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Kandy Wong

Hongkonger Chelsia Lau shines in a male-dominated arena
It was not common for a Hong Kong  woman to  choose design as a career 20 years ago, especially  car design.   Parents at that time were more likely to oppose such a move, believing    in the old notion that artists  only earn money after  their death.
Chelsia Lau, the chief designer at  United States  carmaking giant Ford Motor, was one of the rare Hongkongers who went against the flow.  Now, looking back,  she credits the support of her family for getting where she is today.
'I still can't figure out how brave my parents were  for letting me  have my way,' she said.
Ms Lau finished her studies at Lee Wai Lee Technical Institute of Hong Kong in 1987. She then studied  at the Art Centre College of Design in Pasadena, California for almost four years  before joining Ford Design after  doing her internship there.
Energetic and voluble,  Ms Lau says with car design it was love at first sight.
She does not  tire  of demonstrating how creative arts can stimulate economic growth.
'When I first saw the auto design sketches of the students [in the US], I was deeply attracted by the unrestrained streamlining of the vehicles.  I fell in love with that.'
That connection   has fuelled her passion for the industry ever since.
Ms Lau describes herself as 'an Oriental female' who has to compete with males in the western workplace. Twenty years on,  females are still a minority  in the  car design industry.  For all that  she still  considers herself a traditional Hong Kong Chinese who has adopted some western culture.
Now married, Ms Lau  moved  to  the mainland in January and is based in Shanghai, where she is  the chief designer of Ford China and Asean. The US carmaking giant  is experiencing  sluggish sales in its  home  market  and relies on the mainland vehicle market for  growth.
Ms Lau  was named the 2006 World's Outstanding Chinese Designer and AutoWeek Magazine's 'One of the Top Ten Secret People Who Will Change Your World'.
She received the Brazilian Automotive Press Best Sport-Utility Award in 2004.
Among her previous design programmes were the Ford Explorer (2006), Explorer SportTrac concept (2005), the Ford EcoSport small-sized  sport-utility vehicle for South America,  the Ford FC5 (1999), a fuel cell concept that debuted at the Frankfurt International Car Show; and the Mercury MC4 concept (1997) that debuted at the North American International Car Show.
Her current programme includes localising the design  of the new Fiesta for the  mainland market and other Ford global products.
Why were your parents so open-minded about letting you start your career as a designer 20 years ago?
My parents  treated their children like partners. They ran a restaurant to earn a living for the whole family. Since I was small, we have  been watching  each other's backs  in  running the family business.
I've been deeply influenced  by my mother. She is a swimmer and jogger. Her perseverance always inspires me. Every time  I felt weak in the past, I would  remember what my mother had taught me: to be focused.
Car design is regarded as a male-dominated arena. Has  that notion changed?
Twenty years ago, there  were only five to  six girls  in a class  of 20 students. Some of the time, there  were only one or two. I didn't feel every minute that  I was part of the group.
But I  had to emphasise that women have their uniqueness for  car design because we are more sophisticated  in embracing  in-depth considerations, such as the texture of raw materials pertaining to the overall design.
You mentioned  you  had encountered difficulties working in a foreign place while building your career. What exactly  were they?
I'm an Oriental female. Well, this is not a language problem. But it is the problem of tuning in the mindset. I  am a traditional Chinese female, which means  I have been trained to be more introverted and  taught strictly to respect seniors.
Later on, I found  that  to survive in the 'western world', I  had to speak  up on my ideas. Someday,  other people will realise your ability and talent.
Even  today, when I  present my ideas  to a few hundred people in a meeting room, some  of them  ask me [how old I am] because westerners can't   tell how old a Chinese is by  just looking at our faces.
They  think that I'm too young to handle the huge projects. But I have already adapted to the communication  gap with non-Chinese.
You said there is high a turnover rate for female  car designers.  Is the new generation  giving up easily?
I won't comment on the others. But one thing is, I'm a survivor. I like to move forward and the way to do that is to forget all the unhappy small  events in the past. I'm stronger in facing  many challenges now.
How  would you describe  yourself as a fusion of  Oriental and western cultures?
I know how to express and share good ideas  now. But  I  continue to keep traditional Chinese thinking.
As a leader in a corporation, how do you express your personality to your teammates?
I'm a boss who likes to highlight the strengths of a  diverse staff. Also, I have to balance their weaknesses and merits. I  show my appreciation in appropriate times. This is a very different work style  for Asians. I have to emphasise that to show appreciation is very important.  It is not  hypocrisy. But I express some emotions from my heart.
Do you  make female candidates  your priority  when you hire  staff?
Talent and work ability should be the priority, instead of gender. As you know, to train  somebody is an investment.
Don't you think design and business  contradict each other?
No, they don't. In order to design something, a designer should think from the consumers' perspective. 'The consumer layer' is very important throughout the process. We have to put our feet in the other's shoes.
For  car designing, normally speaking, we'll explore a few different designs and put them in the market for data collection.
Meanwhile, we need to match our designs to engineering problems, such as how  a particular design affects the ventilation and mechanics of a vehicle.
We refine the model until all the conditions match  and have a large-scale launch. Do you need to compromise a lot when you pitch your designs for a vehicle?
Every time  I  handle a new project, I need to deal with up to 1,000 people. Indeed, the ratio  of designers  to engineers is always not balanced. Courage is important  in standing firm.
Let me give you an example. When  we designers think of a vehicle roof line,  we  want to make it look lively. But  engineers  would like to  see whether there is enough space for the driver's head. For me, this kind of discussion is not meant to seek a compromise but to seek a balance.
Now, having gained more experience  I understand that different  teams have different perspectives. This is nothing personal,  we must just understand each other for the sake of the business.
The mainland vehicle industry is changing fast.  Is the country  far  from having its own quality brands and exporting them?
More time  is needed  to polish  a mature mainland vehicle brand. But there  is a passion  to do that  in the country.
Is the mainland vehicle market lacking in  talent  to build  a reputable brand in a short time?
In fact, building up a brand takes a long time.
Don't you think  the mainland is undergoing very rapid changes?
Creativity and speed are just like explosions in China. The mainland's advantage  is that it is a developing country. It has huge scope to explore new developments as its infrastructure is not that comprehensive.
In terms of design, are changes in on the mainland  also like an explosion?
There are changes  about every  two years. The Chinese people are demanding  new designs. They like to have good-looking exteriors.
Mainland consumers also talk about what kind of materials are used for the interior. They don't like plastic or leather too much. They like grand designs with harmonious colours.
How do you see the current American  car market?
Well, in a bad economic situation,  the vehicle and property sectors  are the first to be affected. Other sectors  sense the worsening environment slower.
Do you expect the shaky external environment to affect your job?
We can't consider too much in this kind of situation. What I can do now is to focus on my work, especially my job in China.



Ford design chief breaks gender, culture barriers