designboom is currently in france at the seventh saint-étienne biennale on show at the cité du design from november 20th to december 5th, 2010. inside bâtiment H at the biennale’s main site, one of the expositions is an international presentation of design – five exhibitions, each representing a different country: spain, belgium, japan, finland and china.

‘shanghai channel’ by zhu dan, nan jie, tan jiaying and hu binqing image © designboom

china’s exhibition, curated by jennifer rudkin is entitled ‘street made’, a display of objects that were designed during a workshop session by students from the university of shanghai. the outcomes bear witness to the strong tradition of street culture in china, particularly in shanghai, a metropolis that is a mix between ancient and new, skyscrapers and traditional houses, cars and bicycles. it is filled with contrasts which provoke both a charming and uncomfortable feeling.

the population of shanghai takes over the streets, filling them with sounds, movements and objects. some people work in the streets to earn money. to live, people develop their own tools and their own street design to survive. they transform the mundane objects of their everyday lives into pieces in which they can cook, cut, sew, transport, sleep…

‘street made’ is collection of street furniture designed by the students that draw on the improvised infrastructure set-up by shop owners and the people living in the districts of shanghai. hybrid objects are exhibited in the streets, accumulated, stacked, assembled with function as the only concern…

china: street made at saint étienne biennale 2010 - 2 ‘shanghai channel’ by zhu dan, nan jie, tan jiaying and hu binqing image © designboom

‘shanghai channel’ by zhu dan, nan jie, tan jiaying and hu binqing looks at a few aspects of shanghai life: 1) the streets of shanghai that are filled with television screens 2) the red fish which has been domesticated in asia for more than 1000 years, and that plays an important role in the everyday life of chinese people 3) the role of the aquarium set which has found a place in the home, restaurant or office entrance, and which is supposed to bring fortune

these three realities are summed up in ‘shanghai channel’ which transforms an old tv set into an aquarium which houses a red fish…

china: street made at saint étienne biennale 2010 - 3 other make-shift housing for animals found on the streets of shanghai

china: street made at saint étienne biennale 2010 - 4 ‘pull & roll’ by zhang huizhu image © designboom

in the street behind the rolling shop shutters, a colorful life is hidden. people bring their chairs out onto the sidewalk to start their day. when they close, all becomes quiet. movements repeated day after day: pull, push, lock… zhang huizhu’s ‘pull & roll’ takes these retractable shutters and instead of using them to close up shop, the shutters are made into a street chair to fuel the social aspect of shanghai life.

china: street made at saint étienne biennale 2010 - 5 ‘pull & roll’ detail of retracting mechanism image © designboom

china: street made at saint étienne biennale 2010 - 6 ‘sport chair’ by hu yi fan image © designboom

the older generation of shanghai people often enjoy pulling a chair out on the street to chat with their friends, to participate in some group activities, mainly singing, dancing and exercising on the public sport machines in the park. hu yi fan’s ‘sport chair’ looks like a traditional chinese chair but features moving arm rests to build up your bicep muscles, and a swinging foot rest.

china: street made at saint étienne biennale 2010 - 7 ‘sport chair’ has a swinging foot rest image © designboom

china: street made at saint étienne biennale 2010 - 8 socializing on the streets of china

china: street made at saint étienne biennale 2010 - 9 transporting a stool by bike

china: street made at saint étienne biennale 2010 - 10 ‘tap dresses’ by dai keyi image © designboom

‘tap dresses’ by dai keyi is a series of experiments around the shape and function of water taps. in the very crowded part of shanghai, many people have to share their kitchen with maybe three other families. each family is able to recognize their tap by the elements they put on and around it. ‘tap dresses’ propose ways in which to filter, separate water, hold soap, change drop / flow amount – as many functions as you can image to fulfill revolving around the sink.

china: street made at saint étienne biennale 2010 - 11 variations of ‘tap dresses’ image © designboom

china: street made at saint étienne biennale 2010 - 12 variations of ‘tap dresses’ image © designboom

china: street made at saint étienne biennale 2010 - 13 some of the ways people dress their taps