Ms Whitty, from Massey’s College of Creative Arts, is there with 12 design students visiting Xi’an Polytechnic University, one of China’s most highly rated fashion universities, as well as China’s top ranked Tsinghua University to see students’ approach to sustainable fashion.
“As the factory of the world, as the world’s largest producer, every change in China has ramifications for the world,” Ms Whitty says.
“China wants to be sustainable as the country is at the coal face of confronting problems such as pollution; there is pressing urgency to adjust industry practices in China.”
The group has also traveled to Qianyang, Fengxiang and Hu counties to examine Chinese handcrafts and art, and investigated the principles of slow design, [which promotes the slowing of the fashion design process for more environmentally sustainable results], in a Chinese context.
Second year Visual Communication Design student Maggie Meiklejohn said the programme provided all kinds of insights. "It’s great being able to see Chinese students’ perspectives in relation to things we are interested in, such as their approach to sustainable clothing.”
Third-year honours student Tom Pringle who is majoring in industrial design was struck by the similarities in thinking with his Chinese counterparts, “The language barrier has been a challenge but this has opened the door for me to use creative problem solving to convey my ideas across. It really makes you understand the core of your idea or concept when you have to explain it to someone with limited English.”
The programme, which continues in Shanghai this week at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, is partially funded by Education New Zealand’s contestable Prime Minister’s Scholarships for Asia fund.
International advisor at the College of Creative Arts, Tim, Croft, says the programme fulfills Massey’s goals of internationalizing its student body, while raising the University’s profile in China and introducing China to the New Zealand way of problem solving.Read more at:long prom dresses | vintage evening dresses