academy of Arts. In 2002, he established his own design studio and publishing house, hesign, based in Berlin with the other branch in Hangzhou since 2008.

His works have been globally awarded. Gold prize, Silver prize at International Poster Biennial in Warsaw (2012, 2001, 2010); Gold prize at the International poster Triennial in Toyama, Japan(2012); Silver medal at the 2nd Ningbo International Poster Biennial (2001); Silver (2008) and Bronze prize (2010, 2011) in ADC New York ; First Prize at the Lahti International Poster Biennial in Finland (2005); Silver prize in International Poster Triennial Hong Kong (2004, 2010); the Golden Bee 7 – Moscow International Biennial of Graphic Design (2006); Award for Typographic Excellence TDC New York in USA and TDC Tokyo in Japan (2007-2010); Silver medal at the International Poster Biennial in Mexico (2010); Bronze medal of HKDA Hong Kong (2009). In 2006, he received the Poster Art Yard in Rüttenscheid prize in Essen, Germany. His solo exhibitions have taken place in Germany, Malaysia, Ljubljana Slovenia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Nanjing China and Japan.

His artworks are collected at many art collection organizations, such as Victoria and Albert Museum of the United Kingdom, Museum Folkwang of Germany, Berlin Art Library, Cooper Hewwitt National Design Museum of the United State, the Museum of Design Zurich, Friedrich Ebert Presidential Foundation, Museum of Applied Arts and Crafts in Germany Hamburg, the National Museum of Berlin, the Deutsches Museum Munich, the Essen Poster Museum of Germany, the OGAKI Poster Museum of Japan, the Museum of Modern Art Toyama, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, the Taiwan Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, the Israel National Museum, the Warsaw National Museum, the Poznaniu National Museum, the Lahti Art Museum, French national library, Centre Georges Pompidou, and the National Library of France.

He was elected as a member of the examination panel for the Master Level diploma in school of design ESAG Penninghen, Paris. He has also taken on being an international judge, judging such competition such as 100 Best Posters of the Year – Germany Austria Switzerland, the International Biennale of Theatre Posters – Rzeszow, the International Poster Biennial in Warsaw, the Ningbo International Poster Biennial, the red dot design award, the International Poster Triennial in Toyama,the Hong Kong International Poster Triennial, the Design for Asia Award in Hong Kong, and the Macao Design Biennale and many more. He is also a member of the AGI.

Fons Matthias Hickmann

Director of FONS HICKMANN M23

Fons Hickmann is a graphic designer, author, and Design professor at the Berlin University of the Arts. He founded the Berlin-based Fons Hickmann m23 design studio in 2001. This studio wields significant, international stylistic influence, has earned countless distinctions, and numbers among the most influential hubs of contemporary design. The Studio won more than 200 international design awards. Hickmann holds lectures, workshops and exhibitions around the globe. He is a member of the TDC New York and the Alliance Graphique International (AGI). Fons Hickmann is increasingly turning towards publishing specialist literature on topics ranging from design to soccer.

Mann Lao

Creative Director of Chiii Design Ltd

The founder of Chiii Design Ltd., a new generation of branding designer in Macau. In his early stage of career, he worked in several advertising agencies like Grey Worldwide in Shanghai and Leo Burnett, involving in the production of numerous large-scale, international commercials. Afterwards, he was invited to work in other regions like Portugal on a variety of designs for commercial brands and cultural projects.

Returning to Macau in 2011, he has become a branding design lecturer at the Macao Polytechnic Institute. In 2012, he created Chiii Design with Nono Leong Chi Hang, focusing on brand image and cultural design.

Specialised in integrating commercial elements with arts and culture, Chiii Design provides consultancy services on branding and design with a particular focus in fields of brand image, packaging and advertising design. It is one of the few design teams that has presence in the markets of Hong Kong, Mainland China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and South East Asia at the same time.

The masterpieces of Chiii Design have won more than 200 awards in exhibitions of over 10 countries and regions, including the International Poster Biennial in Mexico; the Biennial of Poster Bolivia (BICeBe); the International Poster and Graphic Design Festival in Chaumont of France; Golden Bee – Moscow International Biennial of Graphic Design; the International Lahti Poster Triennial; the One Show in the United States; the China International Poster Biennial; the Hong Kong International Poster Triennial; Hong Kong Designers Association’s Global Design Competition; GDC – Graphic Design in China; and the Macau Design Biennial.

Sabrina Ho

Managing Director of Chiu Yeng Culture Limited

Sabrina had lived and studied in United Kingdom for many years, she is a young entrepreneur and holds a Bachelor of Art Degree from the University of Hong Kong. She is the Founder and the Managing Director of Chiu Yeng Culture, the Director and Chief Executive Officer of Poly Auction Macau Limited. She is the Project Managers of the upcoming hotels that are to be built in Macau – the Palazzo Versace and Karl Lagerfeld Hotel, while managing and operating two boutique hotels of the family business in Hong Kong and Macau. She actively organises various types of arts and cultural activities, and promoting the development of Asian arts and culture, at the same time developing young artists from different sectors.

She believes that culture transcends generations and national borders and brings inspiration and hope. She is keen to promoting the integration of arts into daily life and look forward to further collaborations to contribute to the broader community to strengthen the foundation of urban culture, and promote arts and cultural development.

She has a great influence in the Chinese art market and has been crowned as the 17th of the 2015 Top 100 Most Influential People of Chinese Art Market in the world. In April 2016, she has been invited to be one of the featured speakers at the 19th Annual Harvard China Forum and at the same month, she was named as one of the potential Asia’s Power Businesswomen in the year to come in Forbes Asia.