the creative team
design & research
Photograph by Ben Reich
Khải's creative team came together through
a series of shared connections
Dr Marta Gasparin from the University of Leicester, Claire Driscoll co-founder of the Hanoi-based collaborative art space and design studio, Work Room Four and Thảo VÅ© founder and lead designer of the sustainable Vietnamese fashion brand Kilomet 109 first collaborated during a project in partnership with VIRI (Vietnam Institute for Rural Industries) created by The British Council as part of the Crafting Futures programme on the training of young entrepreneurs working with ethnic slow design, this project led to them coming together to investigate the emotional state of Vietnam as a changing country through the research led by Dr Marta Gasparin for the London Design Biennale 2018. Having previously worked with Giang Nguyá»…n on previous exhibitions and with a great interest in his typographic work, as curator, Driscoll approached him in relation to the Biennale project, alongside visual mapping artist Lê Thanh Tùng whose work often investigates placing the cultural heritage symbolism into multimedia genres.
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Dr Gasparin’s research combined with Thảo VÅ©’s design process, eco-activism and social entrepreneurship provided the lead narrative to inform the creation of the components of ‘Khải’ installation and led to the typography created for the installation by Nguyá»…n and the visual mapping of the processes and stories by Lê. Khải is the result of all of their shared interest in the state of creative practices, design and innovation in Vietnam.
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