Online retailer hopes to change how the world perceives 'Made in China'
Shanghai-based e-tailer Bundshop.com, with its growing ensemble of talent, is on a mission to change perceptions of mainland products
There's just a small note of irony in the tag line for new Shanghai-based e-tailer Bundshop.com, which proudly states: "Made in China is dead, designed in China killed it".
What the people behind the thriving months-old design entity are trying to convey is that China is not just a place that turns out merchandise designed in other countries but that, more and more, it's turning into a genuine hot spot of design.
Stephany Zoo, US born and raised but with family links in China, including Hong Kong, wanted to live and work in Shanghai doing something that appealed to her love of branding and marketing.
"I started to think about where Chinese design was, did the culture of it exist, and what can we do for it?" says Zoo, the company's marketing director.
Runaway sellers so far include vintage wine bottles sourced locally and turned into lamps, and sandalwood fans whose silhouette evoke the Shanghai skyline. While the design aesthetic throughout is rooted in Chinese tradition, the designers who are part of the Bundshop fold lend a sophisticated gloss: the Double Happiness cups used in Chinese wedding ceremonies are here rendered from fine white clay from the mountains of Jingdezhen - known for being the centre for Chinese porcelain - in Jiangxi province, the character for Double Happiness stamp-carved in red glaze on cups presented on a sleek tray.