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Mr. Alessandro Ciarpella has practiced his profession mainly as a partner in the GAP AA, developed over twenty years experience in Italy and abroad. The main professional fields who was carried out are the Architectural design and coordination of project activities related to public and private clients, as well as the project and construction management and coordination of the connected operational activities.

Alessandro undertook teaching and research work and gave lectures on the Interior Design as well as Architectural and Urban Design at the "La Sapienza" University of Rome. Also he was teaching as professor for the Italian National Institute of Architecture Master in Architectural Design Digital Architecture.

Degree in Architecture from the “La Sapienza” University of Rome

“Jordan + Bateman Architects Ltd. London UK”, 1993 - 94

Registered with the Professional Association of Architects of Rome.

In 1998 he joined the studio "GAP Associated Architects"

Consultant to “EUROPAN_ITALIA” and a member of the Italian Experts Commission for “Europan 8”.

From 2015 he's in charge for developing the market in the Asia Pacific Region for GAP AA

On what good design means to him, Ciarpella says, “Design is all around us. I believe design and function must have a very strict connection. Otherwise it is a piece of art done by an artist while design, industrial design, has to be useful and comfortable.” The most important aspect of design and architecture for Ciarpella is the genius loci which means the spirit of the place in Latin. The term relates to the distinctive atmosphere or ambience of the place, emphasising the importance he places on detail. Ciarpella believes that design and architecture coexist, highlighting the significance of being able to design a piece of furniture as well as the overall master plan of a building. He goes on to say, “In Italy, the most famous architects start as artists before and then, when they become architects, they still do paintings and sculptures.”

ALESSANDRO CIARPELLA

Architect, Founder & Director

Mr. Cameron Woo, the founder of Cameron Woo Design (CWD), is celebrated as one of the world’s top interior designers. His firm has been featured in the interior design bible, Andrew Martin Interior Design Review, the Oscars of the interior design world, and has won multiple awards from the International Property Awards, London for World’s Best Interior Design, Asia Pacific’s Best Interior Design and for Singapore.

CWD’s clientele includes many of the world’s leading property developers such as Kerry Properties, Swire Properties, Capitaland Residential, Ho Bee Group, VIG and Mulpha International.

Cameron Woo has been invited to speak at international interior design conferences such as 100% Design, China International Interior Design Cultural Festival, Housing Industry Association of Australia, One to One with World Class Designers in Bangkok and Hong Kong International Lighting Fair. CWD has collaborated with some of the world’s largest consumer and prestige brands such as Dulux, AkzoNobel, Louis Vuitton and Philips Lighting.

Cameron Woo is a panelist on Akzonobel’s Colour Futures and is a regular guest judge and mentor on the hit international interior design reality television show The Apartment TV, (Season 5 & 6) with 11 million viewers in SEA alone. Cameron is currently the President of the Interior Design Confederation Singapore from 2018-2019.

CAMERON WOO

Interior Designer | President

Casey Hyun is an international multi-award-winning designer/strategist, business consultant and futurist. He has over 25 years of experience in the automotive and tech sectors including Panasonic, Audi, Ford, GM, Hyundai and most recently Google Uber where he was integral in the development of autonomous and future mobility technology.

With extensive experiences with top global corporations, his knowledge and professional network are unmatched. Since 2010, multiple numbers of Casey Hyun’s automotive designs have been globally awarded for their design excellence. Casey Hyun has covered a number of interviews and articles for global magazines and news around the world.

CASEY HYUN

Product Designer | Professor

Arc. Chris Yap Seng Chye is the Principal of Chris Yap Architect Firm. He is also the President of The Asia-Pacific Space Designers Association (APSDA) and Malaysian Institute of Interior Designers.

The Asia-Pacific Space Designers Association (APSDA) is a gathering of national level design associations from the Asia and Oceania region. The Association inspires to nurture a better understanding of the different Asia Pacific regional cultures and encourage the exchange of Interior Design information and knowledge between its members for the advancement of this field to benefit regional societies at large.

In 2015, it was agreed by the Protem Committee for APSDA to be renamed as the “Asia-Pacific Space Designers Association”, and theformal approval of APSDA’s registration was obtained on 23rd January 2017 from the Registry of Societies in Malaysia.

In the approval, 8 national Asia-Pacific Interior Design bodies were officially registered as Founder Full Members of APSDA. They are:

• Chinese Society of Interior Designers (Taiwan) (CSID)• Design Institute of Australia (DIA)• Himpunan Desainer Interior Indonesia (HDII)• Institute of Indian Interior Designers (IIID)• Japan Commercial Environmental Design Association (JCD)• Malaysian Insitute of Interior Designers (MIID)• Philippine Institute of Interior Designers (PIID)• Thailand Interior Designers Association (TIDA)

The recently formed Asia Pacific Space Designers Alliance (APSDA) aims to expand its member base from the current 20,540 members across eight member countries — Malaysia, China, Australia, Indonesia, India, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand. We want to rope in more national interior design bodies across the Asia-Pacific region to enlarge our membership. We are looking at Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and even the Middle East,” said Chris Yap, who is also the current president of the Malaysian Institute of Interior Designers (MIID).

CHRIS YAP SENG CHYE

President of APSDA Asia-Pacific Space

Mr. Eisuke Tachikawa is a design activist and representative at NOSIGNER. A design strategist. Build relationships through design (social implementation of design) = Apply design to new areas, build a naturally straightforward beautiful vision for the future Clarifying the idea of the structure (structuring knowledge of design) = Clarify the idea and creation of the structure, increase the number of change makers by producing society’s evolution of the futureTo actualize these two goals, he advocates "evolution thinking" to learn design through biological evolution. Clarifying ecology found in the background of design, the aim is to actualize truly valuable ideas for the future, as soon as possible. Eisuke Tachikawa provides creative education through workshops for universities, NPOs and companies as a philosopher who explores the ideal form of evolutionary design thinking. As a designer, he has accomplished beyond the fields of and active in architecture, graphic design, product design, and has the experience of winning over 50 awards internationally in leading design awards. These include Good Design Gold Award, DFA Grand Prize (Hong Kong), PENTAWARDS Platinum Award (World's No.1 food packaging / Belgium ), SDA Grand Award and the DSA Annual Spatial Design Award Exellence Priz. He has served as a judge for many international design awards such Good Design Award, DIA Award (Design Intelligence Award) and WAF (World Architecture Forum).During March - September 2014, the Cabinet Secretariat hosted the "Cool Japan Movement Promotion Conference" where he was officially invited to volunteer as the concept director from the Ministry. He contributed to the formulation of the CJ mission declaration "Japan, a country that provides creative solutions to the challenges that the world faces.”Although he pioneered design strategies, there was a strategic cabinet remodel 2 weeks after the presentation, that ultimately discontinued this mission. He is currently doing what he can with the policy of real Cool Japan.WIKI "OLIVE”, launched only 40 hours after the Great East Japan Earthquake hit, shared useful open designs for disaster survivors, established the disaster-prevention design movement. Continuing on from this concept, he worked for developing TOKYO BOSAI (cooperation with Dentsu Inc.), the largest disaster prevention plan in Japanese government history that Tokyo issued more than 7.8 million copies.Currently, through design strategies that encourage social change, he continues to co-create with various organizations in fields such as next generation energy · regional activity · generation inheritance · traditional industry · science communication.

EISUKE TACHIKAWA

Design Strategist / Founder / Director NOSIGNER

Architect by training and multidisciplinary designer by profession, Prof. Keat Ong is a celebrated, awards-winning designer. He is the founder/ kreative director of Keat Ong Design and co-founder of SCKD Pte Ltd as well as 3 terms president of Society of Interior Designers, Singapore (SIDS). Keat chairs the Singapore Interior Design Accreditation Council which overseas the competency of interior design practitioners in Singapore. He was also elected to preside over the the 13 nations Asia Pacific Space Designers Association (APSDA) for the term 2021-2023. He has been named one of Asia’s Top Designers in Singapore Design Awards 2014 and as Designers of the year 2016/2017 from the famed INTERIOR DESIGN Magazine. He was also honored with the title of “The Most Influential Designer” by China’s national body for Interior design, China Building Decoration Association in the 2017. He is also Adjunct Professors to numerous universities including the famed China Academy of Art and Taylor’s University as well as judges to many prestigious awards internationally. Keat is the author of “Injecting Architecture”, a book about his methodology in design demonstrated through his collection of selected projects.

KEAT ONG

Founder, Kreative Director | President

Since 2009, Khoi Vo served in Savannah College of Art and Design's Interior Design department. While chair, heled the department to its No. 1 rankings by DesignIntelligence of both the undergraduate (2012-2016& 2018) and graduate (2012-2014, 2016& 2018) programs. For 2018, DesignIntelligence named him as one of the 25 MostAdmired Educators in the fields of architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture, recognizing hisactive educational engagement in the design community and hisleadership in innovative interdisciplinary collaboration.

Vo is active with the Council of Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA) as a site visitor. He currently sits on the national board of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) where he serves on the awards committee, as a foundation trustee, and as a student advisory council member. Vo's academic credentials include a Bachelor's degree in design and architecture and a Master of Architecture degree.

In May 2018, Vo was named Vice President for SCAD Hong Kong, where he oversees the daily operations of the campus including academic services, student success, admission, accounting and finance, human resources, marketing and public relations, physical resources, technology services, and institutional effectiveness. He lives in Hong Kong with his wife, Kristen, and son, Caleb.

KHOI VO

Vice President

Mr. Koji Sakai is the Director of Sia-furniture, Japan. Concept "SIA×DESIGN=HAPPINESS" Create the feeling, not the shapes. SIＡ is a design unit with the motto, "SIA×DESIGN=HAPPINESS", try to create comfortable, convenient and pleasant things.

Mr. Koji Sakai is also on the Board of Directors of the Japan Interior Designers' Association (JID). JID was founded in 1958 as a national association to represent the interests of interior designers in Japan. Since then, JID has been dealing with the professional, cultural, and legal interests of the interior design profession supporting and promoting the realization of modern design.

The full membership consists of the individual designers who practice interior design and interior product design as well as the researchers engaged in the field of interior design. The supporting membership includes the organizations, companies, design schools and institutes relevant to the field of interior design who wish to contribute to the goals of the association. The objectives of the association are to contribute to social well-being by looking for common solutions to make better living environments and to enhance the social recognition of the importance of interior design.

To this end, JID has been exchanging ideas and experiences and trying to strengthen social solidarity between the individuals and the organizations nationally as well as internationally in order to establish the recognition, methods, and technique to meet the common goals as the professional organization. JID has taken its role as a member of global society participating positively in international activities and voicing itself on issues concerted. and will continue to do its part striving towards the objectives raised through a range of activities and with the recognition and responsibilities as a national organization.

KOJI SAKAI

Architect / Professor

Massimiliano Guzzini (Recanati, 1969) is Vice-President of iGuzzini illuminazione since 2012, Chief Marketing Officer of iGuzzini illuminazione since 2013 and Member of the Board of Directors since 2010, iGuzzini SEA Director since 2012, Chairman of iGuzzini Lighting China Co. Ltd. since 2010, CEO of iGuzzini Lighting Hong Kong and Chairman of Shanghai iGuzzini Trading since 2009. He is also President of ASSIL (Italian Association of Lighting Manufacturers) since 2016, Member of the Lighting Europe Executive Board as ASSIL Representative and Co-ordinator of the Department of Business of ADI (Association for Industrial Design) since 2014.

Graduated in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Ancona, he specialized in International Business and Doing Business with Pacific Rim Countries at Harvard Business School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and accomplished a Master’s program in Business Administration at Luiss University in Rome. He started his professional career at Fratelli Guzzini S.p.A. in 1999, where he both worked as a Product Manager and Area Manager between 1999 and 2004. In 2005 he successfully launched the start-up in China, operating as Chief Representative of iGuzzini representative offices in Shanghai and Beijing first, Chairman of iGuzzini Lighting China Co. Ltd. and Shanghai iGuzzini Trading then. In the same period, he has simultaneously reorganized the company's key structures for the Japanese, South Korean and Hong Kong markets. Between 2011 and 2013, he held the role of Market Development Director at iGuzzini illuminazione.

MASSIMILIANO GUZZINI

President of ASSIL (Italian Association
of Lighting Manufacturers)

Founded in 2008, The Italian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (ICHAM) has the main purpose of undertaking activities to support commercial exchanges between Italy and Vietnam, assisting economic agents and fostering the development of economic relations and cooperation among entrepreneurs of the various countries within Europe.

The Italian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (ICHAM) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Vietnam Design Association (VDAS).

The purpose of this MoU is to advance the mutually beneficial informal working relationship between VDAS and ICHAM. VDAS' mission is to develop the design education and thinking; ICHAM's mission to improve the quality and impact of design, come together in the emerging fields of design development and production. These two organizations are therefore working together to ensure that we build a unique and recognized Vietnam Design identity. Design Business and production, while providing vibrant, human suitable places for living and working. In essence, VDAS and ICHAM are uniting in the goal of Promoting the development of Design Meaning and Business Mind. The parties pledge to work together to help the development of Design meaning and business, and community better serve the needs of society through proper Design and Management. Two parties seek to advance their working relationship with respect to people needs and development-related issues, including, but not limited to the following:

Fostering Design Thinking, Design Production, and Business

Developing and sharing strategies for new projects and events that will create opportunities for budding young Designers in terms of job placement, industrial attachment, and industry collaborations through varying of activities such as seminars, workshops, exhibitions, study/design business tours to Italy (exhibitions, festivals, companies’ visiting, etc.)

Advancing indoor Design quality, occupant well-being, and productivity.

Developing case studies and best practice demonstrations and advancing and developing guidance on the state of the Design.

Promoting collaboration between VDAS regions and ICHAM components in Education and Outreach, and Research and demonstration of best practice of our members.

Promote V-MARK Vietnam Design Award to companies, organizations relevant in design. Support VDAS in consultancy, judgment, and training for candidates, link Vietnam Design Award to Italia Good Design Competitions and Award, and other International Award’s networks.

Mr. MICHELE D’ERCOLE

Chairman

Tim Phillips is a highly regarded Industrial Designer specialising in design for Architects, Creatives and the Construction Industry. He has extensive experience in architectural projects, with a passion for using the latest technologies, materials and manufacturing techniques to bring the creative ideas of his clients to life without the constraints of traditional construction methods.

As the owner of TILT Industrial Design, Tim manages a dedicated team of industrial designers, fabricators and engineers, pushing the boundaries to achieve commercially valuable designs that exceed client expectations.

Tim is motivated by the challenges architects give to him and his team, enjoying the opportunity to thoughtfully consider ideas and sketches and then deliver them through a proven design process.

He is also an educator and casual academic, enjoying his ongoing association as alumni of the University of Newcastle and also with the University of Technology and University of NSW, Sydney.

Mr. TIM PHILLIPS

Design Lead & Owner of TILT Industrial Design

WORKS

NAMBA PARKS・Parks Moon The 41st square Blue'dge WINDSOR ＆ BOULOGNE ＆ LOGOS THE WESTIN NAGOYA CASTLE deluxe suite INAX Shinjuku showroom 4F CLStage THE WESTIN NAGOYA CASTLE chapel The Opera & HUGS THE RITZ-CARLTON Tokyo 45F dining THE SAKAE RESIDENCE moitie moitie mamaya Noritake Sakae patisserie gram PROUD Mizuho-hinatacho Hilltop Notitake Ginza Iseya Sohonten Koen-ten Nakanoshima Wellness Center Keishindo JP tower KITTE Marunouchi knot Vent Vert Higashiyama Hotel Gate In Kagoshima Sumai Salon Aichi Fudosan Okazaki Leopalace21 Head office 1F LIXIL showroom

AWARDS

Illuminating Engineering Society of North America 2004 IIDA 2004 Award of Excellence (IES) Illuminating Engineering Society of North America Paul Waterbury Award of Excellence(Outdoor) ～ NAMBA PARKS・Parks Moon Good Design Award 2003-2004 Award of S&M Enterprises ～ Concrete Design Kitsuji　　 Illuminating Engineering Society of North America 2005　 IIDA 2005 Award of Merit (IES) Illuminating Engineering Society of North America　　 Edwin F. Guth(Interior) Merit Award (Award of Excellence) ～LIVE JAZZ LOUNGE TRIBECA Tokyo Illuminating Engineering Society of North America 2008　 IIDA 2008 Award of Merit (IES) Illuminating Engineering Society of North America　　 Edwin F. Guth(Interior) Merit Award (Award of Excellence) The Illuminating Engineering Institute of Japan Excellent Illuminating Facility in Tokai Branch, Chief Award ～The 41st square Blue'dge Best Store Of The Year 18th Award of Excellence ～INAX Shinjuku showroom 4F CLStage Architecture Award in Mie 29th, General Section Winner ～Okashi-Kokoro TORAYA SHOGETSU 8th PUBLIC Space Design Contest, 3rd place of facilities department ～Noritake no Mori - my Dining

NIWA HIROYUKI

Architecture & Interior Designer

Professor Fong is a registered Professional Interior Designer of IIDA (U.S.A), Chartered Society of Designers (UK) and member of AIA (USA) He was elected as the Chairman of the Hong Kong Interior Design Association from 1993-1995. During his 30 years of practice, he completed more than 1,000 major projects located in Mainland China, London, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the USA, and receiving more than 100 design awards.

In addition, Mr. Fong lectured at the Hong Kong University and The Tsing Hua University in Bejing China. He also sat on the judging panel for the Asia Pacific Interior Design Award competition and the examination panels for various design institutes. Presently Mr. Fong is the Professor of The China Academy of Art in Hangzhou China, rating the best art academy in China. In 2005, he established the “Most Original Design Award- Patrick Fong” in China to encourage young designers on creatively thinking.

PATRICK FONG

President | APDC Awards for Elite

Prof. Stephen Melamed, FIDSA, is an industrial designer and design educator experienced at navigating complex situations and projects, collaborating with and bringing together multiple disciplines to create a culture of innovation. He began his studies in theoretical physics at Boston University and later received a Masters Degree with distinction in Industrial Design from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has been awarded a Design Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts & Humanities and was privileged to study with R. Buckminster Fuller at World Game (1981). He authored By Design: Museum Environments for All and was a speaker at the First International Interdisciplinary Design Conference at the United Nations in New York City in 1981. Design Intelligence named Melamed (2010) one of the nation’s top 25 most admired design educators.

In 2011, he was honored as the IDSA Midwest Educator of the Year. New City Magazine named Melamed one of the Design 50: Who Shapes Chicago 2015. In 2016, Melamed was inducted into the IDSA Academy of Fellows (Industrial Designers Society of America). In 2017 he was named President of the International Society for Design Thinking (ISDT) based in Beijing, China a public/private partnership of the Chinese Ministry of Education and Fassino Academy. He is named as an inventor/co-inventor on 62 U.S. Patents. In 2017 his archive became part of the UIC Library Design Special Collections.

Over the past four plus decades Melamed has worked in manufacturing, corporate, not-for-profit and consulting. He is currently Clinical Professor/Founding Chair of the Industrial Design Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and Associate Director of the Interdisciplinary Product Development Program (IPD) at the UIC Innovation Center. Melamed was a founding member of the not-for-profit AIGA national design advocacy group, Design For Democracy (D4D) and has served on its Board of Directors. He has written articles on the topics of innovation, industrial design, design education, interdisciplinary product development, design thinking and design research and has been a featured lecturer at universities and conferences both domestically and abroad. In addition to his duties at UIC, he is a Founder and Principal of the Columbus, Ohio based Industrial Design consulting firm, PlusD2, Inc. (formerly Tres Design Group). The firm has received a number of national and international design awards, as well as an IDEA Silver Medal for design excellence.

Professor STEPHEN MELAMED

University of Illinois

Riccardo Franceschi

1989-1994 Polytechnic of Milan, Faculty of Architecture and Interior Design

1993-1995 Assistant Professor of Architecture at Faculty of Architecture of Polytechnic of Milan

1996 Opens office in Brescia

2009 Partnership with Giorgio Goffi

2010 Establishes with Giorgio Goffi ARCHI2 office

Archisquare awards

1994 “Premio San Carlo Borromeo” Permanent Exhibition in Milan (selected)

2005 “Piranesi Prix International” (finalist)

2006 Award “Gold Medal for Italian Architecture” Honorable Mention

“International Prize Mies Van Der Rohe” (selected)

“National Award ANCE-IN / ARCH”, Prize for the best young architects project section

RICCARDO FRANCESCHI

Architect, Interior Designer

STEVE LEUNG

President | Founder

Mr. Tung Ching Yew is a multi-disciplinary designer who has vast experience from reputable international design consultancy organizations. Ching Yew has successfully accomplished projects both locally and overseas in countries such as U.S, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. He has won Gold and Bronze awards in Industry Design Excellence Awards (I-DEA) for Exhibition and Retail categories in 2014 and 2012 respectively.

Having more than 10 years of industry practice, Ching Yew established a spatial design practice, Spirit Of Design Analogy Pte Ltd (SODA) with another fellow alumnus from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.

With a total of 15 years of design industry experience that includes design management and project management, Ching Yew has completed projects in major retail malls in Singapore such as Marina Bay Sands, ION Orchard, 313 Somerset, TripleOne Somerset, Iluma, Vivocity, Suntec City, Marina Square, Plaza Singapura and still counting. Some of the other mentionable projects in which he was involved as a design consultant are National Day Parade, Orchard Road Christmas Light-up, CommunicAsia / BroadcastAsia, Food and Hotel Asia, and TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition.

SODA is an award-winning spatial design firm established in Singapore that specializes in Corporate Spaces. We have completed projects in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and China mainly in the Retail, Commercial Office, F&B, Showroom, Hospitality and Exhibition Design sectors. We have been actively participating in seminars as guest speakers and jury panel for the awards program.

TUNG CHING YEW

President | Chairman

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