Seeds that sprouted fame

Thomas heatherwick, creator of the seed cathedral at the 2010 world expo in Shanghai, is back in China

British designer Thomas Heatherwick, well-known in China for his work on the UK pavilion at 2010 Shanghai World Expo, was in Beijing recently to attend the opening of The New British Inventors: Inside Heatherwick Studio exhibition at an art museum.

Curated by Kate Goodwin, head of architecture at Royal Academy of Arts in London, the show is being held at the Central Academy of Fine Arts to display models of some finished projects the designer has worked on. The centerpiece is the Seed Cathedral that was created for the UK pavilion during the Shanghai exposition.

But when his studio first won the contract, the British government was unenthusiastic about the idea of having its national pavilion styled with seeds and not with more representative figures such as footballer David Beckham or fictional detective Sherlock Holmes or even British tea bags, Heatherwick says.

"They kept saying to us 'very risky, very risky'. I kept saying to them that it would be riskier to show cliches. It is the safest thing we can do to show something that even British people have never seen," Heatherwick, 45, told China Daily on the sidelines of his Beijing exhibition.

The Shanghai World Expo Bureau agreed with Heatherwick and helped him persuade the UK government to agree to the seed venture, he says.

The exposition had about 250 country pavilions, most of which were built like museums with their respective national images. Heatherwick's strategy to make something different seemed to have worked. Visitors were drawn in large numbers to the Seed Cathedral.

The UK pavilion, built on a slim budget compared with other Western countries, took up only one-sixth the area assigned to it and left the rest for the gathering public.

It was judged the best pavilion at that exposition.

The project became a turning point for Heatherwick Studio, opening doors worldwide, especially in China. He is now doing two projects in Shanghai - the 420,000-square-meter Shanghai Bund Finance Center and a silk museum and workshop in Shunde in Guangdong province.

Heatherwick Studio also designed a cauldron for the London Olympics in 2012.

The current exhibition in China also shows older projects such as the Rolling Bridge in London, the New Bus for London and furniture designs that Heatherwick and his teams worked on.

At the moment, Heatherwick Studio is working on four continents on projects valued at more than 2 billion pounds ($3 billion), including the Garden Bridge over the Thames River and the Google campus in Silicon Valley.

He is also keen to find opportunities to work on socially relevant projects such as schools, hospitals or prisons, Heatherwick says.

Born and raised in London, Heatherwick studied 3D design at Manchester Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art.

His mother is a craftswoman, and that motivated him to think about design.

He founded Heatherwick Studio in London in 1994. The studio covers architecture, urban infrastructure and furniture and product designs. It employs 180 people, mostly architects and designers.

Heatherwick says that from a young age he wanted to create things rather than dwell on theories. His interest in China is also growing.

"In China, the developers I meet are not stuck on the idea that a building designer has (just) one style. Instead, they say, 'You did the Seed Cathedral. What would you do for this project?'

"In China, the challenge is how to invent ideas that feel particular for China and not for somewhere else. Often we travel, and the city you travel to looks similar to the city you came from. I find that very disappointing."

One of his principles is to not even copy himself, he says.

Part of the 2015 UK-China Year of Cultural Exchange, the Beijing exhibition was to run until June 21, before traveling to Shanghai.