IMAGINATION and innovation were on show in abundance at the Swire School of Design Graduation Show 1993, held recently at the Hongkong Polytechnic. The yearly event gives the public and prospective employers an opportunity to look at the work of graduating students of the design school. The school offers five full-time degree courses and five part-time evening Higher Certificate courses. The arresting exhibits ranged over a wide spectrum in the design field, from fashion, industrial, graphic, interior, jewellery, two-and three-dimensional design to illustration and photography. Fashion Design students focused largely on women's wear and woven fabrics. Their designs were seen in May this year at the well-received School's Graduation Fashion Show, held at the Grand Hyatt. Photographic Design graduates showed a professional feel for their art, producing striking samples of documentary, promotional and fashion photography, as well computer-generated photography. Industrial Design exhibits covered designs for children's play and exercise areas, medical equipment, learning aids for the disabled and fire services equipment. Highly imaginative advertising, illustration and information graphics came from the Graphic Design graduates, who also showed a keen awareness of social issues. Interior Design graduates showed impressive skills in computer-aided design technology, coming up with furniture designs and site conversion projects. Interior Design graduate Paddy Lam Poon-kwan said he spent three-and-a-half months on his project, ''Conversion of Victoria Community Centre into Hongkong Arts Resource and Information Centre''. ''I spent a lot of time collecting information before actually starting work,'' Paddy, 27, said. ''Then I worked out a proposed site and drafted the technical drawings.'' In Paddy's spacial zoning design, he used plenty of natural materials such as wooden flooring, sand stone and fire brick. Lighting played an important part in creating atmosphere. The Year 3 Interior Design student said he still had ''a long way to go in this field, where new ideas are constantly coming up''. ''One has to keep up with developments, and you don't find these in textbooks alone.'' Also on display were prize-winning entries for the IKEA Interior Design Award, the Winsor and Newton Awards, the Waly Interior Design Prize and the LIWACO Toy Design Competition. Lam Wai-keung, a Year 1 Interior Design student, won the IKEA Interior Design Award in the IKEA ''Mix and Match'' competition. The 23-year-old received a travelling scholarship to Sweden for two weeks, where he would meet experts in interior design and get practical training. ''I tried to break with the traditional type of interior design. One of my ideas was designing a spaceship-like bedroom for an eight-year-old boy,'' he said.
