MET Studio's HK Wetland exhibition installation continues
With the appointment of the exhibition fit out contractor last month the Hong Kong Wetland Park project has entered its final stage. Installation work on the exhibition areas will begin early in the New Year with participation from specialists in the USA, China, Australia and Europe collaborating to create the Worlds largest permanent exhibition on Wetlands and migratory birds. As can be seen from one of the latest photos of the site, the main curtain wall façade is now in place and the central atrium is approaching completion. In the background the 40 storey towers of Tin Shui Wai new town keep watch.
MET Studio Design shortlisted for another export award
MET Studio Design has been short-listed for yet another export award this month – the Exporter of the Year category in the National Business Awards. These annual awards, sponsored by Orange, are acknowledged by The Chancellor of the Exchequer as “the UK’s business Oscars”. Once again MET Studio are flying the flag for the UK’s creative industries as the only design company short-listed amongst entries that include major corporations such as Proctor & Gamble, RBS, 02, Royal Mail, BP and British Gas. The winners will be announced at the Grosvenor House Hotel in November.
Hong Kong retail project opens
MET Studio Design have completed a new retail project within the shopping complex of IFC2 (the International Finance Centre 2) in Hong Kong for jewellery retailer CARAT*, a leading retailer in the growing market for high quality synthetic and simulant gemstones. The store is the retailer’s fourth outlet in Hong Kong, following on from the success of a first store in the Lan Kwai Fong district and two department store concessions. ‘Our brief was to evolve the design of the existing store’, commented MET Studio Design’s Senior Designer Neil Williams, ‘moving on from its harder, geometric lines and softening the overall feel with the use of curved lines and new materials, as well as working around the parameters of an unusual space, both making the most of that space whilst ensuring optimum security for the product.’
MET Studio Collects Queens Award for overseas commissions
This month the three directors of MET Studio Design (Chairman/Creative Director Alex McCuaig, Managing Director Chris Cawte and Director of Communication Chris White) were all invited to attend a special reception at Buckingham Palace, given by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh. The reception was held to celebrate the achievements of the winners of 2004’s Queen’s Award for Enterprise. MET Studio Design was first notified of the award in April 2004 in recognition of business excellence in international trade, having successfully exported the company’s masterplanning and design services through sixteen separate overseas commissions over the last three years.
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New exhibition project opens in Hong Kong
On 21st June, Mr Tung, Chee-hwa, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, officially opened a major new US$6.5m exhibition project in Hong Kong - The Hong Kong Jockey Club Drug InfoCentre. The centre marks an important milestone in Hong Kong’s drug preventive education; targeted specifically at young people, it makes use of multi-media exhibits and interactive games to disseminate anti-drug messages, as well as serving as a venue for enhancing local and international exchanges among experts in the anti-drug field. Project funding is by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, whilst development of the project was led by the Narcotics Division, Security Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the guidance of the Action Committee Against Narcotics . Building design is by the Architectural Services Department (ArchSD) of the Hong Kong Government whilst MET Studio Design have undertaken all branding, exhibition and 2D and 3D design.
MET Studio Design Managing on America Design Tour
MET Studio Design Managing Director Chris Cawte has been out on the road this month, delivering the aptly-named speech ‘America, Come Out of the Classroom and Get Back on the Road!’. The occasion was the 2004 American Association of Museums Annual Meeting in New Orleans, where Chris was invited to take part in a session chaired by US-based company, Academy Studios Inc, considering what American museums can learn from non-US attractions and exhibitions. The speech urged museums – not just in America, but worldwide – to be prepared to take risks in order to reach beyond the traditional family remit to more difficult audiences.
Met Studio Award Queens Award for Trade
We are very proud this month to announce that MET Studio Design has been granted a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category of the 2004 Awards. The awards are [the most prestigious business awards in the UK and are] recommended by a panel of experts reporting to the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. They are then approved by Queen Elizabeth II before being conferred annually on the Queen’s birthday (21st April) in recognition of outstanding business achievement.
The company won the Queen’s Award – a very rare accolade for any UK design company – after achieving a year on year increase in export revenue since the formation of the company. In the last three years MET Studio Design has received fees from sixteen separate commissions from clients in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and the United States
MET Studio involved in cultural mission
Chris White, Director of Content at MET Studio Design, has been invited once again this year by the British government to play a prominent role in a cultural heritage scoping mission. This month’s mission, to China, has been organised by UKTI (United Kingdom Trade and Industry) and will be undertaken by leading UK museum industry professionals, including representatives of leading British Museums
concrete formwork in HK near completion
The concrete formwork for the major new 90,000 sq ft visitor centre building at the Hong Kong Wetland Park is now nearing completion. The HKWP is Hong Kong’s first ever dedicated environmental attraction and is due to open in 2005. The HK$520 million project has been commissioned by the Agriculture and Fisheries Department (AFCD) of the Government of the Hong Kong SAR. MET Studio Design have created the scheme’s exhibition design under the project leadership of ArchSD (the Government's Architectural Services Department).
Chris White MET Studio Design Director on a mission
Chris White, MET Studio Design’s Director of Content and Interpretation, has taken part in a Scoping Mission to Taiwan, organised by the UK government’s Department of Trade and Industry. Chris was one of three UK specialists invited to take part in the mission, aimed at highlighting export services opportunities for British businesses. MET Studio Design was the only design company to take part, alongside tourism specialists Deighton International and environmental specialists Jorth Consulting. The mission covered the cities of Taipei and Chiayi and the counties of Pingtung and Kaohsiung and its results are to be published shortly by the DTI.
MET Studio's Design Forum
This month sees the launch of a new section within our website – the MET Forum: an open space showcasing everything from opinion pieces to reviews, favourite designs and new creative work. The Forum will feature contributions from invited guests, alongside pieces by MET Studio’s own staff. Our three launch items are Five Favourite Designs by Grant Gibson, Editor of leading UK design magazine Blueprint, a photo essay on the controversial sport of Ultimate Fighting by renowned photographer Francesca Yorke and an article asking us to look again at our endless pursuit of originality by MET Studio Design Associate James Norton. Regular updates from invited guests will follow on the widest of subjects, whilst browsers of the site are openly encouraged to respond to what they have seen and read using the Forum Feedback button.Click on this link to see the Forum in full :
www.metstudio.com/forum
Alex McGuiag speaks for Foreign Office
Alex McCuaig, Chairman and Creative Director of MET Studio Design, is taking up a prestigious invitation this month from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office to speak at a Museum and Heritage Site Seminar in the historic Greek city of Thessaloniki
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Metstudio Short-listed for design award and industry award
MET Studio Design has a clutch of plaudits to announce this month, having been shortlisted for no fewer than FOUR forthcoming awards, in celebration of the company’s recent creative and business achievements. At the FX International Interior Design Awards 2003, MET Studio Design have been shortlisted for the Best Museum/Gallery Award for their masterplan of The Deep. Based in Hull, within a landmark building by Terry Farrell & Partners, The Deep is the world’s only submarium and has become a phenomenally successful tourist attraction. In recognition of the company’s export achievements, MET Studio Design has also been shortlisted in The Exporter of the Year category of the London Business Awards 2003 (run by the London Chamber of Commerce) and in The Corporate Exporter of the Year and Best New Exporter of the Year categories of the International Business Awards 2003 (run by Trade Partners UK). All four awards are to be announced in the course of November 2003.
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The Deep
New Hong Kong Offices for Met Studio Design
MET Studio Design is delighted to announce the opening this month of a new, full-time office in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong. The new office will allow us to service our many Far Eastern clients more effectively as well as enhancing our business development activities in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Singapore, building on our strong and long-held reputation in the region. The new office will be the company’s third office, joining the London head office and the Portuguese office in Lisbon, where the company has developed a strong working relationship with local communications specialists Artevisao, after working together on a project for Portugal Telecom.
Metstudio wins Hong Kong design project
MET Studio Design has been commissioned by the Electro-Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) of the Hong Kong government to design a new 'educational path', which will run throughout the department's new headquarters building.
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