In these increasingly eco-aware times, it's not often China gets bathed in a positive light when it comes to environmental issues. Yet one Shanghai-based design collective is setting out to prove
that chic, modern, China-made products can go hand in hand with conscientious business practices.
Trine Targett, owner of home decor and fashion accessory business Jooi Design, is the driving force behind Nest (nestshanghai.com), a group of eight Shanghai-based designers who have formed a retail showcase that celebrates 'design with a conscience'.
The idea of a design collective had been at the back of Targett's mind for a long time. 'I've always thought there was much potential here but not enough great products,' she says. 'Or the people who are making the good products in China are often just exporting them and not selling locally.'
Danish-born Targett moved to the mainland in 1997, with a mission to start her own design company. In 1999 she founded Jooi and was one of the first businesses to move into what was then a rundown 1950s-built former candy factory in Taikang Lu (Tian Zi Fang) district, now an artistic hub. Jooi's collections - among them cashmere and silk pillows, sculptural vase-shaped bags, hand-crocheted silk blankets, suede and leather computer cases - fuse Scandinavian style with subtle Chinese cultural influences, using artisan craftsmanship (silk-yarn embroidery, for example) with materials made on the mainland.
Keen to explore new avenues for her business, Targett talked to several designers about a possible collective, but things really got moving when she hooked up with Americans Rachel Speth and Jeff Delkin, co-founders of Shanghai-based home and kitchenware company bambu.