2005-11-23

Business of Design Week 2005

This is the project that got me fully occupied since mid-Oct:

Nov 20: setting up of booth in progress...

Nov 21: everything in place by 9 am.

The exhibition finally kicked off. Groups of secondary students led by their teachers coming to see what is it all about with design...

We prepared a series of 3 design workshops: [Design to sit] required the students to design a "sittable" structure in an hour with the provided carton paper; [Design to wear] is about designing some wearable apparels or items; not sure what they'll ask the students for [Design to hold]... Anyway, it's about letting these students to gain a 1st-hand experience about designing -- it's much more than drawing a beautiful picture, but also involves problem identification, problem analysis, problem solving and design development...

I also need to train a group of student tour guides who will guide and explain to the students about the different exhibits at the venue so that they would learn how to appreciate good designs. Well, if you just let them wandering by themselves, they'll really "wander" around aimlessly, understand nothing, and learning nothing and leave.

On the other hand, I also need to accompany my boss to explain to the press and media about MyCar. Even TDC Chairman Peter Woo wanted to give this sneak vehicle a try. Because of this event, I compiled and published a booklet to be distributed here within a super-short timeframe -- reminded me of the magazine days...

One thing that got me excited is that one of my MA classmates won the Young Design Talents Award, which is for young HK designers under the age of 30 -- vow! He's so much younger than me!

Pheew! I need to take some rest after tomorrow...

2005-11-19

沒法躲懶的工作

從一些當老師的同學得知,當老師的就只有紅白二事才可以請假。真的,不是甚麼非常情形,實在很難找甚麼籍口將教學的工作推遲。所以就是在近數星期以來忙得連睡覺的時間也幾乎沒有(有兩晚我在零晨時份吃完晚飯,坐在沙發上休息睡著了,誰知一覺醒來已經是黎明了!),也不能不為課堂有充足的準備。難道要二三十個學生看著你「食螺絲」、「打天才波」、或打啊欠嗎?反過來說,若老師看見學生在堂上渴著睡,就只能怪自己教學悶蛋,或想著光罵他們就只會叫整班同學也沒法集中精神上課,還是叫自己不要因他對自己的不尊重而發脾氣吧!不竟他們(的爸媽)是消費者、是顧客,他們付了錢卻自己放棄學習的機會和權利,你也拿他沒辦法...

但當然當老師也有它本身的滿足感:就是當你看見他們沒有怎樣「走堂」,反而越學越有興趣;當你看見他們不錯的作品貼在牆上,一次一次的在進步;當你看見他們下了課還上前來孜孜不倦的問你怎樣可以改進自己的作品,或用心聽著你評論其他同學的作品,希望從中也學得一二時,你便想:「孺子可教也!」

說實的,還有甚麼比看見生命的成長滿足呢?

註:之前在開學那天說過一些對這個學期的期望,到現在為止還沒有落空呀,真安慰!